As Richard L. Keyser will tell you implementing change is not easy to master — particularly when the company is already successful.
The chairman and CEO of W.W. Grainger
Inc. says it’s much more difficult to get the
attention of the organization when things are
going well.
Founded in 1927 and publicly traded since
1967, the Lake Forest-based distributor of
facility maintenance products hit the $1 billion sales mark in 1984, $5 billion in 2004 and
posted record revenue of $5.9 billion in 2006,
while expanding operations throughout
North America and recently into China.
Keyser, who was elected CEO in 1995 and
chairman in 1997, has worked hard to make
sure that Grainger did not become inward-looking and lose touch with customer priorities. He led an initiative to increase domestic
market share by systemically re-examining
its positioning in the nation’s top markets.
The market expansion initiative has
already contributed positively to Grainger’s
branch-based sales growth, and by investing
in infrastructure, strengthening customer
relationships and communicating the strategy throughout the organization, all indications point to that growth continuing.
Today, Grainger is able to provide same-day
or next-day delivery of any of more than
350,000 products to virtually the entire country.
Moving forward, Keyser says he now considers the market-by-market evaluation an
evergreen program that will extend far
beyond its original plan, which focused on
Grainger’s 25 largest markets. Additionally, in
order to better monitor the success of the
program in improving service to customers,
markets where Grainger’s operations have
already been tweaked will be revisited and
readjusted where necessary.
HOW TO REACH: W.W.Grainger Inc., www.grainger.com