...Contracts are legal agreements made between two or more people. Contracts are important when doing business because of the services and legal rights that they hold.In the following scenarios team B will discuss different kinds of contracts that might exist in each case by summarizing and identifying any possible outcomes that pertain to each scenario. Scenario A Foodmart is renovating one of their stores on Main Street. Foodmart and Masterpiece entered a contract stating that Masterpiece promised to complete the work requested exactly as required within the six month timeframe. Masterpiece construction soon realized that because of a recent increase in business they could not complete the work. Masterpiece hired a subcontractor to complete the Foodmart renovation. Foodmart was unhappy with the poor quality of work and became aware that Masterpiece had subcontracted the work out to Build Them to Fall Construction. Foodmart received an injunction and sued Masterpiece for breach of contract and specific performance. In defense Masterpiece stated they had the right to delegate duties or discharge the contract claiming commercial impracticability. Deciding if Masterpiece breached the contract is difficult to determine because according to the UCC, a party can perform contracted duties through a delegated third party unless otherwise agreed upon (LII/Legal Information Institute, 2005). Not enough information has been provided to determine if the contract specifically stated...
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...Wal-Mart is the leader of discount retail stores in the United States. Opening in 1962, the company created its empire by providing low-priced goods to consumers (prices average 10% - 15% lower than conventional department stores). In the 1980’s, the company diversified its store options to include warehouse and supercenter stores. After the death of leader, Sam Walton, Wal-Mart’s new management team faces many challenges. With a stagnant economy and increased competition in the mid-1990s, Wal-Mart faced a staggering double-digit decline in share price in 1993 as growth began to slow down (Table 2). In order to sustain Wal-Mart’s competitive advantage as well as penetrate more growth, the following four suggestions can be considered: (1) increase the number of Wal-Mart supercenters, (2) expand international presence, (3) upscale the product line, and (4) decrease prices. I recommend a hybrid combination of (1) increasing the number of Wal-Mart supercenters and (2) expanding international presence. Analysis: Answer the discussion questions in the analysis. Bring in the game theory model. Thus, in order to sustain its position in the market place, as well as continue to grow, I assessed the following four recommendations: Recommendation 1: Increase the number of Wal-Mart supercenters Pros: By increasing the number of Supercenters, Wal-Mart can continue to compete with other discount retailers and grocery stores. After purchasing McLane foods, Wal-Mart now...
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...Since 1962, Wal-Mart has lived by founder Sam Walton’s core strategy: “the lowest prices anytime, anywhere.” The first Wal-Mart originated in Rogers, Arkansas and within five year, twenty-four stories has since popped up around the nation. Today, according to the Wal-Mart Corporate website, there are more than 11,000 stories in over 27 countries worldwide. The company also employs over 2.2 million employees throughout all of its stores and sees an average of 200 million customers a week. Even though Wal-Mart produces thousands of jobs each year and maintains consistently low prices, the public’s view of the company as a whole is a less than desirable one. Through its commercials, Wal-Mart tries to portray itself as an All-American wholesale...
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...BAKERY | Each of our stores has its own modern European Style Bakery.In the wee hours of the morning, our bakers begin mixing their dough and creating fresh breads and pastries including fruit tarts, table loaves, flat bread and the flakiest croissants in Southern California.Our breads and pastries are made from old world recipes and the finest ingredients – Irish butter, organic eggs and unbleached flour.Kudler's bakery products do not contain preservatives. | | | PRODUCE | | Our produce department offers over 350 fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices.We stock 16 different varieties of apples as well as a wide range of tropical fruits from around the world.Experienced cooks know that the right combinations of herbs and spices will turn a good meal into a great meal. Herbs and spices are most flavorful when they are fresh, and we carry the freshest herbs and spices in the area.Be sure to check out our Asian Specialty Produce department where we carry the produce, herbs and spices that are the staples of Asian cooking. We know that our customers are interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle while also trying to live within their budgets. We address these concerns by offering most of our produce in both organic and non-organic varieties. | MEAT & SEAFOOD | Our meat and seafood are procured from certified organic producers.The meat and seafood products are fresh and prepared in the store to your order. The butcher shop in each store carries: *...
