Introduction
The Home Depot has eight central values that determine and guide the company’s actions. The central one among them is “taking care of our people,” which serves as the foundation for other values (The Home Depot, n.d.b). It was first formulated by the organization’s founders, Bernie Marcus, and Arthur Blank, in 1978 and has stayed unchanged throughout all the years of the business’s existence (Marcus et al., 2019). Other values, namely “respect for all people,” “giving back,” “building strong relationships,” “doing the right thing,” “excellent customer service,” “creating shareholder value,” and “entrepreneurial spirit,” solely specify the original idea (The Home Depot, n.d.b). In short, all the value statements can be summarized as follows: The Home Depot seeks to benefit and be responsible for its employees, associates, shareholders, customers, and local communities. In this regard, benefits, in the company’s understanding, include direct financial gain, increased knowledge, and better consumer service and experience, whereas responsibility encompasses respect for diversity and awareness of one’s societal and environmental impact.
The company’s values are communicated to the public clearly and concisely. For each one of them, The Home Depot’s website provides an explanation and a general action plan. Additionally, the values’ description is accompanied by an example that shows how the organization’s employees realize each statement in practice. Such a detailed presentation, in turn, ensures that The Home Depot’s employees are aware of what each value statement represents. Moreover, it allows the customers, associates, and shareholders to build accurate expectations concerning the interaction with the company.
Vision
Similar to The Home Depot’s central value, its vision statement was first formulated by its founders. As such, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank wanted to create “one-stop shopping for the do-it-yourselfer” (Marcus et al., 2019; The Home Depot, n.d.a). Probably, nowadays, such a vision may seem trivial at first as there are a plethora of stores that fulfill these requirements. However, in 1978 most of the people who were involved in the home improvement business had to visit several stores to purchase everything they needed (Marcus et al., 2019). Moreover, recently the company leaders could reinterpret the organization’s vision by seeking to create an online platform that would promote a virtual one-stop shopping experience (Danziger, 2020). As a result, due to timely adaptation to the current market conditions, the perception of The Home Depot’s vision changed from seemingly outdated to inspiring.
Mission
The mission statement has remained the same since the company was first registered in 1979. The Home Depot seeks to provide outstanding customer service and offer a wide variety of home improvement tools and appliances at the best prices (Alshameri & Green, 2020). In this respect, it is important to mention that the mission statement aligns with both the organization’s vision and values as well as clarifies them. As for the former, for instance, it is clear that one-stop shopping can only exist if the company offers the majority of the tools necessary for home improvement. As for the latter, the company’s desire to keep prices as low as possible and provide the best possible service showcases the partial alignment between the mission statement and The Home Depot’s central value. In particular, the company’s mission recognizes its orientation towards promoting customers’ well-being but fails to mention other stakeholders. However, such a formulation is not the result of a mere mistake, but rather it represents the company’s priorities, thus, specifying the values. In other words, it signifies that although the company cares about all the stakeholders, its utmost efforts would be directed to the satisfaction of the customer’s needs.
Conclusion
Therefore, the current analysis revealed that although The Home Depot seeks to adapt to the current market condition, its central values, vision, and mission have remained the same since its foundation. Moreover, the discussion showed that all three concepts are interrelated. For example, it was shown how the company’s mission aligns with its values and vision. All these factors considered together explain why the company has achieved significant success in its sphere.
References
Alshameri, F., & Green, N. G. (2020). Analyzing the strength between mission and vision statements and industry via machine learning. Journal of Applied Business Research, 36(3), 121-128.
Danziger, P. N. (2020). Home Depot’s transformation to a fully interconnected retailer shows record-breaking results. Forbes.
Marcus, B., Blank, A., & Andelman, B. (2019). Built from scratch: How a couple of regular guys grew the Home Depot from nothing to $30 billion. Crown Business.
The Home Depot. (n.d.a). Built from all the right materials.
The Home Depot. (n.d.b). Our values.
