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==History==
==History==
[[Gerry Harvey]] and Ian Norman opened their first store in 1961, which specialised in electrical goods and appliances. Its success prompted Harvey and Norman to expand the business and conducted talks with retailer Keith Lord who sought to expand his own retail group. They could not settle on a name for the new business, with Harvey and Lord reluctant to take on the other's name. They eventually decided to retain Norman's name and that of its first store manager Peter Ross. This spawned the retail chain Norman Ross.<ref name=funding>{{cite web|publisher=Funding Universe|title=Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd - Company History|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Harvey-Norman-Holdings-Ltd-Company-History.html|accessdate=2009-02-04}}</ref>
[[Gerry Harvey]] and Ian "The Chode" Norman opened their first store in 1961, which specialised in electrical goods and appliances. Its success prompted Harvey and Norman to expand the business and conducted talks with retailer Keith Lord who sought to expand his own retail group. They could not settle on a name for the new business, with Harvey and Lord reluctant to take on the other's name. They eventually decided to retain Norman's name and that of its first store manager Peter Ross. This spawned the retail chain Norman Ross.<ref name=funding>{{cite web|publisher=Funding Universe|title=Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd - Company History|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Harvey-Norman-Holdings-Ltd-Company-History.html|accessdate=2009-02-04}}</ref>


Norman Ross became one of the largest appliance retail chains and by 1979 controlled 42 stores with sales exceeding $A240 million. In the early 1980s [[Alan Bond (businessman)|Alan Bond]] and [[Grace Bros.]] sought to acquire the chain, spawning a bidding war that saw Grace Bros incorporate the chain in 1982. Three weeks later however, a determined Alan Bond successfully convinced the Grace Bros. director Michael Grace to sell the chain to Bond. Shortly after, Harvey and Norman were given notice and redundancy package of six months pay. Reasons for their sacking were not publicised, although Harvey later told ''[[The Daily Telegraph (Australia)|The Daily Telegraph]]'':
Norman Ross became one of the largest appliance retail chains and by 1979 controlled 42 stores with sales exceeding $A240 million. In the early 1980s [[Alan Bond (businessman)|Alan Bond]] and [[Grace Bros.]] sought to acquire the chain, spawning a bidding war that saw Grace Bros incorporate the chain in 1982. Three weeks later however, a determined Alan Bond successfully convinced the Grace Bros. director Michael Grace to sell the chain to Bond. Shortly after, Harvey and Norman were given notice and redundancy package of six months pay. Reasons for their sacking were not publicised, although Harvey later told ''[[The Daily Telegraph (Australia)|The Daily Telegraph]]'':

Revision as of 08:31, 19 January 2012

Harvey Norman Holdings Limited
Company typePublic (ASX: HVN)
IndustryRetail: Computer, Electrical, Furniture and Bedding goods
FoundedAuburn, New South Wales (October 1982)
Headquarters
Homebush West, New South Wales
,
Australia
Key people
Gerry Harvey, Chairman/Co-Founder
Ian Norman, Co-Founder
John Slack-Smith, Chief Operating Officer
Katie Page, Managing Director
Chris Mentis, Chief Financial Officer
RevenueIncreaseA$7.76 billion (2011)
Including revenue from franisee's
IncreaseA$417 million (2011)
IncreaseA$252 million (2011)
Number of employees
Est. 10,000 (Australia Only)
407 (Homebush West Headquarters) (29 September 2006)
Websitewww.harveynorman.com.au
Footnotes / references
[1]

Harvey Norman is a large Australian-based retailer of electrical, computer, furniture, entertainment and bedding goods. It is effectively a franchise and the main brand owned by Harvey Norman Holdings Limited.[2] There are more than 230 Harvey Norman stores [3][4][5][6][7] in Australia, New Zealand, Slovenia, Ireland, Malaysia, Croatia and Singapore altogether.[8]

Harvey Norman Holdings Limited is franchisor of several other Australian retail chains such as Domayne, Space Furniture, Ariston Appliances and Joyce Mayne.[2]

