... Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large discount stores and a chain of warehouse stores. It is the world largest public corporation by revenue, according to the Forbes Global 2000. Wal-Mart has 8500 stores in 15 countries, with 55 different names. The company operates under its name in the United States, including 50 states. Wal-Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu and in India as Best Price. It has wholly owned in operation in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Wal-Mart investment outside North America have had mixed result: it operation in the United Kingdom, South America, and China are highly successful, while it was forced to pull out of Germany and South Korea when ventures there were unsuccessful. Wal-Mart operates in three business segments - Wal-Mart U.S., International, and Sam's Club. For fiscal 2010, Wal-Mart U.S. accounted for 63.8% of total net sales, the International segment generated 24.7% of the company's net sales, and Sam's Club accounted for 11.5% of net sales. International competitiveness Internal analysis – Micro environmental factors affecting international sales P.E.S.T analysis – Macro environmental factors affecting international sales. Fortune magazine front cover featuring Wal-Mart. Conducting business internationally will never be easy as doing business at home. It is likely to stretch managerial skills and resources to...
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...nice case study |Bull Story |Bear Story | |Financial Strength and Stability |Economy Changes Discretionary Spending | |Dominant Market Position |May Not be Embraced Overseas | |Asset Play: own about 70% of properties |Large Debt | |Innovation Efforts | | Table of Contents |Company Overview | |3 | |Company History | |3 | |Recent History ...
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...Cola Wars Continue Case Analysis Executive Summary: 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...
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...Name Tutor College Course Date Wal-Mart Case Analysis Introduction Wal-Mart first store was opened in 1962 by Sam Walton and his wife Helen Walton. They had the main idea of opening a discount oriented shopping store all through the rural American. The first store was opened in Rogers, Arkansas from where the stores spread to other regions. The company grew rapidly incorporating Wal-Mart Stores Inc. just after a period of seven years. Within 8 years, the company was able to open the first distribution center in Arkansas and also be valued at the New York stock Exchange. By 1991, the company opened the first international center in Mexico City an achievement that has seen opening of several other stores internationally. Identification and Analysis of Corporate Strategy The main strategy that was emphasized by Wal-Mart was that of the control of prices and costs to attract more customers. Walmart had the idea of lowering the prices of its commodities and services to ensure that they attracted more customers as well as retain them too. With opening of retail stores that offered one stop shopping centers, Wal-Mart was able to grow more than its competitors. Consumers for a long period valued one stop shopping centers where they could find a variety of goods at the same time to ensure convenience and minimize time spent during shopping trips. Walmart stores took this strategy to open all purpose stores with grocery, clothing and other commodities...
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...relevant information and recommendations are how to approach the Corporate Social Responsibility form the foreign multinational in China. As in the foreign multinational in china, the Corporate Social Responsibility consultant should do these. * Provide an overview of the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility. * Outline the Wal-Mart’s history and activities in China. * Explain supply chain responsibility. Choosing the company’s suppliers who threat their workers and the environment well. * Wal-Mart’s approach to EHS and Worker’s Rights * From give the example of Wal-Mart, to analysis of the dynamics of Corporate Social Responsibility. * Give the Wal-Mart’s approach to Community Outreach. Table of content Executive Summary 1 Introduction 3 Outline the company’s history and activities in China. 4 The Company’s history 4 The Company’s activities in China 4 Analysis: 6 The Company’s approach to Workers’ Rights. 7 The fact: 7 The analysis: 8 The Company’s Stand towards Environmental Stewardship. 9 The fact: 9 The analysis: 10 The Company’s approach to Community Outreach. 12 The fact: 12 The analysis 12 References List 14 Introduction The report is focuses on discuss and understanding key concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility. The background of the eight articles on Corporate Social Responsibility is related to analyze and...
