Career Research Assignement: TJX Companies And National Grid
One company: TJX Companies
TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods are retail stores that are very familiar to many people, even myself. These companies are all owned and run by the TJX Company. TJX Companies are a chain of off-price department stores that sell apparel, furniture, shoes, and basically anything else you can imagine. This company’s goal is to go global and be able to sell low priced merchandise to people of all ages. They want to satisfy everyone’s needs and do it with affordable, high quality retail. This is important to me because as a struggling college student, I need clothes that are high quality but also inexpensive. TJX stores are perfect stores for me and I also make sure to stop by and check out the new fashions and trends they have. The TJX Company controls about 5.69% of the market which is the second highest market share in the retail apparel industries. The highest market share is Target Corporation with 12.79% of the market. While TJX is the second company on the list of market shares, the division between them and Target is quite large.
Other competitors of the TJX Company include Macys, Inc., J.C. Penney, Sears, and Nordstrom. Due to the rapid growth in TJX Companies, many of the competitors have been forced to close many of their stores. In 2015 alone, the TJX Company made around $29 million in revenue and the revenue has only gone up since then. Because TJX rotates their clothing weekly, they always tend to have what is in fashion at the time. This reason alone, and the low prices, they have stayed on top and continuously grown as a company over time.
I have been shopping at Marshalls and TJMaxx ever since I was very young so working for them would be very interesting to see how the company runs. They offer internships that involve distribution operations. While I explained in the elevator pitch that I am very interested in problem solving and cooperating with other people to build and increase a company’s success, this internship offers this very concept. Instead of sitting at a desk all day and feeling trapped, I would actually be able to step out into the field and be able to experience, learn, and grow through different projects. The jobs they have to offer seem to fit exactly what I would want to do in the future. While I have not declared a particular major yet, I would love to work this internship and get a sense of whether or not I would enjoy this type of work. When I begin looking for internships, this will be the type of work I am looking for which is why I am very interested in working for the TJX Company.
Second company: National Grid
Third company: Converse
Many people believe that Converse simply sells shoes and that’s it but little do they know, the company does much more. Converse makes various different types of shoes too, sneakers, basketball shoes, etc. Converse has even extended it's brand into making clothing and other apparel. Yes, Converse has been making and selling shoes for over a century now but their goal is different than just shoes and apparel. Converse wants to empower the community and give people the power to express themselves comfortably. They believe that their shoes allow people to show who they truly they and be themselves. This is important to me because I have chosen to wear converse for years now while other girls have been wearing sandals and heels. The Converse mission statement applies to me and I would love to be hired by the Converse company. In the whole shoe industry, Converse is relatively on top. Converse is owned by Nike, which can be seen as an advantage and disadvantage. This is an advantage because since Nike bought Converse, the global revenue has dramatically increased. In the year before Nike bought it, Converse made $205 million in revenue but ever since, the company has become much more successful. In 2018 alone, the Converse company has made $1.9 billion in revenue.
A disadvantage is that even though they are a division of Nike, Nike still poses as one of their biggest competitors. Their other competitors include Reebok, New Balance, Adidas, and Puma which essentially are the top shoe distributors. Converse is among the most favorable shoe companies in the world. I am interested in working for Converse because I have been a fan of their brand for years now. I would love to have the opportunity to help and see how they run their company. The job posting on Handshake for Converse lists a data science intern. This person would invest themselves into the company and develop new strategies to help them make decisions based on past and future data and statistics.
As time went on, this person would continuously evolve these strategies and techniques with other companies and team members to improve the functioning of their analytics platform. I am not stuck in a major currently so I am very open to trying out new internships and seeing what I like and would like to do in the future. This internship comes off as something that I would be interested in so I would love to be hired and be able to experience it for myself. I am leaning towards an Operations and Information Management major and this internship seems to apply to people within this major.
