Sears Case Study Essay Example for Free

Sears carapace Study EssaySears is our nations fourth largest retailer. With over 4,000 stores in the United States and Canada, Sears has grown from its lowly beginnings. Sears is a leader in app atomic number 18l, home appliances, home, lawn and garden, tools, automotive repair, maintenance, and electronics. Sears also provides home service, serving 11 jillion service calls yearly. Richard Sears founded Sears as a mail station company and it grew to be one of the largest retailers. He clear the first department store in Chicago in 1925.Sears found success and by 1928 leash more stores had opened. Now Sears employs 249,000 employees and it has grown quickly. In 2005, Sears merged with K-Mart and has helped both evolve and the merger proved to be both successful and positive. Although they have faced challenges along the way they have been able to gain a large market share because of their product mix, quality services, products, and solutions. No matter what difficulties t hey have faced Sears has been a leader in the retail perseverance and they will strive to be sure that doesnt change.Sears has observe a long way from its beginnings as a catalog. Sears has many unique attributes that make it a outrank that people want to shop. Despite their great accomplishment and striving to become one the largest and most belligerent retailers, Sears is facing several key issues. Sears must reevaluate their internal and external environment in order to implement the changes and solutions necessary to get Sears back to where it needs to be. Company Analysis Organization and Leadership Sears has an overall good practical structure.This has definitely been key to their success because they are able to tailor their products to their customers needs victimisation an integrated monetary value leadership/differentiation strategy. Sear is competing in a very competitive industry and if they follow through with their narrowd strategy they will continue to improve. Sears was able to pursue low cost and provide differentiation to their customers. Rosa Corporate Financial Position Sears financial position is currently improving. They are transmiting with not only a let down on their fourth quarter losses but the sales have decreased as well in both their department stores and Kmart unit.To deal with their losses they are in the process of selling 11 stores to make up for their finances which has do their stocks go up at 19% (MarketWatch, 2012). If they sell these properties they could earn around $270 million in proceeds. It could go either way though since when sales decrease selling assets may not be the up right hand way to bring in growth in the future. Also if they follow their plan of moving Sears Hometown and loss stores they could bring in between $400 million to $500 million of proceeds during the third fiscal quarter (SHLD Nasdaq, 2012). Sears net income has dropped continually year after year from $235. M to a mere $133. 0m. wh oleness reason being is the percentage of sales has been more focused on the SGA (Sales General Administration) costs which has do it go from 23. 69% to 24. 09% (SHLDNasdaq GS, 2012). Core Competency The main core competency would have to be in there customer service. They offer great service to their customers which has gave them a competitive advantage against competitors. They use this to differentiate themselves from competition. They have built up a good customer base. They make sure they have their high hat associates available for customers especially through peak hours.Although, things could be a dwarfish different in cost of bargaining power from product to product, Sears has the advantage of being a top retailer and leads the way with congeneric bargaining power. As the number one home appliance retailer as well as a leader in tools, lawn and garden, and home electronics, Sears has established deep roots in their line of business. Sears frame honest with their custo mers and provides high-quality products at bargain prices. As a result of long, developed relationships with suppliers, Sears has the ability to buy in high volumes and sell for less.With this in mind, the power of suppliers is a similar story within Sears industry environment. It varies from supplier to supplier due to Sears product variety and differentiation. In the retail industry, suppliers tend to have very little power. Sears has a high standard for quality, especially in its line of household appliances, so suppliers that dont meet these standards are of no interest. Additionally, Sears has been working with its suppliers for a very long time, so they have gained the right amount of bargaining power to ensure low prices and good quality products and services.