Circuit City
 Founded in 1949 as the Wards Company.
 Circuit City is headquartered in Richmond, Virginia.
 At the time of the liquidation announcement
(January 16, 2009), the company operated 567
stores in 153 media markets in the U.S.
 The liquidation will not affect Canadian stores.
Circuit City
 “From 1982-1999 Circuit City generated cumulative
stock returns 22 times better than the market,
handily beating Intel, Wal-Mart, GE, HewlettPackard and Coca-Cola” – Jim Collins
 2001 Best Buy has surpassed Circuit City
 #3 Retailer behind Best Buy and Wal-Mart
Circuit City
 Changes for Circuit City
 Customer focused business
 Plans to utilize technology
 Sold noncore businesses
 Pay structure
 Relocating stores
 New management
Circuit City
How would anticipating Best Buy’s growth have
helped Circuit City remain as an industry leader?
1.
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Competitive Strategy – how an organization is going to
compete in a specific business or industry.
SWOT analysis
Circuit City
2. Why is keeping up with technology critical to a
global company such as Circuit City?

Reducing Costs
Improving Productivity
Generating Growth

People, Information and Information Technology


Circuit City
3. Highlight some of the potential risks facing Circuit
City’s new business model.

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Resistance to change
Expensive IT infrastructure
Circuit City
4. Why is Circuit City benefiting from implementing
strategic product placement techniques?

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Functional Strategy – short-term goal directed decisions and
actions of the organization’s various functional areas
Increased sales
Recognized as being “easy” to shop
Current Information
 567 US stores
 Employs approx. 34,000 people
 Operating under bankruptcy protection since



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November
Liquidated 155 stores this year
Sales plummeted during holiday season
Vendors demanding up front payment
Will be liquidated under bankruptcy laws
Resources
Lattman, P., & McCracken, J. (2009, January 16). Clock
ticks for Circuit City sale. The Wall Street Journal, p. B1.
Circuit City Stores Inc. to liquidate (2009, ). Retrieved
January 21, 2009, from
www.circuitcity.com/releasedetail
Coulter, M. (2008). Strategic management in action (4th
ed., pp. 7-8). Upper Saddle River , NJ: Pearson Prentice
Hall.
Haag, S., Baltzan, P., & Phillips, A. (2008). Business driven
technology (2nd ed., pp. 7-11). Boston: McGraw Hill .