Kmart Corp. Case

Essay by tubby281 December 2003

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Kmart Corporation

In 1997 Kmart Corporation was the second largest full-time discount retailer in North America with over 2,200 stores. But the company was struggling, with losing billions of dollars in sales. They were falling behind their top rivals Wal-mart and needed firm management and implement new plan that they could stick to it. They are lagging behind their competitors in other areas as well like customer service and technology.

If it seems that they have failed to implement a consistent technical strategy, it may be because they have changed leaders so many times. The company has had five CEOs since 1994, new management isn't going to stay with what the last guy was a doing, so they want to change and start doing thing their way, which changes the momentum. At the rate that Kmart is going they're heading for bankruptcy, they need to take action and reorganizes their actions before they get to that position.

The new management team is lead by Joseph Antonini, he needs to start investing into key merchandising and marketing initiatives to enhance Kmart's strategic positioning, such as offering exclusive brands that differentiate Kmart from its competitors, like Martha Stewart everyday, Joe Boxer, Sesame Street and Disney for Kids. Next they need to optimize the supply chain to maximize efficiencies and service capabilities. Then they need to pursue opportunities to reduce annual expenses through reengineering the organization, staff reductions, office consolidations, and other actions. They will need to close their underperforming stores, which would cause job layoffs for a lot of associates but would be necessary to emerge from this increase downfall and make them a stronger, more dynamic, more profitable enterprise with focused competitive position in the retail world.

Then they need to focus on a new target market. In order to...