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Walmart Supply Chain

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How should Wal-Mart rationalize its seafood supply chain to reduce costs and promote sustainability?

Walmart has a large retail seafood business and it is always a challenge to reduce cost and promote sustainability. With upward trend for the demand of sea-food, depletion of the seafood supply is inevitable unless Walmart have a deep engagement of their supply chain. One strategy that Walmart wants to promote to their suppliers is for all of them to take up the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification program. This process will be time consuming, expensive and complex. The depletion of some fish poses a threat to Walmart and its seafood supply chain.

Many challenges exists that will lead to indirect or direct increases in the cost of the supply chain. Because of the lengthy supply chain, with the fish travelling through many parties who are involved in catching, packaging, forwarding, and labeling, cost increases drastically.

Wal-Mart’s customers are uneducated about the MSC Eco Label. Therefore, it will be costly to invest in certifying their fish with this standard while it may not boost their sales. While seafood supply can be sustainable by establishing fishing farms, there is always the concern for retaining the same quality as wild-caught fish. Therefore, Walmart needs solutions for the continuous supply of wild-caught fish while retaining its sustainability.

In an effort to promote its sustainability, Walmart started to carry MSC certified Chilean Sea Bass in three hundred stores worldwide. This certification will ensure that these fish meet independent environmental standards.

To promote sustainability in their supply chain, they can provide bonuses and incentives to their fishermen based on their catch during the fishing season. This initiative will lead to competition and there will be enough supply of sea-food to Walmart who can easily

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