Staples Diversification Case Study

Staples’ company goals are in support of its mission statement and are broken down into separate categories for better understanding. Staples has their goals on its company website, as well as it is listed on reports that are available to the public such as annual shareholder meetings; goals listed are for the community, ethics, environment, diversity and inclusion (“Proxy statement,” 2017).
Diversification. Companies that strategically use diversification can benefit greatly from it in ways such as spiking customers’ interest and potentially increase its sales and profits (“The benefits of diversification,” 2016). If it is used correctly, it can support the services and products that are already being offered. Diversification is the process

Additional information on business services, electronics, cleaning supplies, furniture and breakroom supplies that have been recently introduced into their inventory can be seen on the homepage of Staples’ website. The issue is that even though Staples has expanded beyond traditional office supplies, the new items and services that were added can still be considered as office supplies of another form. Beyond that Staples has not done much more to differentiate themselves from its competitors to gain an upper hand, which is proving to be a great area in which they are lacking.
Strategy over Time. Staples’ main strategy from the beginning has been to cater to its customers’ needs. Gradually over time other strategies came about to improve upon its services, products, customer service, sales, and profit growth. A tactic of Staples is to build upon its strengths to continually improve its growth from all associating aspects each year. In order to do so, Staples implemented a 20/20 strategic plan that should adapt over time to comply with changes and threats that will come about occasionally (“Proxy statement,”

Therefore, in order to maintain these expectations, Staples is reviewing all strategies to make sure that all of which is possible is done to save them.
Competitive Strategies. Competitive strategies are vital to a company as it is important to have an advantage over competitors in order to be successful. Staples plans to put the focus back on the customers through strengthening its customer base, as well as they intend on expanding services, and decreasing fixed costs of products (“Form 10-Q,” 2017). Conversely, Staples will continue to keep its prices competitive, which is why they started to price match against its competitors, both online and in the store (Kern, 2014).
In efforts to increase competitive strategies and be innovative, Staples found new ways to differentiate themselves. They recently partnered with Managed by Q, a company that manages, maintains, and provides office cleaning services (“Q3 2016 results,” 2016). In addition to these services, Staples partnered with Workbar as well. This brought forth opportunities to use the extra spaces within three stores in Boston, giving access to small companies and entrepreneurs to be able to run their businesses out of these locations (“Q3 2016 results,”