Corporate Strategies in the New Market - Research Paper Example

The two corporations had specific strategies and functions as they moved into independent concepts. However, after merging, different ideologies and propositions became the main function of the corporations. K-mart began as a company in the United States in 1899 as one of the first retail and merchandising supercenters, owned by Sebastian Kresge. The store was opened in Detroit and was then known as a five-and-dime superstore, which meant that everything sold in the shop was available at a lower price of five or 10 cents.

By 1912, the concept of Kresge led to more than 85 stores opening in Detroit and led to sales of over $10 million annually. By the time the Great Depression came, Kresge could sustain his business because of the stores that expanded beyond the financial failures, specifically by offering more jobs and convenient prices. The main philosophy is to provide quality products at affordable prices. The newer storefronts opened in 1920, which included opening stores that sold everything for less than $1 as well as green front stores, which provided other types of low-cost items (Kmart, 2010).

The main strategy of offering low prices for different items continued to emerge through the 1930s as other competitors began to move into the storefront, specifically with retail items. Kmart had been in existence for a long time which gave it the advantage of excelling as the top promotional retailer. In 1960, the change came from the new CEO, Henry Cunningham, who opened the first official Kmart in Garden City. The expansion led to 17 new stores as well as $483 million in annual profit.

The main focus was to provide lower retail prices as well as to emerge into a superstore, which provided almost every type of product in one store for convenience. By the mid–1960s, Kmart had over 753 stores and made $1 billion in annual profit. The main accomplishment was the launch of the first set of super stores that led to over 17 million square feet of property (Kmart, 2010).