The key findings of the report are derived from the external analysis, internal insights, and recommendations for further actions. The most critical point of the external analysis is that the industry is in decline. Best Buy belongs to the SIC industry 5731, which is shared with two other large businesses, including GameStop and Hapman. The competition is evidently consolidated into segments, such as gaming, industrial, and other consumer electronics. The decline is caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and customer demographic shifts. The key success factors involve having partnerships with suppliers, presenting products in an appealing manner, and proximity to markets, and all of them are properly met by Best Buy. The internal analysis showed that the company’s weaknesses are related to marketing and communication of strengths as well as the competitor segments. The strengths are mission clarity, supplier partnerships, product presentation, customer proximity, cost leadership, and customer satisfaction. The core recommendation is to leave the industry slowly within a five-year period to avoid suffering from losses later due to decline. The latter means a continued closure of stores and reallocation of resources towards online shopping. The alternative is to cash cow the industry by penetrating the markets of the competitors.
It is important to note that Best Buy is one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in North America. In order to properly understand the current position of the company in the industry, it is critical to analyze it both externally and internally. The given case analysis shows that despite Best Buy’s multiple strengths, they are becoming irrelevant in the face of a declining industry of physical consumer electronics retail.
Industry: External Analysis
In order to properly analyze a company, one needs to begin with an identification of major threats and opportunities within the environment it operates. The external assessment of Best Buy is based on determining the key economic characteristics, success factors, structural forces, macro-environmental trends, and finalized overview of all risk elements. Therefore, the Industry Analysis primarily focuses on the industry itself rather than the company of interest.
The industry of interest is consumer electronics stores retail, which includes any business specialized in selling home entertainment products and electrical goods, but excludes stores solely focused on computers. The SIC code for the consumer electronics industry is “5731 – Radio, Television, and Consumer Electronics Stores.” Market size and sales for the industry are $82.3 billion, with a sales growth rate -of 0.7%. The indicators show the current stage of the life cycle for the industry is a decline since it has already matured throughout the past decades. The types of products sold are highly differentiated and dissimilar due to the sheer diversity of consumer electronics.
In addition, many brands are likely to choose one retailer as a partner, which further differentiates the products. The sales are affected by seasonal forces to an extent, such as holidays or Black Friday, but the demand is independent of business cycles for the most part. The profit margin for the industry is 3.7%, and the scope of rivalry is international. The key competitors in the industry include Hapman Conveyors, Gamestop Corp., and Best Buy Co., Inc. The analysis will focus on the former two since the latter will be assessed in the internal analysis section later, and the identified criteria for the analysis is product selection range. Hapman Conveyors is headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and GameStop is located in Grapevine, Texas. Both companies are large businesses, but the competition is rather consolidated since Hapman Conveyors is more about heavy machinery and specialized consumer electronics. GameStop is primarily focused on entertainment electronics, whereas Best Buy sells all other categories.
Key Success Factors
The critical success factors for the SIC industry 5731 include having partnerships with suppliers, presenting products in an appealing manner, and proximity to markets. Firstly, in order for a consumer electronics retail business to be successful, it needs to have strong partnerships with its suppliers. It should be noted that consumer electronics are rather complex and intricate products with a major influence on brand image, reputation, and marketing. Most consumers are well-aware of the largest consumer electronics manufacturers, such as Apple, Samsung, LG, and others. Store visitors do not simply compare the products on common factors, such as price, but additionally, express some preference for specific brands. Having close ties and links to the supplier allows consumer electronics retail stores to negotiate lower prices, better inter-company connectedness, and improved joint marketing efforts. For example, GameStop is successful because it focuses on harnessing relationships and close partnerships with its three major suppliers, which include Microsoft Corporation, Sony Corporation, and Nintendo Co. The close relationship with these three companies allows GameStop to exclusively focus on Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo products.
Secondly, presenting products in an appealing manner is vital in many industries, but even more so in consumer electronics. Many consumer electronics manufacturers go the great lengths to design their products not only in terms of functionality but visual appeal as well. The best example is Apple and how it presents its phone during the launch and sales at its stores. It is important to note that Apple itself does not belong to the SIC industry 5731 since it sells computers only. However, its stores provide an excellent example due to a high level of similarity between the industries, which are only differentiated due to the range of products sold. For instance, presenting phones on specialized platforms not only allows the consumers to interact with them before buying but provides a visual appeal.