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...Walmart Strategic Analysis of Wal-Mart Fan Yang Professor Richard Linowes MGMT-458-002H May 1, 2009 Yang 2 Executive Summary Wal-Mart is the biggest retailer in U.S. and also one of the biggest multinational companies in the world. It is well-known for its low-cost structure and has been doing very well despite of the current market instability. However, it still faces threats from competitors in the retail industry and has weaknesses to be improved in the future. To help Wal-Mart achieve greater success and sustain its competency, this paper will cover an all-rounded and detailed business analysis on Wal-Mart and the industry it is currently in. The analysis will touch on different perspectives, such as Wal-Mart’s strength, opportunities, weaknesses and threats. Moreover, a brief overview of the retail industry and Wal-Mart’s history are provided to facilitate a deeper and better understanding of the analysis on Wal-Mart. To help Wal-Mart better exploit its strength and opportunities and reduce threats and weaknesses, recommendations are provided for each of the four sections. I hope the recommendations will be carefully considered for proper implementation. Yang 3 Overview of Retail Industry The overall retail industry is currently experiencing a sale slowdown due to the widely spread economic crisis in US because consumers reduce their spending during weak economic time. According to an article on BusinessWeek, the real consumer spending declined by 3.7% in the...
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...Wal-Mart in China In the United States, Wal-Mart has become the leader of all retail stores and is the largest retailer than any other dominating the industry with stores in the international market. The company operates in 27 countries including Canada, and the United Kingdom (Farhoomand, & Wang, 2008; Wal-Mart, 2014). Wal-Mart was founded in Rogers, Arkansas by Sam Walton (Wal-Mart, 2014); and throughout the years it grew into a successful business. When Mr. Walton created Wal-Mart, he defined his business in three distinct objectives: individual respect, customer service, and strive for excellence (Hayden, et al., 2002). At that time, he utilized the “pricing philosophy” as one part of his corporate management strategy; this technique involved selling high quality, brand name products at the lowest price and has remained the same since Mr. Walton first opened the store (Farhoomand, & Wang, 2008; Hayden, et al., 2002, p. 16). Wal-Mart became a departmentalized, discount retail business and although the company launched its business in small-towns it expanded into larger cities (Farhoomand, & Wang, 2008; Hayden, et al., 2002). To accomplish his corporate aforementioned goals, Sam established two distinct rules; the first, the “Sundown Rule” in which an associate must logically provide an answer to a request or question from a customer or supplier within 24 hours (Hayden, et al., 2002, p. 16). Second, the “Ten Foot Rule” in which “an associate must greet, smile, and attend...
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...INB400 – International Organization and Management Term paper Wal-Mart’s culturally and institutionally flawed entry into the German retail market Joakim Holsten Leren s105710 Julianne Øien s106222 Mirko Wichmann s145433 Lara-Caterina Buggert s145400 Eloise De Bont s145611 22 pages Table of Contents Introduction 2 Case presentation 2 The Wal-Mart concept 3 Institutional challenges [to be deleted] 4 Cultural challenges [to be deleted] 4 German market 5 Theoretical Background 5 The cultural perspective 6 The institutional perspective 9 Case Analysis 12 The cultural perspective 12 The institutional perspective 15 Recommendations 19 Cultural 19 Institutional 20 Limitations 22 Cultural 22 Institutional 22 Conclusion 23 References: 25 Introduction The purpose of this paper is to address and analyze the challenges Wal-Mart faced during its entrance into the German market in the late 1990s. We have analyzed this with the following problem in mind: “Which aspects, both cultural and institutional, led to Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany and what should they have done instead?” We will approach this problem by outlining theoretical frameworks for analyzing cultural and institutional aspects of a company. We will then employ said theories in order to analyze the case of Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany. Finally, we will come to a conclusion concerning what they should have done as they entered into the German market...
