The company needed greater agility in managing how it responded to customer demands, and also needed to have much greater control over inventory management as a process as well. In responding to these strategic weaknesses in the company, Mr. Nardelli invested $1B in new information systems and created entirely new information systems platforms for the more efficient sharing of sales data between stores and with regional and worldwide headquarters in Atlanta. As a result of this system, Home Depot was able to capitalize on the building boom of the 1990s that lasted into the 21st century, and soundly beat their financial estimates of performance as a result. These systems were also directly responsible for the company gaining market share over Lowes' and other do-it-yourself chains globally as well (Reingold, 2008). The use of it as a strategic advantage, combined with its reporting accuracy of key metrics, was used by Mr. Nordelli to continually drive accountability into the organization. The result was that the fast-moving products that were lower margin yet highly price competitive were more profitable than ever. The company's focus on higher-end services selling continued to gain in performance as the processes used in these higher-end businesses had been re-architected using Six Sigma techniques. Mr. Nardelli was however did not take into account...

He has since been defended for his passionate focus on results by his former boss, Jack Welch, who says Home Depot benefits from Mr. Nordelli's tough management style more than they realize (Welch, 2007).
Conclusion

The fact that Bob Nardelli took a laid-back, often unfocused do-it-yourself home retail chain and created one of the most profitable chains globally is a testament to how powerful accountability and measurement is as a control strategy in management. The reliance on continual improvement as defined by Six Sigma certainly accelerated his ability to transform and grow the company over time.

References

Richard H. Franke, Anthony J. Mento, Steve M. Prumo, & Timothy W. Edlund. (2007). General Electric Performance over a Half Century: Evaluation of Effects of Leadership and Other Strategic Factors by Quantitative Case Analysis. International Journal of Business, 12(1), 137-150.

Grow, B., Brady, D. & Arndt, M. (2006). Renovating Home Depot. Business Week, March 6, 2006, Issue 3974, Pages 50-55, 2003

Jennifer Reingold (2008, September). HOME DEPOT'S TOTAL REHAB. Fortune, 158(6), 159.

Jack and…