History

Gerry Harvey and Ian "The Chode" Norman opened their first store in 1961, which specialised in electrical goods and appliances. Its success prompted Harvey and Norman to expand the business and conducted talks with retailer Keith Lord who sought to expand his own retail group. They could not settle on a name for the new business, with Harvey and Lord reluctant to take on the other's name. They eventually decided to retain Norman's name and that of its first store manager Peter Ross. This spawned the retail chain Norman Ross.[9]

Norman Ross became one of the largest appliance retail chains and by 1979 controlled 42 stores with sales exceeding $A240 million. In the early 1980s Alan Bond and Grace Bros. sought to acquire the chain, spawning a bidding war that saw Grace Bros incorporate the chain in 1982. Three weeks later however, a determined Alan Bond successfully convinced the Grace Bros. director Michael Grace to sell the chain to Bond. Shortly after, Harvey and Norman were given notice and redundancy package of six months pay. Reasons for their sacking were not publicised, although Harvey later told The Daily Telegraph:

I said I wished Bond would pack up his marbles and go back to Perth. Then I got a telegram telling me I was sacked.

— Gerry Harvey[9]

Norman Ross later went into liquidation in 1992.[10] In October 1982, Harvey and Norman purchased a new shopping centre in outer Sydney suburb Auburn for $A3 million, and opened the first Harvey Norman store. The enterprise was intended to be a single store but its success led to the opening of others. Harvey Norman Holdings Limited was listed on the Australian stock market on 3 September 1987.

In the early 1990s Harvey Norman adopted the superstore format then successful in the United States and entered the computer and furniture markets. Harvey Norman growth came organically until it acquired Joyce Mayne in 1998. Further acquisitions followed and by 2000 the chain had 100 stores.[11]

A Harvey Norman superstore in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

Company structure

Harvey Norman's operating structure is unusual in that each store department (bedding, furniture, computer and/or electrical) is operated by a separate franchisee. Thus many superstores are a combination of three or four separate businesses with each franchisee contributing revenue to Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd through lease payments and a portion of sales.

As each section is a separate franchise the salespeople will only work within their franchise, for example, an employee in the computer department will generally not be permitted to assist customers in the furniture, bedding and electrical departments.

Each department also has its own checkout for its products. The warehouse is shared by the separate franchisees.

Harvey Norman in the Queen Street Mall, Brisbane

Home renovations

Harvey Norman Design and Renovations is a subsidiary of Harvey Norman Holdings Limited. The design and renovations arm of the company specialises in bathroom, kitchen, wardrobe, home office, bars and home theatre renovations, and features showroom franchises in Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales. The Victorian and South Australian outlets have since closed, leaving 5 New South Wales outlets in operation.

Stationery

In August 2007, market analysts suggested Harvey Norman would launch a rival "big-box" stationery and office supplies competitor to Officeworks before June 2008. Harvey Norman has registered the brand name OFIS and as a result of the acquisition of former Megamart and Retravision stores, has access to well-placed potential sites on which to open Officeworks-sized outlets.[12] In December 2007, Harvey Norman announced it would be opening its first two OFIS stores in Albury and the Sydney suburb of Auburn in March 2008. They aimed to have 100 stores within ten years.[13] In all, five OFIS outlets were established, but proved unprofitable and in February 2009 Harvey Norman stated it would close all of the stores by June 2009 and abandon the concept.[14]

Harvey Norman International

Harvey Norman's stores are in:[15]

Norman Ross

Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd operates Norman Ross stores in New Zealand. The first store, in New Zealand, started in 4 December 2007,1st floor, 28 Rutherford street, Lower Hutt, Wellington.