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...The Evolving Food Chain: Competitive Effects of Wal-Mart’s Entry into the Supermarket Industry∗ Emek Basker University of Missouri Michael Noel University of California–San Diego September 2008 Abstract We analyze the effect of Wal-Mart’s entry into the grocery market using a unique store-level price panel data set. We use OLS and two IV specifications to estimate the effect of Wal-Mart’s entry on competitors’ prices of 24 grocery items across several categories. Wal-Mart’s price advantage over competitors for these products averages approximately 10%. On average, competitors’ response to entry by a Wal-Mart Supercenter is a price reduction of 1–1.2%, mostly due to smaller-scale competitors; the response of the “Big Three” supermarket chains (Albertson’s, Safeway, and Kroger) is less than half that size. Low-end grocery stores, which compete more directly with Wal-Mart, cut their prices more than twice as much as higher-end stores. We confirm our results using a falsification exercise, in which we test for Wal-Mart’s effect on prices of services that it does not provide, such as movie tickets and dry cleaning services. JEL Codes: L11, L13, L81 Keywords: Wal-Mart, Retail Prices, Supermarkets, Price Competition ∗ Contact: emek@missouri.edu or mdnoel@ucsd.edu. We thank Saku Aura, Roger Betancourt, Paul Dobson, Luke Froeb, Jerry Hausman, G¨nter Hitcsh, Ephraim Leibtag, Saul Lach, Daniel Levy, Ye¸im u s Orhun, David Parsley, the editor and two anonymous referees...
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...in the Global Food Retail Supermarket Industry Introduction In order to develop a global strategy, the deep understanding of the term ‘globalization’ is very important for every company. Globalisation: The globalization increases the mobility of goods. Globalization is a term describing different complex ideological, political, environmental and cultural forces as one world. During World War II, the national boundaries got faded and financial markets, information services, manufacturing concerns as well as cultural products have made themselves available to the whole world. American hamburgers are available in Tokyo today and Japanese cars gets assembled and marketed in America. Virtually everybody is connected through Internet throughout the world. The world around us seems completely borderless. (Steger, 2009) The globalization of food retail super market industry has developed extensively in the supply chain retailing. It has made a greater impact on the public consumer market. The globalization has forced the local food retailers to think beyond retailing in the domestic markets for sustainable growth and presence. The global food retailing industry is a complex collection of diversified supermarket chains, independent food stores, and direct-to-consumer services that supply much of the food consumed today. The successful food retailers usually follow two strategic formats which are as follows: * Discount Outlets These kind of global food retailers work...
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...MiniCase 12.1 Question 1 Wal-Mart needed international expansion critically to remain a successful company. The main reason Wal-Mart needed to go global was because they could no longer achieve the growth needed in the US. This market was saturated. The United States represents only four percent of the world’s population, which meant Wal-Mart was missing out on ninety-six percent of the world’s potential customers. (Govindarajan, par. 7) Also, Wal-Mart needed to continue to make their US employees satisfied. With Wal-Mart’s aggressive stock purchasing programs, this meant that employee satisfaction was directly correlated to their stock prices. Walmart also realized that there were many emerging markets with lower levels of disposable income, which offered a large potential for discount retailers. (Govindarajan, par. 7) Therefore, Wal-Mart’s only option to achieve the growth needed was to enter the global environment. Question 2 Wal-Mart achieved success in Canada and Latin America by using different types of entry in each market. They entered Canada by purchasing 122 Woolco stores in 1994. (Ball, 2010) Woolco was a failing retail chain in Canada. Wal-Mart was able to turn these stores profitable by implementing many practices and procedures that have been successful in the United States. Since the cultural differences between Canada and the United States are not extensive, Wal-Mart was able to achieve success. In Latin America, Wal-mart chose to enter the market in...
