1STAPLES CASE Table of Contents Response to Question 1:..................................................................................................................2 References........................................................................................................................................4
2STAPLES CASE Response to Question 1: Staples, founded by Stemberg began its operations around 1986. Thirty years later since Staples came to existence it became the leading retailer in the office supplies industry. Staples saw its ups and downs face during those thirty years. The 2008-2014 period particularly was very challenging for Staples. Their profitability was affected by intense price war competition with the rivals. It faced rising competition at that time from the likes of Wal-Mart, Amazon.com and Costco.Thechangingdynamicsofthebusinessenvironmentovertimeandintensifying competition in the industry compelled Staples to look for a deal to merge with Office Depot, its biggest rival (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). When Staples began its operations in the US in 1986, the‘Upstream Value Chain’ segment of the market hadthe manufacturers ranging from small to large sizes. Some of the notable names in the list of manufacturers were Boise Cascade, pencils and pens manufacturers, office furniture makers, the Bic Corporation, 3M, Xerox, Canon, Compaq, Apple and Hewlett Packard. It also had the wholesalers.Some of the wholesalerswere highly reputed such as United Stationers and McKesson. The wholesalers used to sell directly to businesses or through a network of dealers. The market had both the large and small-size dealers.The industry hadlocal retailersintheofficesuppliesbusiness.Besides,ithadthediscountersinthegeneral merchandise segment like BJ’s Wholesale and Wal-Mart (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). With regards to the consumer segment, they could buy either directly from the dealers, the wholesalers and the manufacturers.The dealers had no good measure ofwhat customer likes the most about this industry. Around ninety percent of the dealers considered better service as being the reason to buy. However, close to ninety percent of the customers claimed that they went for lower prices. Despite being very low in analytic capabilities, the retailers, dealers,
3STAPLES CASE wholesalers and manufacturers enjoyed being a part of the 'Office Supplies’ industry (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). Stores used to happen in a cluster form in a region. The purpose of such a setup was to be the most reachable and dominant supplier in the market. Companies used to focus on one or more regions and develop stores as clustered together to remain the most dominant player in the regions. Such a clustered arrangement was supported with distribution systems located centrally (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). The ‘Office Supplies’ of 2015 is very different from those of 1986. There is growing demand for toner cartridges, computer and printer supplies due to the increasing integration of businesses with the IT firms and the growing impact of industrial automation on the industry. Suppliers had their best time one or two decades back. They had a hard time in 2015 as their profitability declined significantly. Many retail stores disappeared from the industry. Price still remained the decisive factor for consumer decision-making.Manufacturers one or two decades back used to focus on one or a few regions to run stores set up in a clustered format; however, theyear2015sawmanufacturerslookingforincreasinggeographiccoverage (Interact.gsa.gov, 2020). The globalization of business resulted in suppliers looking to sell ‘office supplies’. Suppliers tend to expand their capabilities through M&A(Mergers & Acquisitions)to attract more contracts from globally situated buyers.The market for ‘office supplies’ was very fragmented in 2015. It had considerably a low maturity level outside North America and Europe (Interact.gsa.gov, 2020).
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4STAPLES CASE References Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014).Strategic management: Theory & cases: An integrated approach. Cengage Learning. Interact.gsa.gov.(2020).Retrieved1February2020,from https://interact.gsa.gov/sites/default/files/Attachment%206%20-%20Office%20Supply %20Market%20Outlook.pdf