1. How would you characterize the office supplies industry in 1985?
Subsidiary Option 1: What was the approach of large distributors/wholesalers to small business segment? Why?
Subsidiary Option 2: Who serves large accounts?
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?
Subsidiary Option: What was the unmet need here?
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.