Lowe's Companies, Inc., is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the United States (trailing Home Depot Inc.), holding about six percent of the 140 billion home improvement market. No longer a low-profile company, Lowe's evolved from a regional hardware store operator into a nationwide chain of home improvement superstores bent on international expansion. "The #2 US home improvement chain (after The Home Depot), Lowe's has about 1,700 superstores in 50 states and more than 15 locations in Canada and Mexico, as well as an e-commerce site" (Lowe's Companies, Inc, 2011, para 1). Lowe's is also the seventh largest retailer in the U.S. With fiscal year 2009 sales of 47.2 billion, Lowe's Companies serves approximately 15 million customers a week and their current stock price (as of...