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industry in
Subsidiary Option 1: What was the approach of large distributors/wholesalers to small business
segment? Why?
2. What changes were taking place in the retail industry at this time?
3. What was target market that Staples was going? Who else was supplying this market?
4. What was the basic value proposition and business model of the startup? What was required
to turn that value proposition into a reality? What was the potential source of economic returns
that exceeded the cost of capital?
5. Why was Staples able to raise significant venture capital funds for what was, after all, nothing
more than a concept?
6. What were the managerial and organizational challenges facing the startup? How were these
challenges dealt with?
7. How important were the "information systems" to the successful execution of the Staples
concept?
8. Staples concept was quickly imitated, but ultimately the company emerged from the pack of
competitors to become an industry leader. Why?
9. Does the expansion of Staples into the delivery business make strategic and economic
sense?
Staples was the first office supplies superstore to open its doors. Established in 1985, Staples
and its imitators such as Office Depot have revolutionized the office supplies business. Today
Staples leads the retail office supplies market and it also has a rapidly expanding division
delivering office supplies directly to business. This case looks at the original founding of Staples,
and traces its growth over the next twenty years from a single store in Boston to the largest
office supplies retailer in the world. The case takes a detailed look inside the operations of a
leading retailer, and looks at the business level strategy Staples used.