Circuit City Went Out of Business

The first Circuit City store opened in Richmond, Virginia in 1949. In the era of the first television sets evolving, founder Samuel Wertzel’s idea to create a variety electronics retail store was the first of its kind. The mission statement, “To make sure that we are all working in the same direction, each of us must live and breathe Circuit City's values and use them as a guidepost for our actions and decisions,” was the start of a very productive business that lasted short of six decades (Farfan, 2014).

Circuit City’s vision was to teach and respect the sales associates and treat them as family. The goals and objectives of management at the company’s beginning to evaluate the business and continue to analyze the organizations conduct. For many years Circuit City was the highest retailer in electronics. The change in economy and advancing technology are factors that if the initial vision and mission would have been in place, restructuring may have been successful. Circuit City became complacent in their management and the lack of applying the vision resulted in the company bankruptcy. Many competitors began to rise in the 1990’s. When Circuit City’s top management saw indications of failure they tried restructuring the company and downsizing. The company failed to reorganize due to lack of commitment and adversity to create an effective plan for change. They could no longer compete in the changing environment going against their initial mission statement to constantly analyze and make structural changes to evolve with the changing society. In November of 2008 the company filed for bankruptcy and eventually was bought out by the company Systemax. Systemax changed Circuit City into an online retailer, which eventually merged with another electronic e-commerce website called “tigerdirect” (Hamilton, 2008).

Farfan, Barbara (2014) Circuit City Mission Statement - Lost Vision Led to Bankruptcy and Liquidation. About.com Retail Industry. Retrieved from:...