Lowe's Strategic Initiative

Essay by sglover76University, Bachelor'sA, July 2009

download word file, 6 pages 0.0

Although times have changed since Lowe's first opened its doors in 1946, Lowe's values have not: the company remains committed to offering quality home improvement products at the lowest prices, while delivering superior customer service. Lowe's utilizes both strategic and financial planning in order to further their business and to stay in the competition with other home improvements stores for many years. Using strategic planning, the company has been able to make changes that allowed saving money and improving customers' experience. As diligent as Lowe's has been over the years, Lowe's reported a slight decrease in its sales and its earnings in its 2008 annual report. For 2009, the company plans to increase its revenues by using a strategic initiative and by determining how it could impact its costs and sales.

Through examining the annual report for Lowe's in 2008, the company has experienced a number of changes due to the difficult environment and economic pressures.

In order for Lowe's to be able to survive these difficult times, the company had to establish many strategic plans for the company as a whole. The strategic plans focus mainly on reducing costs, but at the same time assuring customers' satisfaction. While being forced to reduce costs, the company must be careful not to cause a negative effect. The strategic plans require a lot of research and must be thoroughly analyzed while taking all internal and external factors into consideration. Lowe's has a strong focus on its customers to keep them coming into their stores. One of the many strategic plans behind this focus is through merchandising. Lowe's attempts to look in from the outside and envision concepts from the customer's point of view. Lowe's feels that the atmosphere presented at each store must be neat and easily accessible in order to keep...