Thirdly, proximity to markets is critical since the stores need to be located in easily accessible locations, which means high-populated areas and sites with significant foot traffic. Despite the rise of online shopping and consumption, consumer electronics require a particular degree of attentiveness from consumers due to price ranges and the need for technical considerations. Therefore, people are more likely to visit a store to see and try a new product before buying, unlike groceries, which can be simply bought online. For example, GameStop has more than four thousand stores, which is due to the fact that people want to see and test PlayStation, Xbox, or Nintendo before buying them. In addition, they want to compare these three major brands and get more information about their technical specifications. Such consumer awareness and attentiveness make it critical to have easily accessible stores.
Structural Forces
The level of competition in the industry is low because there are two main competitors, which include Best Buy and GameStop. Hapman Conveyors belongs to this industry but aims to fulfill different consumer bases with needs for heavy machinery and equipment. Its profitability and size are solely due to its specialized and niche focus. The same can be said about Best Buy and GameStop. The latter solely focuses on Play Station, Xbox, or Nintendo, which means that everything else in the consumer electronics market is taken by Best Buy. Therefore, the competition is very low, and it is highly consolidated, with each player operating within its submarket. Research suggests that such a state of affairs in regards to competitiveness allows the rivals to reach a higher equilibrium point increasing their relative profitability. In other words, the consolidated state of the market is beneficial for all three companies.
Potential of New Entrants into the Industry
Within the existing industry conditions, the potential of new entrants into the industry is low and even non-existent at this point unless this new entrant is a multinational giant, such as Amazon. The consumer electronics retail business is complex and expensive due to the sheer amount of money needed to open a single store. On top of the latter, having no close supplier relationships makes one’s attempts to become a big player pointless.
Consumer electronics retail is about having many big stores filled with many expensive consumer electronics products, which means massive investments in a price sensitive environment. For example, considering the size and expensiveness of Best Buy’s stores, the company has more than 1000 retail units across Canada and US. Therefore, from the perspective of a new entrant in the consumer electronics retail business, it needs to invest significant sums of money into opening a store and filling it with a stock of products. Even after this is completed, it needs to offer prices competitive with the rivals, who can offer at a lower cost for a consumer since they bought the products from the suppliers due to partnerships. Therefore, a new entrant will likely fail or will have to sustain itself unprofitably long enough to develop its own supplier partnerships. However, it can be increased by the rise of online shopping, which will be discussed in more detail in the Threat of Substitutes subsection below.
Power of Suppliers
The power of suppliers is one of the highest across all industries because consumer electronics manufacturers play a direct role in the profitability of consumer electronics retailers. In addition, the suppliers’ brand image, reputation, and marketing heavily impact the retailers’ sales and profits since the products they are selling carry a recognizable mark of the supplier. Consumers are well-aware of a wide range of consumer electronics manufacturer brands, which is why the retailer becomes a less significant middleman in the process. The high power of suppliers is due to the fact that there are not many of them, and each offers a unique and differentiated product. Under such market conditions, suppliers have strong power to raise prices affecting the retailer’s sales massively. For example, GameStop’s success and competitiveness rely on its close partnerships with Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. In other words, there are only three suppliers, each of which offers a unique and differentiated product. Any of the suppliers can easily manipulate the price values how it sees fit, and GameStop has no power to control it.
Power of Customers
The power of the customer is weak since there are many of them, and they are independent. It is important to note that the power of customers is high in mostly B2B situations, where the customers are few, and each of them has the power to negotiate better deals. However, the given industry primarily operates by selling consumer electronics to the public, which is why the presence of a high number of buyers and their mutual independence lowers their power. For instance, Best Buy has more than 1000 stores, each of which is visited by thousands of customers. Under such conditions, no single customer has a chance to successfully negotiate a deal because it is cheaper to lose one client, which starts a cascade of negotiations with all other customers.
Threat of Substitutes
The threat of substitutes is significant since the industry can be and is already being replaced by online shopping from the manufacturers themselves. Despite the fact that younger demographic segments are known to be more familiar with technology, they comprise the smallest market share for consumer electronics retailers. The primary reason is the lack of a large enough disposable income to make big purchases. However, an additional reason is that they tend to buy most of the consumer electronics from the manufacturers themselves online rather than physically going to a store. The existing industry leaders, such as Best Buy, are transitioning to online shopping as well. Sole reliance on such a format makes it easier for new entrants to enter since they will not need to have a large store but rather a large inventory and online platform. Therefore, the threat of substitution is coming from both the suppliers’ side, consumer preference changes, and new entrants.
