Chanda ranga: Car Parts Replacement

Saturday 4 August 2012

Car Parts Replacement

Prince attended the University of Memphis before joining Genuine Parts in 1958 as a stock clerk. He steadily climbed the corporate ladder, becoming vice president and then group vice president from 1977 to 1983 and executive vice president from 1983 to 1986. In 1986 he was named president and chief operating officer, posts he held until becoming chief executive officer in 1989. One year later, in 1990, Prince was named chairman of the board of directors.
Both Prince and the former chairman of Genuine Parts, Wilton Looney, had never worked for any other firm. Moreover, Prince, while he indicated that he had no plans to step down, announced that his choice for successor would be another long-term employee, President Thomas Gallagher. The two had worked together for more than 30 years, and Prince considered them to be almost interchangeable. This consistency in upper management, manifesting in a shared vision, contributed to the overall success of Genuine Parts over the years. In 2004 the company was approaching five decades of annual dividend increases and continued growth while still maintaining a low profile. That year it also sat in the top 10 percent of Standard & Poor's (S&P's) 500, owing to a dividend yield of 3.6 percent.

Genuine Parts Company was founded in 1928 to service the automotive replacement parts industry. In the 1970s Prince, as vice president, played a role in the acquisition of the S. P. Richards Company, an office-supply company with sales of $28 million. By 2003 the office-supply group of Genuine Parts was bringing in sales of nearly $1.5 billion. Notwithstanding, Genuine Parts was mostly known for its NAPA parts outlets. Although NAPA was an independent marketing organization that predated the company, Genuine Parts continued over the years to acquire and open NAPA outlets. Through Prince, NAPA distribution stores sprouted up around the country, supplying major repair chains, neighborhood shops, and do-it-yourselfers with quality automobile replacement parts. By the early 2000s almost 90 percent of NAPA's membership was composed of Genuine Parts outlets and jobbers.