...more opportunities for consumer brands to also reach them along the way. Among the retail behemoth's recent and upcoming moves: revamping its internal employee social network and switching publishers as a prelude to beefing up its in-house magazine, Walmart World, with both more content and outside advertising. The latter could prove an even greater magnet for brand marketers trying to sway Walmart's in-house influencers, particularly now that the chain is allowing local managers more agency to green-light items and is encouraging employees to promote specific items in their stores. Walmart will also give store managers and employees credit for online sales that come from their territories as of Feb. 1, the start of its fiscal year. Walmart isn't owning up to any blanket campaign to better leverage employees as brand ambassadors (a spokesman declined to comment), but it appears to be moving in that direction. With social media potentially giving employees an even bigger impact on brands today, the role of human resources in marketing is even more important, said Scott Bedbury, principal in consulting firm Brandstream. "Social connectivity is often seen as an external thing but can have a very powerful dynamic internally." Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon and new Chief Merchandising Officer Duncan McNaughton have encouraged reinvigorating the "Volume Producing Item" program originated by Sam Walton in which individual employees adopt and promote items in their stores, according to...
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...Introduction According to Joseph Schumpeter, creative destruction describes the "process of industrial mutation that incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creating a new one"(Schumpeter, 1942). This argues that in the economics development process, the new products will eventually take place of the out-of-dated ones, for the single company and even the whole society. To take the music players as an example, Sony Walkman was extremely popular in 1980s, but it was finally forced to exit the market because of the popularity of MP3 in 2000s. However, nowadays, even MP3 could not survive in the music player market, as the appearance of smart phones becomes a substitute of it. Creative destruction is a common economic phenomenon happening in the business cycle and to some extend, it is a process of wealth accumulation under capitalism. (Karl, 1848&1857&1863) In the long run, it would result into a high rise of service and products quality, a progress in the humanity society. However, if focusing on the individual unit, creative destruction is a challenge. Those who do not play well, like because of lacking skills or technology, will be eliminated out of the game. In the following sections, this paper is going to illustrate the importance of innovation strategy in this game from the enterprise perspective, how could innovation strategy fit the strategic planning well, and how big data could work for the strategic...
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...st of the year (January through November) and made their profit during the holiday season. When this would be recorded in the financial records, accounting practices would use red ink to show negative amounts and black ink to show positive amounts. Black Friday, under this theory, is the beginning of the period where retailers would no longer have losses (the red) and instead take in the year's profits (the black). With more retailers shifting the start of their big holiday pushes to Thanksgiving, it prompts the question of whether Black Friday even exists in the traditional sense. Things started moving from Friday to Thanksgiving Thursday in 2010 when Sears announced that they would be open on Thanksgiving. Then Walmart opened on Thanksgiving. Followed by Target. Today most of the major retailer are open on Thanksgiving. Black Friday is quickly becoming a relic of years gone by according to Brian Sozzi, CEO and chief equities strategist at Belus Capital Advisors (USA Today.com As shopping season expands is Black friday dead?) Black Friday will also be displaced as the biggest shopping day of the year by Super Saturday — the last Saturday before Christmas. Not to mention Cyber Monday. The Monday after Thanksgiving. When everyone goes back to work and does their shopping online. Black Friday was nearly 50 years old. There are still some retailers that have decided not to...
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...Examining WalMart for Lessons in Managing Diversity Kaplan University Introduction The purpose of this paper is to analyze how WalMart, the world’s largest employer is managing diversity. In the case study, WalMart is facing a class action lawsuit from a former female employee who feels she was the victim of gender discrimination. WalMart however, has received many accolades for it’s diverse workplace and internal growth opportunities. From reading and evaluating this case I intend to learn management theories and practices in building a diverse workplace. Why it’s important to have diversity in leadership and how to integrate a collaborative workplace. Analysis WalMart has been the focus of many lawsuits in the past ranging from discrimination to its most recent suit regarding minimum wage. Yet according to Daft (2012) “The retailers 1.4 million U.S. hourly associates earn $11.75 per hour on average. (p. 384). So there is obviously a vast discrepancy about who is benefiting on the high end of these wages. The Supreme Court has since dismissed the class action lawsuit of Dukes v. WalMart. The case was the largest sex discrimination lawsuit in history representing 1.6 million female employees. However, the court did not decide on whether or not discrimination took place. WalMart has also been sued for religious discrimination and agreed to pay an employee $70,000 for being fired because he observed the Sabbath. Based on these lawsuits my observation is...
