The Home Depot, Inc.
Business 105 - Introduction to business
Section 2
December 3, 2003
Description of the business
The Home Depot company was founded in 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. It began with a warehouse store with a wide variety of products at the lowest prices. The company started to grow opening stores in Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Alabama within the first five years. Today, is the world's largest home improvement chain and the second-largest retailer after Wall Mart. The Home Depot company is being traded in the New York Stock Exchange and is component of the Standard and Poor's 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It's number 13 in fortune 500.
Leadership.
The company's priority is dedication to serving customers while providing the ultimate shop experience. Rather than working in a corporate's headquarters, the company is managed by a leadership team working in a store support center.
English: The Home Depot in Knightdale, North Carol...
English: The Home Depot at the North Pointe Shoppi...
English: Overview of Home Depot store "Centro" loc...Robert L. Nardelli is the Chairman of the board of directors, President and Chief executive Officer of the company. Robert joined Home Depot in December 2000 and assumed operational responsibility from its co-founders after following a successful career at GE Power Systems, making of Home Depot the fastest growing retailer in the U.S. with $58.2 billion in net sales in 2002.
Stores.
The Home Depot currently has more than 1.500 warehouse-style home improvement stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico, with a new store opening on average every 43 hours. In addition to this, the company boasts over 50 EXPO design centers, Home Depot landscape supply center, APEX supply and many other Home Depot-owned companies.
Products
The Home Depot counts with up to 35.000 different products. They also offer 250.000 other products that are specially ordered based on customers' needs, and a...