Assignment:
Imagine that you are part of the management team at Home Plus, a regional discount big-box retailer who competes with Wal-Mart and Target. Home Plus currently focuses on offering a broad range of discount consumer goods, from small home furnishings and clothing to packaged goods and kitchenware. In addition to the discount lines, Home Plus carries some higher end clothes, shoes, and bedding. Some members of management believe that the best way to improve the company's competitive positioning is to concentrate more of its energies on the higher-end product lines. They have proposed that Home Plus double the number of luxury products it carries and halve the number of discount consumer packaged goods. In an essay, explain why you would agree or disagree with the proposed change in strategy. Be sure to discuss both the proposal's advantages and its disadvantages.