Strategic Analysic of Circuit City Stores, Inc.

Target is the second largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart. The company is also ranked number thirty on the Fortune 500, and is part of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Target operates about 1,750 Target and Super Target stores in 49 states,

A better strategic management for the Dollar Tree company situated in America will help to organize qualitative and quantitative information in a way that allows effective decisions to be made under conditions of uncertainty. William argues that the best strategic management strategy should consist of the following forms that is evaluation of the strategy, formulation and finally implementation of the strategy. In this study, we will discuss how managers of Dollar Tree company can apply the strategic tools such as IFE, EFE, CPM, BCG matrix, Grand Strategy Matrix, and QSPM to not only establish a competitive market but also safeguard and sustain its position within the high rate of competition within the market (Williams,

Executive Summary: Dollar General is the sixth largest mass merchandiser, and the fourth largest discount store in the U.S. However, significant growth opportunities remain for extreme-value retailers such as Dollar General. Dollar General’s strategic objective is sustainable and profitable long-term growth. The company has opportunities for growth by expanding in the United States to areas that lack an extreme-value retail presence. Continuing to serve low-, middle-, and fixed-income families in small communities will prevent Dollar General from competing directly against mass retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target. Dollar General’s strength

Another top stakeholder within Costco’s organization is its customer clientele. After careful research, the author noted several variables that contributed towards Costco’s highly-rated customer service and satisfaction ratings that speak from sales in addition to positive feedback. The author will briefly dissect this stakeholder group and display, in writing, why this group aids Costco in providing low prices on select items, its continuous service method which has proven, both financially and through praise, to be one of the more successful methods in retail, and to demonstrate why Costco

Later, Wurtzel decided to expand the business into discount stores (Romero, 2013, p. 31). Business was flourishing for Wards, that in 1961 the company decided to expand its business even further by adding discount stores. But, in 1975, taking on expansion too quickly almost caused the company to file bankruptcy. To prevent going bankrupt, the company decided to scale back on the number of unprofitable outlets by closing or selling them. Then in the late 70’s the business began to make a comeback. It grew rapidly so much so that the company had fifty-three superstore by 1983 and thirty-seven smaller electronic stores (Romero, 2013, p. 32). According to Hart, Matulich, Rubinsak, Sheffer, Vann, and Vidalon (2012), “In 1984, Wards changed its corporate name to Circuit City Stores, Inc. and became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange” (p.

According to Reuters, “the Dollar Tree Inc., was incorporated in 2008, as discount retail stores” (2016, para. 1). Today, the company has 13,851 discount retail stores located throughout 48 states and five outside the United States (Reuters, 2016). Their competitors are Wal-Mart and Target (Reuters, 2016). The company has two segments. (Reuters, 2016). The first segment is the Dollar Tree, which “are discount variety stores offering merchandise at a fixed cost” (Reuters, 2016, para. 1). Their second segment is Family Dollar, which are “general merchandise retail discount stores providing consumers with a selection of merchandise in neighborhood stores” (Reuters, 2016, para. 1). According to Kurumi Fukushima, when the Dollar Tree were given

Established in 1949 and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Circuit City operates as a specialty retailer of entertainment software, home office products, consumer electronics, and related services (“Company Overview of Circuit City Stores Inc.,” 2014). Aside from its superstores in the United States, Circuit City also offers brand-name and private-label electronic products in Canada. The company has retail stores, dealer outlets, and also operates a website. Business ProblemThe main problem that Circuit City experienced was the lack of IT capabilities in their operations, which prevented the company, particularly its salespeople, from efficiently and effectively addressing the needs of the customers, leading to customer dissatisfaction.

Circuit City went bankrupt mainly due to its failed efforts to distinguish itself among its competition. For example, Circuit City’s prices on household appliances could not compare to those of Sears, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot. Similarly, when McCollough decided to “stop selling major appliances,” and rebrand by selling “more cutting-edge, consumer electronics products” and remodeling the stores, Circuit City turned into an inferior version of a Best Buy store. By pouring money into the remodeling efforts and rebranding campaign, Circuit City not only lost capital, but also its distinct image. In 2003, Circuit City’s announcement that 3,900 commissioned sales staff would be laid off was the tipping point in its demise. Having lost the main feature that differentiated Circuit City from its competitors, especially Best Buy, there was no hope of recovery. As Best Buy’s sales increased and operating profits improved, Circuit City’s “weakening financial results and low stock price” indicated the end was near. In conclusion, Circuit City’s attempts to rebrand and remodel resulted in it becoming more like other better brands and put the company in a fiscal crisis.

