Sears Holding Corp Essay -- Business Analysis Management Essays Papers

Sears Holding Corp.Kmart and Sears have been part of the retail industry of America for the last ii centuries, and as of November, 2004, they give be continuing due to their merger as Sears Holding Corp. This paper will first look at the history of the devil companies to see how they started and what each company set out to achieve. This section will also include why the two companies failed. Secondly, a SWOT analysis will be performed on the new company, Sears Holding Corp, to try to identify where it stands in the present. Finally, a hypothesis of how the new company is likely to be accepted by consumers and whether it is likely to succeed will be discussed.Kmart HistoryS.S. Kresge Co., the predecessor of Kmart, was founded in 1889 by Sebastian J Kresge, in Detroit Michigan. The small store, which sold everything for five and ten cents, was an min success. By 1912 S.S. Kresge Co. had expanded to 85 stores with annual sales of more than $10 million. The 1920s saw a larger increa se in merchandise compartmentalisation and prices, Kresges first steps to becoming a discount store. This final leap to a discount store was made in the 1950s, when the company effected that they needed to make some changes in order to remain competitive. In 1962 S.S. Kresge Co. opened their first Kmart discount department store in a suburb of Detroit. During that same year seventeen other Kmart stores opened. Realizing that discount stores were the wave of the future S.S. Kresge changed its name to Kmart in 1977. In 1987 Kmart sold its remaining Kresge stores (kmartcorp.com).During the years of 1984 to 1992 Kmart bought several businesses, including Builders strong in 1984, the Sports Authority in 1990, a 90-percent stake in OfficeMax in 1991, and Borders bookstores in 1992. However, in 1995 with a close brush with bankruptcy, Kmart sold those businesses in which they had near invested and refocused its efforts back on the discount stores. During that same year Kmart began con verting its traditional stores to a new high frequency format designed to improve the customer shop experience. A new name, Big Kmart, was assigned to these stores (in April 1997) (kmartcorp.com). However, all the changes Kmart made throughout its long history to remain current with ideas of the times, were not enough to jock Kmart oppose its competitive edge. Kmart also m... ...Levy, M. Kmart-Sears Merger Start Tribune 18 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Retailindustry.about.com Retail Consolidations 30 November 2004 Schuman, E. Sears, Kmart Merger to Create Huge Retail IT work E-Week 17 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Schuman, E. Where America Shops Meets Where America Shoplifts E-Week 19 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Searsarchives.com 29 November 2004 Snavely, B. Grand Strategy Converting Kmart stores will help get Sears Off the Mall Crains Detroit Business 22 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Strasburg, J. Kmart to buy Sears, Create No. 3 Retail gargantuan The San Francisco Chronicle 18 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Troy, M. Kmart Holding Corporation and Sears, Roebuck and Co. Agree to Merge Business Wire 17 November 2004. Academic Universe Business. Lexis-Nexis. UNL Lib. 28 November 2004 .Wikipedia.org Kmart Corporation 29 November 2004