Macro Environmental Trends
One of the most critical aspects of the consumer electronics industry is the fact that these products are non-essential. In other words, they are highly elastic to price fluctuations and the disposable income of consumers. It is stated that “even consumers with jobs have stopped spending. Retail sales plunged 20 percent from February to April, with very large declines.” It is evident that the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in economic terms will not mean a sudden increase in consumer spending. Exhibit 1 of the Appendix showcases a graph from the IBISWorld Report on the prognosis of industry sales within the near future. It is based on the previous years, which show no signs of improvement as well. These trends substantiate the fact that consumer electronics retailers do not fare well when consumers’ disposable income shrinks.
Social Factors
Social factors play a major role in a shift from offline to online shopping. Social distancing, lockdowns, and masks deeply impacted the social dynamics and purchasing habits of the population even after their stoppage. Research suggests that the pandemic resulted in people valuing and using online shopping more than ever, which made them more willing to engage in online shopping even after the restrictions were lifted. These changes are social in their nature and profoundly impact the industry’s mode of service provision.
Demographic Factors
Since the younger population is becoming less interested and willing to spend their money on consumer electronics and appliances, the industry will likely experience a major shrinking of its consumer base. Research suggests that “younger consumers are more likely to buy home entertainment systems, mobile telephones or computers than they are appliances. Many consumers aged 25 to 34 live with their parents or in rental housing.” In other words, the largest consumer base of the industry are people aged 65 and older, and the given demographic is aging and being replaced with less profitable segments. The prospects of the industry being as profitable as now are low. The younger demographics do not have the disposable income to feed the industry, and they are less interested in consumer electronics in the first place. Although they show interest in phones and computers, these can be easily bought from the manufacturers directly.
Legal and Regulatory Factors
No urgent factor can be noted, but there are changes in the legal framework in general. It is important to note that with the rise of unionization and labor movements across the US, the industry can be faced with worker unions. Research suggests that the legislative environment can shift massively within the industry since the workers’ position in retail is being restructured. For example, the Retail Action Project, or RAP, “has led multiple campaigns for workers’ rights, back wages, and unionization.” It is evident that the industry of retail will likely undergo some form of legislative intervention if the unionization cascade across the labor market.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the state of the SIC industry 5731 is in the decline phase, with major growth indicators being at negative percentage values. The major industry players include Hapman Conveyors, GameStop Corp., and Best Buy Co., Inc. The competition is consolidated and non-fragmented, and the key success factors are having partnerships with suppliers, presenting products in an appealing manner, and proximity to markets. The power of customers and new entrants’ threats is low, but the power of suppliers and the threat of substitution are high. Both economic and demographic factors impact the industry the most.
Company: Internal Analysis
The company of interest is Best Buy Company Inc., which is one of the largest consumer electronics retail businesses in the industry. The products include consumer electronics, such as kitchen appliances, phones, TVs, computers, audio equipment, and others. The services are primarily limited to cell phones, laptops, and computer repair. Best Buy is a publicly traded company, and its headquarters are located in Minnesota. The business is a big one, which is why it employs more than 100,000 workers. The total company revenue for the past year was around $ 51.7 billion, which further showcases the scale and size of the enterprise.
It is a clear leader in the industry, which dominates in all of its domains except for retail gaming. Both of its two largest competitors focus and specialize in other domains of the industry. The customers include all demographics since consumer electronics is of prime interest for all. However, the majority of Best Buy’s revenues come from older segments of the market, and the youngest segments are the least profitable ones. The company operates mainly in the United States and Canada, and it was founded in 1966. Since its foundation date, the company has grown gradually to its current point.
Mission
The mission statement of Best Buy is to “enrich lives through technology.” It is evident that the mission statement of the company is simple and directly informs about what the company does and seeks to do. Since it is a consumer electronics retailer, the technology lies at the core of the products and services the enterprise sells. It targets all demographics and offers a wide range of items, which are all designed to enrich the customers’ lives. Therefore, the mission of the company is a strength due to its simplicity and clarity, making it effective at defining the goal.
Performance Assessment
The generic strategy of Best Buy is cost leadership, which is achieved through partnerships with suppliers and economies of scale. The company cannot differentiate itself significantly since its product selection is determined by the supplier brands, and Best Buy does not manufacture technology on its own. The consumer electronics market is not a niche market, which is why both cost focus and differentiation focus are irrelevant. The company strives to offer consumer electronic products at a lower cost, which it successfully does through better deals with suppliers and efficiency due to its size. The supporting function level activities include marketing and financial strategies. Firstly, Best Buy regularly offers coupons and discounts on its products to incentivize sales among buyers. Secondly, the retailer’s supply chain relies on high-volume distribution frameworks to drive down the costs for each product since they leverage economies of scale. In other words, they purchase technology, equipment, and other items in bulk to lower the cost per product to the minimum. The result is cost leadership with good profit margins.
