HudsonS Bay Company Essay Research Paper INTRODUCTIONThe

Hudson.S Bay Company Essay, Research Paper

INTRODUCTION

The Hudson’s Bay Company is the oldest incorporated merchandising company in the world. The Bay has remained in business in North America after its incorporation on May 2, 1670 by the Royal Charter. The official title of the company is, “The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay”. This title is usually shortened to “Hudson’s Bay Company” or, just “the Bay.

I was attracted to the Hudson’s Bay Company because firstly, I am frequently shop at the Bay. As a result of this, I would like to show the pride and respect I have for this successful company and its great history. Secondly, I have easy access to the information required to complete this independent study. Lastly, as I am not an expert when it comes to the operations of the company, this independent study will enable me to achieve a deeper understanding of management, and how it affects me.

I utilized a number of resources in order to create this report. The resources are: Hudson’s Bay Company Annual Repoorts of 1996, 1997, 1998, Employee Training handbook, the Internet, and magazines. I combined these resources to produce a very informative report on the Hudson’s Bayu Company. In addition to this, the resources I used gave me a chance to cover many aspects and areas of this corporation. The topics covered in this report are: Company Profile, Human Resources, Customer Services, Organization, and Community Involvement.

I included these types of information to give you, the reader, a deep interpretation of the Hudson’s Bay Company.

To understand how the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) became the corporation it is today, a brief history is needed to gain some background knowledge. In the Bay’s first century of existence, it created forts on the Hudson Bay and traded furs to the Native Peoples. In the Bay’s second century, competition from the North West Company was acknowledged and responded to. This total time period of 200 years assisted in the discovery of Canada. In 1821, the two competitors merged under the name of Hudson’s Bay.

In the twentieth century, HBC began to concentrate on retailing which is it’s primary activity today. Between 1913 and 1968, HBC made downtown department stores in the major cities of western Canada. As time rolled along, the Bay moved into eastern Canada and the suburbs of major Canadian cities.

Between 1959 and 1987, the Hudson’s Bay Company and their primary investments in the oil and gas industries. The names of the organizations were Hudson’s Bay Oil & Gas, Siebens and Roxy Petroleum.

In 1978, HBC obtained Zellars, Simpsons in 1979. Between the years of 1986 and 1991, Simpsons was merged into the Bay. In 1990 and 1991, Zellers acquired Towers and therefore, Rowers merged into Zellers. In 1998, Zellers acquired Kmart Canada.

Today, the Bay and Zellers are the major operating divisions of Hudson’s Bay Company. It allows this corporation to cover the Canadian retail market across all price zones coast to coast. It is responsible for an estimated 37% of Canadian department store sales and almost 8% of all retail sales, accept for food and automobiles.

(HBC Annual Report 1996, pg #45 – The above information is from one resource.)

The company aims to advance its human and material resources and take advantage of its merchandising experience to forecast and satisfy the needs of customers for the goods and services. The HBC looks for these goods at fair prices, which in turn can earn a satisfactory return for it’s shareholders.

When you look at the historic 328 years of the Hudson’s Bay Company, you see the significance of change and the ability to adapt to the external environment as the great success of this Candian company. This is very evident when you view the 1998 fiscal year as a transition year full of critical, painful, and need self-evaluations. As a result, many goals and priorities were made.

1. INVENTORY: As a result of warehousing goods and returning them to the shelves, the stores were over-inventoried. Necessary changes were made to create a more clear and manageable store environment with fresh merchandise.

2. UNPRODUCTIVE STORES: From renovation, to a change in assortment, to the closing of the negative cash flow stores, each store was taken into consideration for appropriate action to create a productive change.

3. CREDIT: Through marketing opportunities, a large growth potential in Credit was concluded. The in-house credit is a big advantage in order to increase the use of Bay credit over bank credit cards.

4. SYSTEMS: A change in direction and an immediate improvement of systems was needed. An overhaul of inventory systems began to refine merchandising and ensure high demand goods were on the shelves for customers.

5. INCREASED COMPETITION/CUSTOMER SERVICE: The development of company strengths and differences was needed to deal with increased competition. As customers are very important in retailing, a centralization of focus on customer services was a great change

(HBC Annual Report 1998, Pg #3 – The above information is form one resource.)

COMPANY PROFILE

THE BAY

The Bay is Canada’s fashion department store with 100 locations east to west. The stores are positioned in the mid-range urban and

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