...governs how they will reply to both an internal and external stimulus. Walmart is one of the largest organizations in the world, that’s why it was chosen for this essay. Furthermore, they deal with lots of external social pressures that influence their ethics. They have had more than their fair share of lawsuits because they was sued 4,851 times in the year 2000 alone Willing, R. (2001, August 13). Lawsuits a volume business at Wal-Mart. USA Today. Whenever an issue arises they always fall back on their code of ethics in order to figure out the best possible solution. These issues are relevant to organizational and personal decisions and it will be explained how later in this paper. The relationship between legal and ethical issues will also be covered. External Social Pressures Walmart is the world’s largest retailer and private sector employer. They employ over 2.2 million employees. With tons of money, locations, and power, they have been the target for thousands of law suits. As we all know, Walmart has replaced thousands of mom and pop businesses by carrying the same items at much lower prices. They not only made businesses shut down due to undercutting competitor prices but they also made lots of people lose well-paying jobs in the process only to pay employees poverty wages and benefits and encouraged them to seek government assistance in order to supplement their incomes (Logan 2014). Walmart experienced many external social pressures but the one that’s being...
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...Walmart: Global Communications Benchmarking In today’s economy many company executives are often faced with making decisions like having to cut-costs to remain profitable and a key player in today’s market. Global Communications is faced with making decisions on some cost-cutting strategies that will assist them in increasing their profits. Walmart is an example of a company who uses good decision making to introduce cost-cutting measures to remain profitable in today’s market. Walmart is a low cost discount retailer that offers its customers a broad range of products and services. Walmart’s goal is to save people money so that they can live better (Walmart, 2001). In order to remain viable in today’s economy Walmart announced that it would be introducing some cost cutting measures that would help them to remain profitable in today’s marketplace (bnet,2010). Walmart has decided to cut thousands of prices on products, revamp its benefit plan, and eliminate benefits such as its company profit-sharing payouts to its employees in order to cut-costs (D’Innocenzio, 2010) . Global Communications can benefit by reviewing and implementing some of Walmart’s cost-cutting techniques to help them increase profits. Global Communication can also benefit from Walmart’s techniques by reviewing the companies benefit plan to see where there may be room for cuts. The company can look at some of their competition to see where there may be room to slash some of their prices in order to gain control...
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...Business Week 2 Strategy Paper - Walmart Besa Kosova, Priscilla Alejandro, Lennie Bostic University of Phoenix August 09, 2013 Dr. Ron Skeddle WALMART Wal-Mart U.S., is the leading unit of the retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which sells wide-ranging merchandise and groceries. The company has reputation for value, convenience, and a large selection at a low price. As one of the highly valued global companies today it ranks third publicly while remaining the biggest retailer and major private employer nationwide. Nevertheless with growth and expansion, the company faces new challenges in an attempt to remain competitive and a community favorite. This paper will analyze the company’s internal and external factors such as strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT ANALYSIS 2013 |Internal Factors: STRENGTHS |Internal Factors: WEAKNESSES | | | | |Operations Scale |Negative Publicity | |IT competence |High Employee Turnover | |Product Variety ...
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...Walmart is the nation’s biggest employer. As such, its impact on the economy is tremendous. To understand just how big this business is, it’s worth noting that their profit margin yearly is bigger than the GPD of Sweden. (BusinessInsider.com). Walmart’s actions shape our work, income distribution, consumption patterns, transports, politics, and the organization of industries from retail to manufacturing, from the United States to China. Our free market system has grown a monster that can’t be controlled by the Washington elites or Wall Street bankers. A few store closures could drastically change an entire city. A change to any part of its business model could potentially send the Dow Jones on a downward spiral. So the question becomes, how big is too big? Is Walmart in the same category as the too big to fail banks? The answer is simple. Walmart has the power to cripple this nation and no regulators will go against them and risk financial fail to our economy. There are currently 1.4 million associates on their payroll, of which 60% are struggling financially and still relying on government assistance for food stamps and medical coverage. As we seen in the movie, The High Price of low cost, (2005), the retail giant would give info sessions to its employees on how to apply for government assistance. They exploit all the loopholes by first paying its employees minimum wage, a family of 3 would fall below the poverty level thus qualifying them for food stamps, then getting tax...