Meeting Key Success Factors
The key success factors for the industry include having partnerships with suppliers, presenting products in an appealing manner, and proximity to markets. Firstly, Best Buy excels in meeting the factor of partnerships with suppliers, which lies at the core of its cost leadership strategy. A prime example is the confidence of the company in being a cost leader, where it offers a match guarantee: “we’ll match the product prices of key online and local competitors for immediately available new products.” In other words, this specific example shows how Best Buy is confident in offering the lowest prices in any given location of its stores. This is a clear indicator of the fact that the company focuses and leads on being a leader in costs.
Secondly, presenting products in an appealing manner is vital for consumer electronics products since the manufacturers’ efforts in design need to be capitalized on extensively. A specific example of an obsessive focus of managers on customer experience at Best Buy, which includes both visual and functional aspects. For the latter, it is about safety and convenience, but for the former, it includes design, vibrancy, vitality, and engagement. In other words, all of these critical endeavors contribute to making the products appealing since their experience is deliberately enhanced.
Thirdly, Best Buy outstandingly meets the proximity to market key success factor. It is important to note that opening a new consumer electronics store is expensive compared to any other products due to the high costs of technology items. The company has around 1000 stores across the United States and more than 1000 stores if Canada is included. Best Buy closed some of its stores during the pandemic due to a gradual shift to online retail, but it still positions itself in densely populated areas in close proximity to the consumers. There is no other consumer electronics company with a similar number of stores of equivalent sizes. Thus, it is evident that Best Buy meets the three core success factors outstandingly and fully.
Financial Analysis
The financial analysis table for Best Buy and its main competitor GameStop can be accessed in Exhibit 2 of the Appendix. Firstly, a good current ratio is between 1.2 and 2, which indicates a sufficient level of liquidity derived from current assets against current liabilities. A trend for Best Buy can be noted where its current ratio has been decreasing in the past three years, whereas the reverse trend has been taking place with GameStop. In other words, the gaming competitor is much more liquid than Best Buy. Secondly, the debt to equity ratio shows how much debt there is compared to shareholders’ equity. Both Best Buy and GameStop have ratio numbers below one, which indicates a high level of safety. In other words, both companies finance themselves primarily through investment rather than loans.
Thirdly, the asset turnover ratio is useful for evaluating the level of efficiency in utilizing the assets for revenue and sales generation. From the table, one can see that both companies are highly effective and efficient at maximizing their assets for revenue creation. Best Buy is superior in this endeavor compared to GameStop. Fourthly, the long-term debt to capital ratio shows the solvency of a business, and both businesses have scores below 1, which indicates long-term safety. On the basis of these ratios, it is evident that Best Buy has a strong trend to rely less on loans and risk financial decisions, which is why the company operates rather safely.
VRIO
The VRIO analysis is selected for the evaluation of the resources and capabilities of the firm, which can be accessed in Exhibit 3 of the Appendix. The value dimension is about a resource’s or capability’s contribution to competitive advantage. If it increases competitiveness, then it can be considered valuable. The rare dimension refers to a resource rarity in the existing market conditions, and thus, accounting for the fact Best Buy is a sole leader in the industry, most of its capabilities are unique. Imitability translates into how costly for other organizations to recreate a particular resource. The last dimension of organization focuses on the structure of a capability to capture value.
Firstly, the competitive advantage of Best Buy is enabled in all key resources, which include suppliers, marketing, sales and logistics, and customer satisfaction. As it was stated before, supplier links and ties are the primary enablers of cost leadership for the retailer. Marketing is another essential piece of the puzzle within the generic strategy framework since the company uniquely positions itself as a go-to place for anything related to consumer electronics. Sales and logistics are critical as well because efficient inventory management and distribution of supplies translate into a lower final price per item. Customer satisfaction is a priority for Best Buy to the point of obsession, as described by its managers.