Table 2: Scenario framework analyse business environment and its uncertainty variables, either for rapid change or complexity.

Which management functions did Circuit City managers fail to perform? Cite examples to support your answer.

The Dollar Tree is an extremely successful corporation that operates over 13,500 stores across the United States and Canada. From the very beginning, Dollar Tree had a precisely concentrated approach with a product-wide price point of $1 or below. Dollar Tree’s method of capitalizing in this variety discount retail industry was to decrease expenditures which includes purchasing bulk Chinese products, using off-branded merchandise and not being locked into store locations when lease agreements quarrels arise. This emphasis on low-income and impulse shoppers has proven quite successful which has recently permitted Dollar Tree to acquire one of its largest competitors, Family Dollar (Cite). While this purchase has catapulted Dollar Tree to the

In this research paper I will describe the history of Circuit City business, who are their competitors, and when the company started and failed. In addition, research will state the company’s vision and background information. Circuit City started in 1949 selling television out of a small town in Richmond, Indiana. It was started by Samuel S. Wurtzel who opened the first Wards Company retail store that quickly turned into a national store chain. The Wurtzel first experiment was in the early 1940s, after World War II, in which he introduced a new entertainment device. By introducing the this new entertainment device in 1949 had tripled in the number of TV stations in the United States. Wurtzel had a friend who knew someone at Olympic Television that was a small manufacturer in Long Island City, NY.

Unfortunately in the present day we are a culture that are not only more aware of the products we chose to purchase but are able to enjoy the flexibility of shopping from home. Customers shopping at Best Buy find themselves being “up-sold” instead of being “educated” on the products they are considering purchasing. Customer service is lacking and store associates do not have the appropriate product knowledge to satisfy customer questions. These are only a few concerns disrupting Best Buy’s position in the market today. Their dismal financial performance is a clear indication that customers are choosing alternatives. Retail stores can be successful if given the right tools. Apple stores are the perfect model to emulate. Apple provides a variety of sample products to navigate, hires and trains their personnel on the products they offer, and exudes an ambiance that is welcoming to the customer. Much like Lowe’s, Apple offers classes to customer to gain the knowledge necessary to operate their products in a fluent and enjoyable manner. The staff does not push sales, instead remaining laid back and offering an efficient check out

Douglas Perry, Macon Brock, and Ray Compton founded Dollar Tree Stores in 1986. The firm is headquartered in Chesapeake, Virginia and employee more than 90,000 people (Dollar Tree, Inc. (2016) Dollar Tree has fully automated distribution centers to support its ongoing expansion and sustainability. In 2014 Dollar Tree, acquire Family Dollar in an $8.5 billion cash-and-stock deal. The companies are the nation’s second and third largest discount retailers (Robbins, 2014) Chief Executive Bob Sasser said “Our merchants do a great job sourcing product that exceeds customer expectations for what $1 can buy at a cost that fits our margin requirements,” (Garcia, 2015) Dollar Tree has expanding operations by adding freezers and coolers to several

This proposal analyzes the feasibility of establishing a neighborhood bar in a gentrified mixed use area that abuts a university. The conceptual model used for the design and operations of the neighborhood bar familiarly known as Cheers and it is the equivalent of the Starbucks concept Third Place. The target area in which the neighborhood bar would be sited contains virtually no informal gathering places for neighborhood residents. A number of shops and upscale restaurants line the pedestrian mall in the center of the neighborhood, but the business hours of these enterprises preclude casual use by those who live in the neighborhood but commute to jobs in nearby urban areas or at the university. A Porter's Five Forces analysis indicates that there are only a few factors that would have negative influence on the establishment of a neighborhood bar in the location selected and these barriers are not substantial, nor are they sufficient to prevent the establishment and survival of the proposed business. The SWOT analysis triangulates well with the Five Forces analysis, adding credibility to the potential for establishing a profitable enterprise in the target area.