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...Cost Leadership and Differentiation Strategies @Walmart Submitted by: Samrat Basu INDEX PAGE Walmart Origin Page-3 Walmart Mission/Vision Page-4 Corporate Culture@ Walmart Page-4 Competitive Position of Walmart Page 5-6 Strategies @ Walmart Page 6-9 Private Label and Store Layout Page 9-11 Conclusion Page-11 Appendix Page 12 References and Bibliography Page 13-14 Wal-Mart- Origin Wal-Mart was the product of Sam Walton, a businessman from Arkansas. In the late 1940s, in USA, a retailer who was successful in obtaining a sufficient discount for his products from the whole-seller, used to sell the products at full price to the customers and thus enjoyed a substantial amount of profit. Sam Walton during that time was working as a retailer at a J.C. Penney store in Des Moines, Iowa.(Walton & Huey, 1993) Incidentally while working there, he was introduced to Butler Brothers, a big retailer who had chains of variety stores known as Ben Franklin and Sam was offered...
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...Cost Leadership and Differentiation Strategies @Walmart Submitted by: Samrat Basu INDEX PAGE Walmart Origin Page-3 Walmart Mission/Vision Page-4 Corporate Culture@ Walmart Page-4 Competitive Position of Walmart Page 5-6 Strategies @ Walmart Page 6-9 Private Label and Store Layout Page 9-11 Conclusion Page-11 Appendix Page 12 References and Bibliography Page 13-14 Wal-Mart- Origin Wal-Mart was the product of Sam Walton, a businessman from Arkansas. In the late 1940s, in USA, a retailer who was successful in obtaining a sufficient discount for his products from the whole-seller, used to sell the products at full price to the customers and thus enjoyed a substantial amount of profit. Sam Walton during that time was working as a retailer at a J.C. Penney store in Des Moines, Iowa.(Walton & Huey, 1993) Incidentally while working there, he was introduced to Butler Brothers, a big retailer who had chains of variety stores known as Ben Franklin and Sam was offered...
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...Walmart: Global Strategic Expansion - Executive Summary Since introducing its first international store in 1991, Walmart has transformed itself from an American retail giant into a global one, leveraging a wealth of resources to strategically expand operations. Although Walmart must contend with several formidable competitors, the retailer has successfully opened thousands of stores across the globe; most frequently, it has added international units through the acquisition of foreign retailers, which simultaneously reduces its competition and furthers its dominance. Walmart has differentiated itself by coupling its understanding of political, economic, legal, and cultural systems within target markets with its low-cost, high-quality approach to mass retail. Utilizing simultaneous strategic multiple thrusts, Walmart has developed layers of competitive advantage to establish itself as the world’s leading retailer. Focusing on strategic expansion, Walmart currently operates 9,826 stores across twenty-eight countries, allowing it to capture global scale efficiencies by creating a coordinated and integrated network of interdependent stores. Each unit within its network is regarded as a source of ideas and capabilities, and innovation is diffused across the company through initiatives such as a market-by-market training program that helps increase the company’s responsiveness to local demands and preferences. Thus, Walmart has established itself as a transnational corporation by developing...
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...Management Across Cultures 1 March 2015 Abstract Walmart is one of the world’s largest and most well-known retailers in the world today. It has achieved great success in areas like Mexico and Canada; however it has also seen failures in other areas like Germany and Hong Kong. This paper will discuss a brief history of Walmart’s global expansions and the strategies it chose to enter these markets. It will answer the following specific questions: When did Walmart enter the global expansion? What international markets did Walmart enter? What cultural challenges has Walmart faced? How did Walmart overcome these challenges? Where future expansions and opportunities are possible? To answer these questions, this paper will have four basic sections: A brief history of Walmart’s global expansion, what was their strategy with each expansion, cultural differences they faced, and where is Walmart going in the future. This paper will attempt to examine the strategies of its global expansion and how it used the challenges to continue success in future expansions. Walmart is the most well-known and largest retailer in the world today; with sales worth more than $200 billion, $35 billion of that from Walmart’s International Division. The company grew incredibly fast both in the United States and abroad. By tweaking entry modes, and studying the cultural differences and local threats, the core business strategies Walmart chose to build its business on in America would...