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...A brief analysis of the situation and pending decision problem, as presented in the case Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. He believed in the action of selling quality goods for low prices. Kmart and Target also started their operations around that time. Walton took advantage of the opportunity and established a discount retail company. Soon after opening his first store, he expanded into the south where not many other retailers would go. Walton strived to have a retail store that others would seek after for their continuing low prices. Just five years after opening the first Wal-Mart, Walton decided to expand quickly and strategically so that he could edge out his competition. In 1970s, the retail industry became extremely competitive, but in addition, the economy became weak because of inflation. Sears was the leading retailer in the nation during the 1970s, however, the recession of that time and inflation affected Sears negatively. While Sears appealed to the masses, Wal-Mart was able to keep its overhead low and continued to offer even lower prices. Wal-Mart has continued to only grow during their long tenure as a major retailer. Wal-Mart has proven to have a strong business strategy and is still the biggest retailer in the world. It has the highest gross profits of any company and the highest net profits. Wal-Mart has also topped the Fortune 500 4 times. Identification of the major issues surrounding the organization or individuals...
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...Verhaal Wal-Mart Case Study September 16, 2014 Sam Walton started Wal-Mart in 1962. When Wal-Mart was first introduced, it was believed to be the least likely to succeed in the discount retailing business. The central focus of Wal-Mart was on price. By 1970, Wal-Mart had expanded to 30 towns, all in small towns. In order to expand Wal-Mart beyond its small region, Wal-Mart decided to go public. By the 1990s, 100 shares increased in value from $1,650 to $3,000,000. At this time, Wal-Mart had also spread throughout the United States in both large cities and small towns. Wal-Mart had many different opportunities and threats facing them including, but not limited to, the general environment, five-forces, and their industry structure. Using the VRIO framework, one can assess Wal-Mart’s resources and capabilities and conclude whether or not they have sustainable competitive advantages. The overall general environment of Wal-Mart posed opportunities as well as threats. Technology posed disadvantageous to Wal-Mart and other companies in the discount retail industry. “Internet shopping was appealing because of the convenience and selection available, but perhaps the most attractive aspect was the competitive pricing” (Hesterly, p. 1-13). Less people were coming in to look around the stores, and many items could be ordered at the comfort of the consumers’ home with the click of a finger. The demographics posed an opportunity for the discount retail industry and Wal-Mart. Demographics...
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...Executive Summary At the beginning of 2009, Wal-Mart top management faces the question of whether the same strategy that it has been adopting in the past can be used to maintain the company’s remarkable performance and growth in the next decade. In the last 10 years, Wal-Mart has achieved strong and constant growth in sales and net income. It has maintained the leading position in the U.S. discount retail industry and has become the largest retailer in the world. With the maturity of the industry, coupled with the intense competition from rivalry companies, maintaining the current level of high performance becomes very challenging. The Porter’s Five Forces analysis reveals that the competition among rivals is the driving force of the industry, in which price is the most critical factor. The value chain analysis and resource based view analysis show that Wal-Mart has been very successful in implementing the strategy as the low-cost leader by inculcating cost efficiency in its corporate culture, management style, and operations. It has been the pioneer in adopting cutting edge technology to streamline its supply chain, and to understand and respond timely to customer demand. Wal-Mart has developed many strengths that help guard its leading position and open door to many opportunities for expanding the business. However, it also faces threats from growing too big and in many areas, which makes it vulnerable to losing control, weakened cooperation...
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...relevant issues. Wal-Mart is an organization which is subject to increasing levels of change and volatility in their business. While it is fact of business life, it also reflects that it drives a relentless increase in the proportion of an organization’s activity that is dedicated to change in meeting the new challenges. Wal-Mart has become one of America's most successful retail giants generating about ROI was 18.6% and 19.2% for fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively. (Wal-Mart Annual Report, 2012). It is well know as the leader in thinking outside the box, anticipating market opportunities and executing effective strategies to capitalize on them. It has over 10,800 stores worldwide. Businesses have to face the challenge of too many competitors, partly originated by the globalisation, all competing for same objective of making highest profit. So, increasingly companies are not merely asking themselves the management question of ‘Are we doing the right?’ but are having to regularly ask ‘Are we still doing it right?’ They have been seeking a more holistic means of doing this than traditional means of delivering products and services to the customers. In a volatile world, decision makers need options on the future and the ability to change direction as strategic opportunities. Although, business as usual (BAU) performance change is providing a short term success but they are typically faced with a less than perfect processes to make investments. In this case analysis, we are trying...
