Staples Argentina

Staples Argentina is the subsidiary of the American office supply chain Staples in Argentina and Brazil. The company is headquartered in Buenos Aires. Staples Argentina is the largest office supply company in Argentina and one of the top three in Brazil.

Staples Argentina
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryOffice supplies
Founded1997
HeadquartersBuenos Aires, Argentina, South America
Number of locations
4 stores, 4 warehouses (2014)[1]
Key people
Santiago Bilinkis
(Founder)
Andrés Freire
(Founder)
OwnerStaples Inc.
Number of employees
170 (2011)
Websitewww.staples.com.ar

The company gained international recognition after Harvard Business School Professor Walter Kuemmerle wrote two cases for the International Entrepreneurship course.[2][3]

History

Officenet was founded in 1997 by Andy Freire and Santiago Bilinkis. Seed capital was provided by four angel investors from Argentina. The next year, Officenet was selected as an Endeavor Entrepreneur.

For a short period in 1999 and 2000, Officenet was a part of Submarino, Inc. Submarino started acquisition of Officenet in 1999, and the merger was finished on February 29, 2000. With the help of Submarino, Officenet expanded into Brazil that year, setting its office and warehouse in Sao Paulo. By the end of 2000, however, new investors in Officenet force a de-merge between the two companies.

Officenet was purchased by Staples Inc. in 2004. This acquisition applied to both Officenet Argentina and Officenet Brazil. The first Staples store opened in Argentina on 13 May 2008, followed by a second on November 14, although operated under the Officenet corporatation. The company retained the original Officenet name until 2011, when it was rebranded as Staples Argentina.[4]

Officenet Argentina started one of the first corporate blogs in the country, in 2006.[5][6] Advantages to a corporate blog include enhancing and continuing "a trusted relationship with consumers," improving employee satisfaction, and enabling market research.[7] Experts say that corporate blogs like Officenet's are underused in Argentina, thereby wasting these opportunities.[7] In 2009, usability consultant Jakob Nielsen used Officenet as a case study in his Social Networking on Intranets column.[8]

Staples Argentina has been often cited for its corporate code. Harvard Business School Professor Walter Kuemmerle used the company in two cases – in 2000 and 2001 – for the International Entrepreneurship course.[2][3] In 2007, Officenet was ranked #30 in the "Great Places to Work" list for Argentina,[9] and appeared on the list again in 2009 at place #33.[10] In 2008, the US Embassy in Argentina acknowledged Officenet Staples' corporate social responsibility efforts.[11] In 2009, the US Department of State selected Officenet Staples Argentina as a finalist for the Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE).[12]

Founder Santiago Bilinkis left the company in 2010 after 13 years.[13]

In 2011, the company launched the "Programa Emprendedor," a program that supports start-up (entrepreneurial) companies for up to 2 years with strong (50%) discounts.[14] The program is part of the larger "Staples Soul."[15]

Staples Argentina continues to roll out innovative use of technology. In 2011, Staples Argentina launched a "Virtual Store" concept[16] with QR code technology, copying a Tesco subsidiary in Korea. In 2012 Staples Argentina launched its first locally-produced TV campaign, which was enthusiastically featured in Ad Age[17] and Adweek.[18]

References
  1. Staples Inc. (April 2011). "2010 Annual Report". Thomson Reuters. Retrieved 3 March 2012.
  2. Kuemmerle, Walter; Coughlin, William J. (25 January 2000), Making Entrepreneurship Work in Argentina (PDF), Harvard Business School
  3. Kuemmerle, Walter; Collura, Meredith (3 August 2001), After the Merger (PDF), Harvard Business School
  4. Ahora Officenet es STAPLES Argentina y lo anuncia en Youtube [Officenet is now STAPLES Argentina and announces it on Youtube], 6 March 2011
  5. "Tendencias en la Web – La era del blog corporativo: Las empresas están aprendiendo a utilizar esta herramienta de comunicación para dar a conocer proyectos, iniciativas y nuevos productos" [Trends on the Web – The era of the corporate blog: Companies are learning to use this communication tool to inform about projects, initiatives and new products]. La Nación. SA LA NACION. 29 July 2007.
  6. Clarín. 22 June 2007 https://web.archive.org/web/20080217044535/http://www.ieco.clarin.com/notas/2007/06/22/01442747.html. Archived from the original on February 17, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. "Blogs corporativos: las ventajas de dialogar con el cliente" [Corporate blogs: the advantages of dialogue with the customer]. Infobae (iProfesional.com). Emprendimientos Corporativos S.A. (Bloomberg). 2007-11-28. Archived from the original on 2007-12-16.
  8. Nielsen, Jakob (3 August 2009), Social Networking on Intranets, Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, Community features are spreading from "Web 2.0" to "Enterprise 2.0." Research across 14 companies found that many are making productive use of social intranet features.
  9. Great Places to Work in Argentina, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc., 2008, archived from the original on February 25, 2009
  10. Great Places to Work in Argentina, Great Place to Work® Institute, Inc., 2010, archived from the original on November 17, 2009
  11. Ambassador Wayne Acknowledges Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts of U.S. Companies, Embassy of the United States, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 10 December 2008, archived from the original on 21 February 2013, retrieved 5 November 2012
  12. "2009 Secretary's Award for Corporate Excellence Finalists Selected" (Press release). Washington, DC: Office of the Spokesman, U.S. Department of State. 1 October 2009.
  13. Bilinkis, Santiago (May 2010), El fin de una era en mi vida: mi despedida de Officenet [The end of an era in my life: farewell to Officenet] (open letter)
  14. "Staples presenta el Programa Emprendedor: Desarrollado para start up con menos de dos años, ubicadas en la ciudad de Buenos Aires" [Staples presents the Entrepreneur Program: Developed for start-ups with less than two years, located in the city of Buenos Aires]. Mercado. Editorial Coyuntura S.A. 17 May 2011.
  15. "¿Qué es Staples Soul?" [What is Staples Soul?]. Staples Argentina.
  16. Campanario, Sebastian (16 Sep 2011). "Marketing futurista: ya se puede comprar con la cámara del celular – Una cadena de artículos de librería lanzó una "góndola virtual". La publicidad digital crece al 40%" [Futuristic marketing: now you can buy with a camera phone – A stationery chain launched a "virtual shelf". Digital advertising grows to 40%.]. iEco. Clarín.com.
  17. "Staples: Screensaver", Ad Age, 14 May 2012
  18. Bazilian, Emma (17 May 2012), "Ad of the Day: Staples – There are better ways to spruce up your office than screensaving it into shape", Adweek
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