Walgreens Essay

Ana Cruz Comprehensive Case Analysis of Walgreens Company Abstract: This paper will provide insight into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the Walgreens Company, the nation’s leading drugstore chain. The company’s key stakeholders – customers, employees and the community are also identified and an explanation provided as to how the company is satisfying the needs and wants of each stakeholder type. This paper analyzes the strengths of the company as the industry

History [edit] Company history A typical Walgreens Pharmacy. The Walgreens chain began in 1901, with a drug store on the corner of Bowen Ave and Cottage Grove, Chicago, Illinois, United States owned by Galesburg native Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.[6] By 1915, there were five Walgreen drugstores. He added several improvements to the stores such as soda fountains and luncheon service. He also began to make his own line of drug products and was then able to control the quality of the items and sell

Walgreens provides a look into their locus in the industry through declarations of purpose, vision, mission, and guiding principles or “stars”. These statements give the public an idea of where they have been, their intent on delivering value to consumers, and what their business is based upon. We learned previously that family was a large part of where Walgreens originated from. Their purpose statement says “We help people across the world lead healthier and happier lives.” (Walgreens Boots Alliance

Walgreens headquarters is located on 200 Wilmot Road in Deerfield Illinois (Walgreens Corp. Office), they currently operate 8,173 stores in all fifty states, district of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (Facts & FAQ). With this many locations they have a large workforce, employing over 240,000 people (Facts &FAQ). About 30% of employees are healthcare providers which include pharmacy technicians, pharmacists and other heath-related professions (Facts & FAQ). The organization’s main competitive

CVS and Walgreens continue to fight as top competitors in a growing market. CVS has over 7,000 stores nationwide and is expanding, as is Walgreens today with over 8,000 stores. This market isn’t particularly easy to enter as a major player in the market early because of all the work that needs to be put in to install as many brick and mortar stores or get that much of the market share in a short amount of time. It takes many years to be truly established as a pharmacy chain as Walgreens has experienced

Walgreens When forming Walgreens in 1901, Mr. Charles Rudolph Walgreen had a vision of changing drugstores from humdrum fronts to actual businesses that imparted value to customers. He had worked in pharmacies before, and he had a vision of what he wanted. However, even he would not have known that it would grow to the behemoth it is now. The company is the biggest drug distributor in the United States and its territories. Its headquarters are still in Chicago, and it has survived in a pharmaceutical

The two primary strategies chosen to focus on for Walgreens are the Customer Relationship and Leverage Strategies. For each strategy specific goals have been developed with specified timelines and action plans for implementation. Under the Leverage Strategy the primary goal is to be identified as the global leader in pharmaceutical retailers by leveraging the merger with Alliance Boots within 3 years. This goal primarily falls under the team directed by the Chief Strategy and Business Development

The early years of the Walgreens organization focused on expanding the footprint of the operation. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) To support this expansion Walgreens used a “command and control” strategy as a means of exercising leadership and communicating with employees. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) As the competitive landscape began to change, Walgreens recognized that it too needed a makeover. (Wagner & Orvis, 2013) New competition entered the market such as mail order pharmacies, big box retailer pharmacies

While Walgreens does some exceptional things to serve their customer, they do so in an environment that includes several direct competitors and indirect pharmaceutical solutions. The market is evolving very quickly and the speed and agility in which they conduct their business is critical to remaining a leading force in the industry. Major competitors such as CVS and Rite-Aid are two of the biggest external forces that Walgreens is presently competing against. (Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. Competitors

Walgreens is a drugstore that also sells health and beauty products, household items, office supplies, toys, and food and beverages. The wide variety of items combined with the in-store pharmacy makes Walgreens a popular destination for shoppers who have busy lives and need a one-stop-shop for affordable prescriptions and everyday essentials. The Walgreens Black Friday ad is always popular, because the retailer offers great deals on tons of items across all departments in the store. In addition