Home Depot Wall Street Journal Article
1. Describe the Home Depot business model. Why didn't this business model work in China?2. Describe some of the challenges companies faced in China and how they adapted.3. Review the role store closings in China will play in overall earnings for Home Depot. Is the impact significant?4. The experiences of many different companies operating in China are illustrated in the article. What are some of the challenges they share and what were some of the responses to those challenges?
Home Depot Learns Chinese Prefer 'Do-It-for-Me' - WSJ.com http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000 XXXXXXXXXX... News, Quotes, Companies, Videos SEARCH Bernard Rosenberg My Journal U.S. EDITION Friday, September 14, 2012 As of 5:52 PM EDT Home World U.S. New York Tech Markets Market Data Opinion Life & Culture Real Estate Careers Business Asia Europe Earnings Economy Health Law Autos Management Media & Marketing Energy Small Business More Industries 1 of 12 2 of 12 3 of 12 TOP STORIES IN Apple Makes a LTE Networks Face Global Sales of Panel Targets Business Wrong Turn With iPhone Test iPhone 5 Kick Off Corporate-Tax Maps With Crowds Loopholes BUSINESS Updated September 14, 2012, 5:52 p.m. ET Home Depot Learns Chinese Prefer 'Do-It-for-Me' Article MORE IN BUSINESS » Stock Quotes Comments (85) By LAURIE BURKITT BEIJING—Home Depot Inc., HD +0.93% in deciding to close all seven of its remaining big-box stores in China after years of losses, joins a growing list of retailers who have stumbled in China by failing to grasp the local culture and importing alien business models that are better suited to the U.S. or other countries. The largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, which entered China in 2006, has struggled to gain traction in a country where cheap labor has stunted the do-it- yourself ethos and apartment-based living leaves scarce demand for products like lumber. Home Depot conceded that it misread the country's appetite for do-it-yourself products. "The market trend says this is more of a do-it-for-me culture," a Home Depot spokeswoman said of China. Mattel Inc. MAT -0.29% shut its China-based Barbie flagship store in March of last year after it learned that Chinese parents would rather have their children read books than take a doll for a spin in her plastic Corvette. Best Buy Co. Imaginechina / Associated Press BBY -0.65% closed its nine China outlets The retail giant, which entered China in 2006, plans to close its remaining big-box...
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