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...Wal-Mart: The Challenges of Dominance There are few companies that have become household names all across the Americas and many parts of the globe. One such company is Wal-Mart. Since its’ birth in 1962, there have been over 4,700 company locations opened, employing over 1.4 million people in the continental United States alone. (WALMART STORES.COM 2011) Wal-Mart was founded by Sam and Bud Walton as a department-sized store targeting small rural towns throughout the Midwest. It has immersed itself in a rapid amount of growth and success over the first few years by offering among the best levels of customer service, as well as “Every Day Low Prices.” After several decades of extreme growth, Wal-Mart began to finally shift its focus from targeting rural areas to that of urban areas all across the United States with its adaptation of the larger supersized centers that could offer a wide array of products and services. A great example to show its rapid movement would be to compare its growth to that of several of its’ competitors. It was founded the same year as corporate moguls Target and Kmart, and in 2011 it grossed revenues of more than four times that of both of these companies combined. (WALMART 2011) Retailing is the second largest industry in the U.S. and one of the most sizable in the world, and Wal-Mart is larger than the next four global giants combined. Wal-Mart’s capabilities in the Retail link-system, as well as its innovations in developing the hub...
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...Wal-Mart is not only the world’s largest retailers, but it is also the world’s largest company in terms of revenue ($485 billion USD in 2015) and the world largest private employer with 2.2 million employees. The case describes the growth of Wal-Mart under Sam Walton’s values and leadership and reviews the main functions and operation of the company. Q.1 The retail industry is a highly competitive industry. Although Wal-Mart can rarely be beaten on price, there are many big discounted retail stores such as Target and K-Mart. There are also competitors that offer other advantages such as higher quality (Whole Foods) or better service (Best Buy). There is also little differentiation between the retailers. As seen on Table 2, the sales increase (%) in international markets is higher that of the US market, which means faster growing markets and that the growth can be attributed the industry attractiveness. Table 4 shows that Wal-Mart is doing a lot better in terms of financial performance against its competitors. This means that its performance in more attributable to its competitive advantage rather than industry attractiveness. Competitive advantage has a bigger effect to the performance of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart’s strategy is low prices and thanks to the huge size of the company, it is able to employ economies of scale in the best way possible. It can negotiate very low prices and offer cost savings to customers. It is also able to import and produce products at very low...
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...Wal-Mart Stores Inc INTBUS202 Assignment- Group 11 2nd February 2012 Prepared By: Kanji, Kalavati (4299847,kkan040) Lai, Xin (1273844, xlai007) Lawrence, Lily Veronica (1655682, llaw039) Lovell, Eryn Isabel (1502870, elov008) McClain, Todd Micheal (1025058, tmcf011) Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………3 Stakeholder Analysis…………………………………………………4 External Analysis………………………………………………………7 Opportunities/ Threats……………………………………………9 Industry Analysis…………………………………………………….10 Value Chain Analysis……………………………………………….13 Core Competencies…………………………………………………16 Recommendations………………………………………………….18 Conclusion……………………………………………………………….21 References………………………………………………………………22 Introduction Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart) is currently ranked as, not only America’s largest, but the world’s largest company (DuBois, 2011). Wal-Mart’s three business segments, Wal-Mart Stores, Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart International, all operate in the discount variety retail industry. Currently, Wal-Mart’s strategic leaders face challenging issues including declining same-store sales, an invariable customer base, and a crumbling reputation. In analysing the company’s stakeholders, external and internal environments, its opportunities and threats, and its core competencies and competitive advantage we recommend that Wal-Mart: • Place a greater emphasis on the local communities in which it operates in order to stimulate same-store sales; • Improve their supply chain efficiency...
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