Online store

On 22 December 2011, Harvey Norman launched their online store Harvey Norman Direct Import based in Ireland to ship games to buyers in Australia.[16] The prices for video games are cheaper than the Australia-based online store of Harvey Norman.[17]

Controversies & Criticism

  • In 1995 the ACCC acted against Harvey Norman for knowingly distributing a catalogue which included more than 20 errors. These included illustrations of sale items with incorrect accessories or functions and packages describing features that it did not, in fact, actually have.[18]
  • In 2000 before the Australian implementation of the Goods and Services Tax the ACCC alleged that Harvey Norman advertised Quicken Quickbooks for $199 with bonus software valued at more than $900 while aware that the quantities of bonus software were insufficient to meet consumer demand. Harvey Norman was also alleged to have misled consumers regarding tax benefits associated with the purchase of Quicken Quickbooks and digital cameras.[19]
  • In November 2008, the company's chief executive, Gerry Harvey, was heavily criticised for comparing Ireland's economic problems with the Irish potato famine, an event which saw the deaths of over a million people.[20][21][22][23][24] Harvey has since refused to apologise, admonishing the Irish for their poor sense of humour, stating: "It doesn’t say much about a people when they can’t take something like that on the chin and get on with it."[25]
  • On 8 October 2011, four environmentalist activists illegally climbed the Sydney Opera House and spread out a banner over one of the sails reading "No Harvey Norman No! Stop selling Aussie forest destruction" as part of a protest against the retailer's profiting from environmental damage. A spokesperson for the protesters said in an interview the "profiting from the destruction of our spectacular forests is absolutely unacceptable". Harvey Norman had previously mentioned they were being "unfairly targeted" and were trying "their best" to sell products from sustainable timber. The protesters were arrested shortly after the event.[26]
  • In December 2011, Harvery Norman was fined $1.25m (AUD) by the Federal Court of Australia for misleading advertising relating to their promotion of 3D Televisions to watch the NRL and AFL Grand Final in areas which could not receive 3D signals[27].

Relationship with Flexirent

Flexirent has had very close ties to Harvey Norman since 1995 and is heavily marketed in stores. Flexirent is alleged to have strong elements of predatory lending practises.[28][29]

In addition, Gerry Harvey has himself asserted on primetime Australian television in a January 2008 airing of Today Tonight that Flexirent should be turned down by the average family. This is despite Harvey Norman's indiscriminate promotion of the product onto its entire customer base.[30]

Sponsorship

Harvey Norman's major sponsorships include

See also

References

  1. ^ "2011 Full Year Results". Retrieved 1 September 2011.>
  2. ^ a b "Harvey Norman Corporate Profile". Archived from the original on 21 June 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2007.
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ [3]
  6. ^ [4]
  7. ^ [5]
  8. ^ Store locations
  9. ^ a b "Harvey Norman Holdings Ltd - Company History". Funding Universe. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
  10. ^ "Harvey looks to bring back Norman Ross brand in NZ". Retrieved 25 December 2008.
  11. ^ "Official Company Profile - History" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2007.
  12. ^ "Harvey will get into stationery". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 August 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2007.
  13. ^ "Harvey to take on Officeworks". The Australian. 4 December 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2008.
  14. ^ "Harvey Norman closes five OFIS stores". The Age, Melbourne. 3 February 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2009.
  15. ^ "About Us". harveynorman.com.au. Harvey Norman. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
  16. ^ [6]
  17. ^ [7]
  18. ^ "Harvey Norman undertakings after catalogue advertising errors". Retrieved 25 June 2007.
  19. ^ "ACCC institutes against Harvey Norman Holdings Pty Ltd". Retrieved 25 June 2007.
  20. ^ http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1127/presswatch-business.html
  21. ^ http://www.irishnews.com/appnews/540/5860/2008/11/26/603856_364642067737Tycoonfac.html
  22. ^ http://www.independent.ie/national-news/harvey-regrets-his-norman-invasion-1554688.html
  23. ^ http://www.businessworld.ie/livenews.htm?a=2345743;s=rollingnews.htm
  24. ^ http://www.westernpeople.ie/news/story/?trs=eycwmhojey
  25. ^ http://news.irishecho.com.au/2008/12/02/harvey-norman-chief-unapologetic-over-potato-famine-jibe/
  26. ^ "ACTIVISTS SCALE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE". Yahoo7.
  27. ^ "Harvey Norman fined $1.25m over misleading TV ads". News Limited. Retrieved 9 December 2011. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  28. ^ ACT Office Of Regulatory Services - Flexirent Deals Require a Long Hard Look
  29. ^ A Loan In Lease Clothing - The Micah Law Centre
  30. ^ Herald Sun Editorial, 16 February 2008
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