Secondly, the competitive advantage is increased in all resources in terms of rarity. Close supplier relationships of the company vitally make it rare in the industry, exemplified by the lack of any significant competitor. Even the biggest competitor GameStop has to solely focus on gaming consumer electronics with no capability to have what Best Buy has with respect to suppliers, marketing, sales and logistics, and customer satisfaction. Thirdly, sales and logistics in consumer electronics retail is a challenging and costly endeavor, which requires extensive resources and a high degree of efficiency to imitate. The low level of threat from new entrants makes the imitation domain a core strength of Best Buy. Similar observations can be made in all other resources, except marketing, which lacks a unique element to it. The marketing endeavors by Best Buy do not focus on its cost leadership strengths but rather on superficial topics imitable by any competitor with some resources.
Fourthly, the organization of the operations is set up to capture value to gain competitiveness as well. The suppliers, logistics, and customer orientation are great enablers of the positioning of Best Buy. However, marketing is not fully organized to communicate how customers can benefit from the superior cost leadership by Best Buy. For example, a recent collection of commercials and ads from the company focus on terms such as ‘possibilities’ instead of cost leadership. Therefore, it is evident that a higher degree of emphasis can be put on lower prices for quality consumer electronics. Therefore, all resources are strengths due to their improvement of performance with no damage to efficiency or corporate culture. The only concern can be observed in marketing due to the lack of adherence to its cost leadership messaging. Both large competitors, such as GameStop and Hapman, do not have advantages in these resources since they focus on different needs, such as industrial necessities or gaming.
For the financial side of the analysis, cash flow from the recent reports show no major issues. In addition, the overall access to capital is not a problem since the company is able to raise money without going into debt indicated in debt-to-equity ratios. It conducts its capital raising activities safely with the use of investor money rather than loans. Lastly, Best Buy excels at utilizing its assets to generate revenue, where the last fiscal year’s asset turnover rate was almost three.
Section Conclusion
In conclusion, on the basis of internal analysis of the mission, key success factors, performance assessment, and evaluation of resources and capabilities, the list of strengths and weaknesses of Best Buy are as follows:
Strengths:
- Mission clarity
- Supplier partnerships
- Product presentation
- Customer proximity
- Risk-averse financial management
- Supplier uniqueness
- Cost leadership
- Customer satisfaction
- Logistics
Weaknesses:
- Marketing
- Industrial customers
- Gaming segment
The weighted analysis of the presented strengths and weaknesses can be accessed in Exhibit 4 of the Appendix below. The core strengths of Best Buy are supplier partnerships and cost leadership since these two enable each other. Offering the lowest prices uses a basic economic principle of supply and demand. Customer proximity and product presentation are success factors, which were shown to be outstanding at Best Buy. Supplier uniqueness is closely related to partnerships, but with respect to exclusive suppliers in the markets. From the financial ratios, it became evident that Best Buy plays it safe with loans since it raises capital through equity for the most part. Customer satisfaction is a derivative of cost leadership and ‘obsession’ by the management. Lastly, logistics efficiency additionally contributes to the final price reduction. However, one of the weaknesses of Best Buy can be seen in marketing due to poor communication of its strengths. A lesser weakness is the inability to penetrate the gaming segment occupied firmly by GameStop. The industrial segment is the least important weakness since it is solely dominated by Hapman.
Recommendations
Table 1: Summative SWOT Analysis
Strategic Recommendations
The first strategic recommendation for Best Buy is to decrease the number of stores and transition into the online retail domain with greater prioritization. Despite a high degree of strengths at the company enabled by customer proximity and having physical stores, the entire industry is in decline. Therefore, the major issues faced by Best Buy are not internal but rather external and specific to the industry itself. The recommendation does not affect the strengths, such as mission clarity, supplier partnerships, cost leadership, and customer satisfaction. The actual steps include closing the least profitable stores by decreasing the number of stores from 1000 to 500.
These actions need to be taken by the chief managers, and it needs to be done within five years. No significant investment will be required to close the stores since the inventories can be sold via discounts and deals, and other asset sales might even generate more money. There is no particular company that could help with closures, but PR assistance can be provided by LHH company since many workers will be laid off, attracting media attention. The given recommendation is about SWOT elements, such as mission clarity, supplier partnerships, cost leadership, customer satisfaction, online shopping, industry decline, and the threat of substitution.
The second recommendation is to cash cowing the market until it lasts. The key SWOT aspects include the gaming segment, gaming segment entry, and the threat of suppliers. In other words, direct competition with GameStop needs to be established to take their market share from them and fully dominate the industry. Hapman’s market is impenetrable due to its unique position as both retailer and manufacturer with strong intellectual property rights. The actual steps include contacting and negotiating the deals with Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo by offering better terms. The actions need to be taken by the top managers within a year because it is not evident how long the decline will last. It might require some investment in the reorganization of logistics and stores, but these products need to be presented in different sections with unique approaches. There is no company that could help with these changes since the other only party is GameStop as the main competitor.