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...largely due to its disaccording brand positioning that focused on delivering high quality products compared to its counterpart, Wal-mart, which took advantage of its “lower pricing” positioning during an era when customers were highly price sensitive. Initially the CEO of target, Steinhafel, responded to the recession by (1) cutting costs, (2) focusing on the value aspect of Target’s “Expect more, pay less” campaign and (3) expanding selection of grocery items. However all of these strategies were either short sighted or ineffective in contributing to the company’s bottom line. The first and second approaches of cutting costs and “expect more, pay less” campaign are reminiscent of a traditional red ocean strategy, in which this case, Target was trying to beat its competition, Wal-mart—who dominated the lower price positioning segment—by attempt to benchmark and adjust their own prices. Even during the hard economic times, customers didn’t necessarily associate the value price offerings with Target as much as Wal-mart. While 75% of consumers recognized Wal-mart’s traditional slogan… only 16 % attributed “Expect more, pay less” to Target. This strategy was deemed to be cannibalistic in the longer run since their stock prices and fair share of the market was already declining post 2007. The third approach was to aggressively accelerate the rollout of food content in stores and thus making its entry in the grocery business to drive the frequency of shopping trips. Since consumers shopped...
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...Background Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a public corporation that runs a chain of large discount stores and a chain of membership required warehouse stores. Sam Walton founded the company in 1962, and since then Wal-Mart has become a global company with annual sales of $405 billion for the fiscal year of 2010 (Wal-Mart Corporate). In 1992, Sam Walton passed away and many doubted the future of the company under the leadership of David Glass, CEO and Don Soderquist, COO. The Company suffered in April, 1993 when the growth of the company had fallen under 10% since 1985. At the same time their stock price fell 22-26% destroying nearly 17 billion in market value (Wal-Mart Corporate). Glass and Soderquist had their work cut out for them, they needed to come up with a strategy to keep their competitive advantage in the industry. The following analysis will explain Wal-Mart's competitive advantage in discount retailing, whether they will be able to sustain their position in the discount retailing industry, and the effectiveness of their diversification into the food industry. What is Wal-Mart's competitive advantage and the sources of its competitive advantage in discount retailing? Wal-Mart’s main competitive advantage in discount retailing has always been providing the lowest possible prices on brand name goods to customers (Bradley 4). The “everyday low prices” approach is the biggest reason why Wal-Mart has become the leader in the retail industry. There are a number...
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...Marketing Marilyn Williams August 21, 2011 Fortune 500 International Company: Wal-Mart Abstract This essay will discuss four countries Wal-Mart has settled into. It will also discuss the four P’s of marketing mix as well as details of Wal-Mart and the founder, Sam Walton. Introduction Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, generates at least 20% of its sales internationally. Even though it is a very fast growing business, or has grown very fast, it has had its share of mixed success around the world. Going abroad in the early 1990’s, Wal-Mart tried to take a little bit of America with it where ever it went. To the Brazilians, it offered sales in golf clubs, even though Brazil was a soccer-fan country. In Mexico, with a very hot climate, it offered for sales ice skates, and in Germany, Wal-Mart employees were to smile at their customers. The customers thought the employees were flirting with them. Not any of these products was a success for Wal-Mart. After years of struggling, Wal-Mart had to pull out from South Korea and Germany. (Kotler, P & Keller, K. 2009). Main line Technically, Wal-Mart do not have a main line of business. They started off specializing in clothes and other departments and then years later, electronics and groceries were added. Some would say they sold clothes first and then expanded into selling electronics and food. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart wanted the world to know that if prices are lower for the cost of living, they will...
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...Wal-Mart SWOT Analysis Kara Groff Table of Contents: Overview……………………………..………..page 3 Strengths………………………………....…….page 4 Weaknesses…………………………...….…….page 6 Opportunities...............................................…...page 8 Threats…………………………………....……page 10 Recommendations…………………………......page 12 References……………………………….…….page 13 Student: Faculty Member: Kara Groff Dr. David J. Burns 2015 Cleneay Ave. Xavier University Marketing Department Norwood, OH 45212 3800 Victory Parkway (419)-656-1234 Cincinnati, OH 45407 GroffKC@Xavier.edu (513)-745-3956 Burnsd@Xavier.edu Overview Wal-Mart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton when he and his brother James “Bud” Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas. Since then, Wal-Mart has grown to be the second largest company in the world. In the United States, the company includes Wal-Mart discount stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam’s Club warehouse membership clubs. The company also has many international operations. Wal-Mart is considered a variety store which focuses on low prices featuring apparel as well as hard goods, and has been committed to upholding their basic value of customer service. Advances in technology have contributed a great deal to the growth of Wal-Mart. Highly automated distribution...