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...Walmart Questions 1. This is how I would handle Walmart if I were in the following scenarios: a. If I were a small hardware merchant, I would make sure that all the employees were friendly and informed when assisting customers with tools. I would also try to offer specials on tools or possibly hold a tools seminar for the community once every three or four months. b. If I were a small men’s clothing store, I would first pick a niche like “workers’ clothes” or “high-end retail” depending on what city I am (Chicago, Richmond, small town USA, etc.). I would offer seasonal clothing, special sales with ideas like Halloween sales or “Ides of March sale.” Services that would be offered include alterations at low prices and store credit via purchase points or gift cards. c. If I were a supermarket, I would make sure to have special sales. I would also want to work with renowned or recognizable name-brands for health foods such as Nature’s Path, Rejuvenative Foods, and Field Roast, all of which are credible health food or gluten-free food brands. If I were in an area like rural Nebraska, Illinois, or Indiana, I would highly consider hosting a farmer’s market event once a month. Farmers would pay a fee to have a booth on the property, and we would allow them to sell and promote their crops from 8 am to 12 pm. d. If I were a toy store, I would consider specializing in a category of toys such as toys for babies or toys for toddlers. If I sold items that required...
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...implementation strongly supported by new technology, made the Walmart business model so successful over all these years. Such successful strategy is mainly due to the development of an extremely good distribution network and software system which has revolutionized the relationship between suppliers and retailers with mutual benefits, as well to its founder heritage management principles highly focused on customer value and service, “associates” commitment to the company achieved by means of sharing of information, ideas and profit as well, community involvement and ethic responsibilities. 2) Why haven’t competitors successfully duplicate their strategy? Walmart strategy is hard to duplicate for competitors because it is actually given by a mix of factors and company values deeply entrenched into the company history, culture and mission. While single strategic management decision can be, and effectively, have been replicated by competitors, the synergy of such strategic management decisions, which is the real key of the company’s growth and success, cannot be replicate by competitors. 3)Is their advantage transferable to China? Despite the attractive and lucrative market opportunities arising from middle class booming, due mainly to culture diversity, China is not a market where is possible to duplicate sic et simpliciter Western management strategies, even if extremely brilliant. Given the global economy, China represents an...
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...Walmart in Japan I. Problem identification phase Introduction Walmart is an American international retail company that is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company began operations in 1962 after being founded by Sam Walton and incorporated in 1969. The present brand name—Walmart—came about in 2008 and before that it was referred to as Wal-Mart. The company is famous for operating chains of large discount departmental stores and warehouse stores. Presently, the company is the 18th public corporation in terms of size and the biggest in terms of revenue, private employment, and retailer (Walmart 2011 Annual report). Furthermore, the largest shareholders are the Walton’s with 48% shares; hence they control the company. The company has approximately 9000 stores in over 15 countries all operating under different names. For instance, in Mexico it is called Walmex, in UK Asda, and in Japan Seiyu. This article analyses Walmart in Japan through three phases. The three phases are: problem identification, analysis, and solution phases. Background Walmart bought 6.2% of Seiyu in May 2002 (Holstein 73). The shares of the company increased over time and in 2005 December, Walmart was the majority shareholder of 50.9%. In 2008, Seiyu was entirely owned by Walmart whose headquarters are in Tokyo. The company has 419 retail units that are inclusive of: Seiyu Hypermarket, Seiyu Supermarket, Wakana, and Seiyu General Merchendise. Setting operations in Japan was not an easy feat...