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...HISTORY & BACKGROUND Founder of Walmart Sam Walton graduated from University of Missouri in 1940 with a degree in Economics. He wanted to capitalize on his work experience in retail. Sam had an idea to bring a different type of economical approach to the retail industry. Sam and his brother J.L. Walton owned nine Ben Franklin stores. They went to Ben Franklin store owners with the approach of reducing prices to increase sells and were turned away. In 1962, the brothers decided break away and opened their own store in Rogers, Arkansas which was the start of the first Wal-Mart Discount City store. Their approach was to open stores in populations with 5000 to 25000 people. By the late 1960’s the Walton brothers has 18 discount stores and 15 Ben Franklin franchises which became incorporated in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Tell me the history of Wal-Mart). During the 1970’s the Walton’s incorporated many changes to how they do business which laid the foundation to cut cost to gain more control. They implemented a warehouse distribution strategy of constructing their own warehouses so they can buy merchandise in great volume, and positioned its stores 200 square miles from each distribution point. By 1977, Forbes had Wal-Mart ranked #1 in return of equity, return on capital, sales growth, and earnings growth over all other discount and variety stores (Tell me the history of Wal-Mart). Wal-Mart’s continued expanding and in 1978, its stores included a pharmacy, auto service center...
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...Walmart Walmart, one of the great stories in American history but, how does it compare to other retail stores like Target or K-mart, but, it also has a history of discrimination toward women and minorities. Mr. Sam Walton, a military man, a captain in World War II could not have imagined that his business would grow into one of most productive retail stores in modern history. Even today, with Walmarts, overseas, Walmart has cornered the retail market by storm. But, it also has a bad image, over its business deals against women and minorities and especially not giving equal pay for equal work, or denying workers the opportunities for advancements that are offered to white males in his business. I guess this wouldn’t be Mr. Walton, but his board of governors should be held accountable. Everyday people file law suits against the company, how long will the company last? Next, they have become so large that they can afford to move overseas, and hire workers that will work for less than the average American will, now, that will be exactly what was needed for the company,(globalization.) Walmart has stores in countries that the common American has never heard of. In the 1940’s, a young man named Sam Walton, of Newport, Arkansas, was using another stores business model, and that was, get products at a reasonable price, and they had to be American made. His idea was so simple anybody could have done it, but anyway, his idea was to look for bargain deals from suppliers and sell them...
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...1. Business-level Strategy Walmart uses a combination strategy of cost leadership and differentiation. They provide a wider variety of products and services with the same or better quality at a price that is cheaper than their competitors can provide. Walmart concentrates on finding ways to lower their costs by constantly rethinking how to complete their primary and support activities to reduce costs still further while maintaining competitive levels of differentiation. Their successful supply chain management is an important way helping them to implement the cost leadership strategy. They has effective inbound logistics by using just-in-time inventory. And they have cut costs from outbound logistics by creating better fuel efficiency in their trucks, getting more pallets on a load, and decreasing empty miles driven by their trucks (Dess, 2012). Walmart also reduces costs by buying in large blocks. Technology plays a key role in Walmart’s supply chain too, it allows Walmart to accurately forecast demand, track and predict inventory levels, create highly efficient transportation routes, and manage customer relationships and service response logistics (Walmart's Keys to Successful Supply Chain Management, 2013). In conclusion, Walmart's successful overall cost leadership/differentiation strategy leads to high entry barriers for competitors. • Corporate-level Strategy The major reason behind the success of Walmart lies in the fact that the company believes and concentrates...
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...nails through professional lines such as Clairol, L'Oreal, Wella and Conair, as well as an extensive selection of proprietary merchandise. SBS sell up to 9,800 professionally branded products targeted professional and hair salon and resale the supply to their customers (Sally beauty supply, 2012). Area of Concern: SBS is one of the leaders in the beauty supply industry providing men and women with products and knowledge to maintain their looks and feel good about themselves. However, there are other alternative to look good and feel good by going into the health and fitness industries, cosmetic surgery industry, and the fashion industry. What’s keeping SBS on the edge is giving the consumer the best quality hair products at a reasonable, affordable price. SBS is one of the dominant hair product retailers and the success of Sally’s is a matter of whether or not the brand can compete with a more diversified market and continue to dominate the hair care industry (Sally beauty supply, 2012). The market’s potential of what can be bought and sold in the industry is limited only to the evolution of the beauty industry and the fast-pace changes in beauty and hair trends. For example, like the fashion industry, beauty trends come and go, and in order for SBS to remain dominant in the professional hair care supplier, they must recognize the value...
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...The Walmart employee trampled to death on Black Friday in 2008 was not the only individual to be killed in such a gruesome manner. An eerily similar situation occurred to a pharmacist trying to shop at a Target in 2011. The items sought after by the shoppers were not what caused the two deaths. Likewise, the majority of stuff itself is not creating problems in the world, in fact, it’s finding new, innovative ways to fix them. The real issues at hand are the people with access to the growing amount of elaborate commercial products. That is the theme Quindlen is attempting to convey in her report: to be happy, people need to be smart and spend their money on things that they need or that actually matter. Generally, I agree with Quindlen’s overall message, however I do not agree with her essay as a whole. Many of her examples and arguments were...