The competitive potential of Best Buy should include, in addition to internal and external competitive advantages, the immediate possibility of using and applying these advantages in the long term. Competitive strength includes Best Buy’s resources and capabilities to secure a permanent or temporary competitive advantage and competitive parity. They allow the company to take an appropriate position in the external environment in relation to all its stakeholders, taking into account the resources and abilities available to it.
It can be noted that the main role in the formation of the competitive potential of Best Buy belongs to the consolidated self-government. It is their power and responsibility to create the most favorable and optimal customer environment and appropriate conditions for the development of business structures in their territories. As it was presented, the concept of competitive potential is broader than the concept of Best Buy’s competitive advantage, and it is necessary to clarify what parameters this concept consists of in order to understand the whole picture. When implementing Best Buy’s strategic life management, it is necessary to take into account the industrial parameters that characterize this form of business. It is these parameters that often make the activity of consumer electronics retail unique and original. With competently implemented strategic management, the parameters can be the basis for the formation of the competitive advantages of the enterprise.
Section Conclusion
All in all, there are two main recommendations, and the first one is the most prioritized and important one. It involves Best Buy gradually transitioning to online retail fully within a five-year period to leave the declining industry. The second recommendation is about the practical maximization of the industry by cash cowing the remaining capital out of it, but changes need to happen quickly within a year. The first recommendation will not directly incur costs since the closures will pay for themselves, but the alternative will need some investments.
General Conclusion
In conclusion, Best Buy operates in the SIC industry 5731, which is shared with two other large businesses, such as GameStop and Hapman. The competition is consolidated into three segments, which include gaming, industrial, and other consumer electronics. The most important point of the analysis is that the industry is in decline. The change was driven by demographic changes, but it was significantly facilitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The key success factors include having partnerships with suppliers, presenting products in an appealing manner, and proximity to markets, all of which are properly met by Best Buy. The internal analysis revealed that the company’s strengths are mission clarity, supplier partnerships, product presentation, customer proximity, cost leadership, and customer satisfaction. The weaknesses are related to marketing and communication of strengths as well as the competitor segments. The key recommendation is to leave the industry gradually within a five-year period not to suffer losses later due to decline. It translates into continuing to close stores and reallocating resources towards online shopping. The second recommendation is about cash cowing the industry till the last drop by penetrating the markets of the competitors.
References
Askar, S. S., & Al-Khedhairi, A. (2020). Dynamic investigations in a duopoly game with price competition based on relative profit and profit maximization. Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, 367, 112464. Web.
Best Buy Company. Fiscal 2022 annual report [PDF document]. Web.
Best Buy. (2022). About Best Buy. Web.
BestBuy. (2022). Tea & Megan [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Chatzoglou, P., Chatzoudes, D., Sarigiannidis, L., & Theriou, G. (2018). The role of firm-specific factors in the strategy-performance relationship: Revisiting the resource-based view of the firm and the VRIO framework. Management Research Review, 41(1), 46-73. Web.
Henry, A. E. (2018). Understanding strategic management (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2020). Strategic management: Concepts and cases: Competitiveness and globalization (13th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Ikeler, P., & Fullin, G. (2018). Training to empower: A decade of the Retail Action Project. BRILL. Web.
Kennedy, R., Jamison, E., Simpson, J., Kumar, P., Kemp, A., Awate, K., & Manning, K. (2020). Strategic management. Virginia Tech Publishing.
LHH. (2022). About us. Web.
Rydell, L., & Kucera, J. (2021). Cognitive attitudes, behavioral choices, and purchasing habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Self-Governance and Management Economics, 9(4), 35-47. Web.
SICODE. (2022). SIC code 5731 – Radio, television, and consumer electronics stores. Web.
Sides, R. R., Stephens, B., Bachman, D., & Skelly, L. (2022). The retail evolution’s great acceleration [PDF document]. Web.
Thomas, B. (2022). Industry report 44311: Consumer electronics stores in the US. IBISWorld.
Vomhof, J. (2021). Best Buy’s Allison Peterson talks ‘customer obsession’ at SXSW. Best Buy. Web.
Appendix
Exhibit 2: Financial Analysis
Exhibit 3: VRIO Analysis
Exhibit 4: Weighted Strength and Weakness Analysis