Fortune 500

Family Dollar Fortune 500

Ruth Geter

GB 540

Unit 4 Assignment

May 03, 2016

Family Dollar

Introduction

Getting into the Fortune 500 is not as easy. A company has to mature well beyond its start-up years to reach the revenue threshold, $4.825 billion for this year's list. Of course, most never make it. The few companies that do make the list share five crucial traits: adaptability, long-term focus, people priority, strong ideas over financial capital, and non-stop growth. Family Dollar is no stranger to any of these traits. Family Dollar started in 1959. Summarizing their history, their economic, social, and political forces that have had and may still be affecting Family Dollar will be addressed. As with any company they produce strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. For Family Dollar to remain successful in the future careful predictions need to be made, proper planning, and the company must adjust these predictions and plans in the future.

History

In November 1959, Leon Levine opened the first Family Dollar store in Charlotte, North Carolina, and was on his way of becoming a retail legend. Mind you Leon was only 21 years of age when he opened his first store, but believed he could offer customer high-quality, good value merchandise for under $2. Levine understood value, quality, and customer satisfaction. Levine had a store plan that made it easy for customer’s to shop and managers to pay close attention to customer service.

Family Dollar has increased it’s variety of products and services since 1959. Today they have an assortment of refrigerated and frozen foods, health and beauty aid items, to home decorations and seasonal items. Family dollars vision is to be the best small-format value and convenience retailer serving the needs of customer in the neighborhoods they serve. They do have a Family Hope Community Foundation that aims to give back to organizations that help local families in need. Today, Family Dollar is a chain with over...