Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • March 2009
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

The Home Depot: Leadership in Crisis Management

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Melissa Tritter
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:20
ShareBar

Abstract

Examines the challenges The Home Depot faced in the aftermath of natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Andrew. By providing 40,000 to 50,000 items sold by knowledgeable associates, The Home Depot became a destination place for customers in need of anything from shovels to a new kitchen sink or supplies to use in recovering from a hurricane or flood. Disasters are thus both a source of disruption to the company's operations and a source of additional demand for its products and services. How, then, should The Home Depot organize itself in advance of disaster events?

Keywords

Disruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Leadership; Crisis Management; Logistics; Natural Disasters; Retail Industry

Citation

Leonard, Herman B., Marc J. Epstein, and Melissa Tritter. "The Home Depot: Leadership in Crisis Management." Harvard Business School Case 309-055, March 2009.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Dutch Leonard

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • July 2022 (Revised November 2022)
    • Faculty Research

    Building a Mishap-Free U.S. Navy

    By: Amy C. Edmondson, Herman B. Leonard, Michael W. Toffel and Michael Norris
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Key Success Factors in Environmental Entrepreneurship: The Case of Wilderness Safaris

    By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Woods and Herman B. Leonard
    • November 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Wilderness Safaris: Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis

    By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard
More from the Authors
  • Building a Mishap-Free U.S. Navy By: Amy C. Edmondson, Herman B. Leonard, Michael W. Toffel and Michael Norris
  • Key Success Factors in Environmental Entrepreneurship: The Case of Wilderness Safaris By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Woods and Herman B. Leonard
  • Wilderness Safaris: Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College