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...Target Competitors Target’s main competitors in the Twin Cities are Wal-Mart, Cub Foods, and Rainbow Foods. They all account for a substantial percentage of market share in the grocery market in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area (is it really only in MPLS/SP – or is it in a more general area??). Because of the steep competition amongst their competitors, they are always trying to drive price competition. And they seek to increase customer loyalty and enhance value proposition by offering low prices and the best possible quality. Wal-Mart, one of Target’s biggest competitors, offers everyday low prices which imply that customers do not have to wait for promotional pricing to have the best deal possible. Wal-Mart’s mission statement and business model is, saving people money so they can have a better life. In addition, they offer a wide variety of products to help their customers save time and money which also helps to reinforce their business model. However, since Wal-Mart offers products across many sectors such as; clothing, food, or stationary, it may not have the flexibility of some of its more focused competitors. Wal-Mart is a powerful brand serving more than 200 million customers and members each week, and they are the world’s largest retailer with more than 8,400 stores around the world. Wal-Mart owns a 33% market share of the U.S. grocery market and 9.5% in the twin cities. Wal-Mart’s Groceries account for more than 50% of their sales. They are a destination...
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...Abstract Wal-Mart is the United States largest retailer and the largest employer. It has more revenue and more employees than any other company in America. The growth is unmatched by competitors and is a dominant force in the retail space. It has insignificant operating costs that let the retailer set low prices on a range of goods. The paper will examine theses economical burdens of this practice. There are concerns about Walmart’s growth, along with the financial impact it has on its workers, the environment, surrounding communities, and its competitors. This paper will examine these concerns by answering the following questions: Was there a correlational relationship between the leadership’s decisions make abilities and the events that led to employees rights? Was there a connection between Walmart’s business practices and the practices of senior leadership that effect the environment? How has the public’s perception of Walmart caused a reduction in the work force, and effecting surround communities? This paper will look deep into these issues and describe possible solutions Wal-Mart: The Economic Power House Walmart runs on small operating costs, it has low prices, it’s a gigantic company, the world’s second largest employer, families spend thousands of dollars a year there, and it has everything from apples to glue, and most people live within 20 miles of one. These facts represent an organization that has had expansive growth since its inception. With this expansive...
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...S w 907A12 LOBLAW COMPANIES LIMITED: PREPARING FOR WAL-MART SUPERCENTERS1 Veronika Papyrina wrote this case under the supervision of Professor Kenneth G. Hardy solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The authors may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. Ivey Management Services prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmittal without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Ivey Management Services, c/o Richard Ivey School of Business, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail cases@ivey.uwo.ca. Copyright © 2007, Ivey Management Services Version: (A) 2009-05-15 In early February of 2007, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw), the market share leader among Canadian supermarket operators, announced that it would write down its earnings by about $900 million. This revaluation was related to the company’s decision to close 19 of its Provigo grocery stores in Quebec in 2007. Retail analysts suggested that poor operations at Provigo stores as well as stiff competition from Metro Inc. and Sobeys had negatively affected Loblaw’s performance...
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...Investing in Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer would seem to be a “no brainer” because of the great history and success of the company. Sam Walton had a vision to achieve higher sales volumes by keeping sales prices lower than his competitors by reducing his profit margin. His mission "to help people save money so they can live better" (Walmart, 2012), has proven to be the culture of the company that began from a single store to an empire. Today, Walmart operates more than 10,000 retail units under 69 different banners in 27 countries. Walmart employs more than 2 million associates who serve 200 million customers and members every week (Walmart, 2012). Walmart’s strengths lie in their high technological information systems monitoring worldwide product activity at a single glance, they manufacture they own branded goods as well as supply goods from local suppliers and other major brands not to mention their buying power. The weaknesses of Walmart include having control of such a huge organization and being responsible for and managing a great number of employees. Having pressure from suppliers with regard to price and their ability to supply when required. Becuase of the low prices customers often question and are concerned at the quality of the goods.This is offset to some extent by the satisfaction guarantees offered. The opportunities for Walmart include worldwide expansion, creating Walmart convenient stores and home delivery of goods purchased via internet to rural...
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