Restructuring / Turnaround Strategies Case Study

Lowe's Companies, Inc.: Will its EPM Strategies Payoff in Canada?

Abstract:
Lowe’s Co., Inc. was a US-based chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores with 1,252 superstores across 49 states in the US. It decided to implement Enterprise Portfolio Management (EPM) in 2001 for better monitoring of its assets. EPM enabled Lowe’s to reevaluate new priorities against its current investment methods. It helped to enhance Lowe’s business from $ 22,111 million in 2001 to $ 43,243 million in 2005. When EPM was introduced in Lowe’s, the company was operating only in the US. When the company intended to enter Canada in 2006, it expected to implement the EPM strategies that it had employed in the US. Banking heavily on its US experience, Lowe’s was confident that it would succeed in Canada, but analysts felt that success in Canada would not be easy. They thought that Home Depot and RONA, the existing players in the Canadian home improvement market, would not make Lowe’s entry into Canada an easy one. They also felt that an expansion decision solely backed by duplication of efforts might be like playing with fire.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand Lowe’s expansion in Canada
• To understand Enterprise Portfolio Management (EPM)
• To understand the competition in Canada
• To analyse whether Lowe’s will be successful in Canada.

Keywords : Lowe's; Enterprise Portfolio Management; US Home Improvement Industry; Canadian Home Improvement Industry; Expansion; Home Depot; Robert Niblock; Steve Stone; Resource Planning Program; Growth Strategy; Home Centers; RONA; Hardware Stores; Restructuring - Turnaround Strategies Case Study; IT and non-IT decisions; Planning