Research Paper on:
Sears Roebuck - Strategic Audit

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Sears Canada (Multex Investor, 2003). In June 2002, Sears acquired Lands End, Inc, a company specializing in traditionally-styled casual clothing for the entire family, footwear, accessories, soft luggage and home  products (Multex Investor, 2003). This acquisition seems to be a win-win deal. Lands End became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears and will gain and even larger direct sales customer  database while Sears will gain a brand that is known for quality and service. Lands End has traditionally sold its products through a flagship and specialty catalogs and it has  gained a wide presence on the Web (Hoovers, 2002). Besides gaining a respected brand, Sears also gains the direct marketing expertise and experience a company that has a reputation of  being one of the most efficiently run direct marketers in the world (Scheraga, 2002). All of Sears direct marketing efforts are now handled by Lands End (Scheraga, 2002). Internal and  external environment scans can begin with a SWOT analysis. SWOT - Internal Strengths and Weaknesses; External Opportunities and Threats. Internal Strengths: * The marriage of Sears and Lands End  gives Sears a much-needed boost in expertise in the arena of direct marketing and sales and also of gaining a strong presence on the Internet (Halligan, 2002). * This marriage  also gives Lands End face-to-face consumer exposure wherein consumers can try on the clothes in their Sears store before buying (Scheraga, 2002). * Sears now has several known  branded goods, e.g., Craftsman, Lands End, Kenmore and all of their merchandise that carries their own brands, such as Lands End Oxford Express brand of shirts (Halligan, 2002). *  Has an extensive customer database (Prentice-Hall, 2003). Internal Weaknesses: * Sears has allowed their reputation and sales volume to plummet because they did not keep up with the changing market