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...IN GERMANY The case features in David Needle (2010), Business in Context, 5th edition, Cengage/South-Western, pp. 159-62. The Wal-Mart Success Story The first Wal-Mart store was established by Sam Walton in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. At first expansion was steady with 24 stores by 1967. The initial focus for Wal-Mart operations was small town, rural America. The company grew to 276 stores by 1980 and the Wal-Mart empire reached 640 stores by 1984. The company currently has around 4,100 stores in the USA and by 2003 it was the world’s largest retailer, three times as large as its nearest rival, the French company, Carrefour. It was also the world’s largest employer with 1.9 million employed worldwide in 2007. In terms of revenue, it remains the world’s largest company and in 2002 it was ranked number one in the Fortune 500. Wal-Mart is noted for its large and diverse product range, which includes food, clothing, electrical goods, homeware, pharmaceuticals and so on. The USA business comprised four types of operation, ‘supercenters’, ‘discount stores’, ‘Sam’s Club’ and a small number of convenience stores. The ‘supercenters’ carry the full range of goods, including food and a large variety of other types of merchandise. The ‘discount stores’ are like the ‘supercenters’ without the food and ‘Sam’s Club’ is a membership discount warehouse for bulk purchases. According to Knorr and Arndt (2003) the success of Wal-mart is based on four factors. • Low prices. • A focus on customer...
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...| 2013 | | | [Case 6: Walmart's Global Strategy] | 604.800 International and Comparative Management | 1. Case summary 2006 was one of the years that marked the biggest retrenchment in Wal-Mart’s history. It was the year that Wal-Mart had decided to exit the German market after trying to penetrate it for about eight years. The company undertook its international expansion in the early 1990s to rejuvenate sales and growth. However, on July 30th, 2006, Wal-Mart had announced that it was selling its operations to German retailer Metro. In May of same year, Wal-Mart had also announced that it was selling its 16 stores in South Korea, admitting another internationalization failure. What went wrong with Germany? Wal-Mart had underestimated its German competitors, the power of German shoppers, cultural differences and the power of labor unions in Europe. The company did not expect that these differences would impede its ability to apply in Germany what worked so well in the United States. German competitors offered very low prices, while German shoppers had shown how demanding they can be and that they buy products predominantly based on price; even if that meant going to a few different retail stores during their shopping trip. German shoppers were also not accustomed to workers putting their groceries in shopping bag. Moreover, German regulations limited Wal-Mart’s ability to offer extended weekend hours and sell merchandise below cost. Strong labor unions limited...
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...considered in a sustainable and profitable perspective. • The suppliers that are not compliant with Wal-Mart’s directive on sustainability are substituted after a short-medium time. • A Central Warehouse in the U.S. is not considered for both chains, because we assume that a system of cross docking takes care of the incoming goods from the arrival point in the U.S.A. if the good is imported. • We consider in the U.S.A territory five central warehouse that have a direct contact with all the Wall-Mart stores according to their geographical position. Seafood supply chain Electronic supply chain Assumptions The assumptions needed in order to analyze the seafood supply chain for Wal-Mart are the following: Our import market is the USA market and the export is the Thai one. Thailand, in fact, is one of the major exporter of the seafood category that we will consider: salmon. Wal-Mart fishes demand is similar to the American demand composition in terms of the quantity and the quality of the products. In our analysis we will consider as “producers” (first level of the supply chain) only the fishermen and not the fish farmers We considered only pre-frozen fish, that will be sold in the refrigerator aisle. Since seafood is a perishable good, we have to consider the natural time constraints, the “cold chain” of the frozen products and the time needed for the different processing. The different transportations and inventories’ times, in the...
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...Walmart CEO: William Simon Part of the long-term success of Walmart is the effectiveness of the leaders within the organization, including CEO William “Bill” Simon. An exceptional leader achieves goals for and with their business for the reason that “successful and effective leadership means, fundamentally, influencing others by establishing a direction for collective effort and managing, shaping, and developing the collective activities in accordance with this direction” (Lather, A., Jain, V. K., Jain, S., & Vikas, S., 2009). According to Derue, Nahrgang, Wellman, and Humphrey (2011), “leadership is one of the most discussed and debated topics in the social sciences [beginning] with a search for heritable attributes that differentiated leaders from non-leaders and explained individuals’ effectiveness as leaders” (p. 7). William Simon, without a doubt, carried each of these qualities, and as such, has helped to develop Walmart into the amazing conglomerate that it is today. William Simon has been Chief Executive Officer and President of Wal-Mart.com USA, LLC since 2010, and has been the Executive Vice President of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. since 2010, as well. He has over fifteen years of experience employed by major consumer brands, as well as worked for many marketing and development positions for major companies. I consider William Simon to be a transformational leader which, to me, is the most effective of leadership styles and philosophies. Simon, as a transformational...
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