Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | December 5, 2016 | Worcester Business Journal 9 W The 2016 was our most successful ever, thanks to these generous sponsors: Presenting Sponsor Champion Sponsor Benefit Development Group – Risk Strategies Supporting Sponsors Fletcher Tilton PC Attorneys at Law Hanover Insurance Foundation Metso Automation TD Bank UniBank Friendship Sponsors Bowditch & Dewey Camosse Masonry Supply Cardinal Construction Carr Financial Commerce Bank Creedon & Company Curry Printing David & Julie Crowley Pagano Media Raymond James UMass Memorial Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare WB Mason Worcester Business Journal Worcester Railers Hockey Club Youth Sponsors AdCare Hospital Anna Maria College Anthony's Barber Shop Bank of America Braley Wellington Group Coghlin Companies DCU Eastern Insurance Fidelity Bank FlexCon Jeff & Kris Fox Greenleaf Construction Leominster Credit Union Letourneau Property Maintenance Millbury Federal Credit Union Millbury Savings Bank Mirick O'Connell Mountain Dearborn National Grid Quaker Special Risk Saint Gobain Southbridge Savings Bank St. Mary's Credit Union UMass Medical School USI Insurance Wetzel Group Gala for Kids Congratulations to District Attorney Joseph D. Early, Jr. – recipient of the 2016 Maurice J. Boisvert Champions for Children Award Special thanks to our talented Master of Ceremonies & Auctioneer, Peter Stanton, Worcester Business Journal Publisher www.youinc.org The Workbar coworking space at Staples' store in Brighton is part of its larger strategy to provide more services to small and midsized businesses. off all United Kingdom stores. This sets up a focus on North America and an expansion into the mid-market, with the company acquiring Capital Office Products, who is a player in the middle- market throughout a number of southern states like Florida and Georgia. Too little, too late? The big question that remains is wheth- er all of this will be enough to turn the direction of a company with years of momentum behind a focus on office sup- plies. Sales related to its core office market have been slipping for years, and yet it wasn't until 2016 that the company had laid out a comprehensive plan to come to terms with the digital age. Unless it can capitalize on these new areas, Staples will be stuck striving to get a larger piece of a shrinking market, said Wintermantel. He agrees with the compa- ny's plans to cut its European market, and ideally they would have much fewer retail outlets or none at all, but even then all these plans may be a bit too little too late. "That's exactly what it is. It's a little late and probably not making a big difference," he said. "They're in a tough position." But Staples is moving fast. Changes that would take some companies years to man- ifest have already taken place since the final announcement regarding Office Depot. And in talking to Doody, it becomes clear that many of these initia- tives were queued up but on hold pending the years of integration work that would have followed a merger with Office Depot. Merging the two companies would have taken years, said Doody who would have headed up integrating the two companies. So the company could not simultaneously move forward with the initiatives in plan B, but now it is all hands on deck.

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