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...As us three boys loaded into the family car we all were starving from the morning of not eating. We knew what was coming and it would be a very grueling process but hey on the other hand we get to eat a ton of food. As we walked into your basic Walmart we had a very specific set on our minds we went and acquired Ham,Mac n cheese,potatoes,pie,chips,green beans, and many more. Mostly Jacob pushed the cart as justis rode in it as we grabbed and go. We stepped up to the line and it was the biggest line I have ever seen. Walmart only has like 3 lines open at a time when you really need like 19. As we walked into Grandma and Pa’s house we could already smell the good food already being made. We came in brought our food and starting cooking. Many...
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...CASE STUDY 10 | SHRM Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 2 ANNEXURE ............................................................................................................................................ 3 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY ................................................................................................. 9 QUESTIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 10 QUESTION 01: ................................................................................................................................... 10 QUESTION 02 ................................................................................................................................... 12 QUESTION 03 ................................................................................................................................... 14 QUESTION 04 ................................................................................................................................... 16 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................
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...Wal-Mart Financial Analysis Well everyone knows the history of Walmart, the great American success story, or do you? Let me fill you in. In 1950s Sam Walton opened his first store in Arkansas with the believe in fair play and providing American produce goods at low prices and undercutting his competition by keeping his profit margin even lower. Mr. Walton was able capitalize on this philosophy through cultivate his business and leveraging capital by means of encouraging managers and associates to take advantage of his situation and become stakeholders thereby inspiring the manager’s and associates to improve their skill sets and take ownership and pride in the business. In the 60’s, the first true Wal-Mart open its doors permanently. By the 80’s Walmart was a billion dollar company with stores operating across 28 states. (http://walmart1percent.org/) Today Wal-Mart is the largest corporation in the world employing 2.3 million people (Dun & Bradstreet, 2014, para. 1) However todays Wal-Mart does not share Sam Walton visions or his values. Today Wal-Mart does whatever it needs to maximize revenue at the expense of its employees and customers. Today’s Wal-Mart has little or no respect for their employees. For the majority of their employees’ wages lower than their closest competitors (Costco and Target) since Wal-Mart encourage their employees to get on government funded programs such as food stamps, Medicaid, and public housing thereby passing some of their overhead...
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...kind of slavery. It is our minds that are enslaved. We are the victims of unspeakable injustices. They do not want us to prosper. This is why I stand for “Black Lives Matter”. Some might even try to push us away and contradict our ideas with “All Lives Matter”. Yes, all lives do matter, but at the moment it is black lives that are very important. What people do not realize is that Pro-black is not anti-white. People try to bring us down, make us lesser than they, but we only want to be seen as equal. We all deserve...
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...Should I care about the environment ? Green Supply Chain As customers becomes more aware about the environmental changes, suppliers and buyers have to adapt and become environmental friendly to meet the customers needs. Companies will have to take into consideration about how green their manufacturing processes and supply chain are, their carbon footprint and how they recycle. Business have to learn how to green their supply chain and reduce cost. Business have to operate in a environmentally, ethically and socially responsible manner. Public scrutiny of business behaviour has led to rising expectations that companies are responsible for the environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices of their suppliers. http://www.unglobalcompact.org/issues/supply_chain/index.html A Green Sustainable Supply Chain can be defined as "the process of using environmentally friendly inputs and transforming these inputs through change agents - whose byproducts can improve or be recycled within the existing environment.( http://www.mhia.org/news/industry/7056/the-green-supply-chain ). A sustainanble supply chain can be created by developing outputs that can be reclaimed and re-used at the end of their life cycle .The main purpose of this sustainable supply chain is to reduce cost and help the environment. In today's "sustainable" world the thinking should be what is the life cycle costs of this part, piece of equipment or supply chain process.( (http://www.mhia.org/news/industry/7056/the-green-supply-chain...
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...old beautiful cedars scattered about the graveyard. But, no matter how many times I go there or what time of the day it is I still get the creepiest feeling like something or somebody is watching me. My mom says I'm just being paranoid. I can't even imagine how scary this graveyard would be on a rainy, windy night. No amount of money could coax me into that or any graveyard after dark. 2. Happy Place Going to my happy place would have to be going to a classic car showroom, called "Streetside Classics", I was bitten by the classic car bug a few years ago, but first let me tell you about "Streetside Classics". this place is a guge warehouse that has every kind of classsic car or truck you can imagine. They have four different locations, in four different states. When you visit Streetside Classics, you walk through the showroom, then make your way back to the inventory, which is constantly changing either by the vehicles being sold or just transferred to another facility. These people...
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