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Mara 466 Wal-Mart

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Mara 466 Wal-Mart
Michael Brewer
MARA-466-900
Wal-Mart In the modern era of business operations the store founded by the Walton family in Bentonville Arkansas has grown into the largest company in the world. From its small beginnings it has grown into the behemoth of the retail industry and defined the new way of doing business worldwide. Wal-Mart’s continued success can be contributed to their business plan, distribution system, HR management, product diversity, price, and negotiating power with manufacturers. They have essentially written their own playbook on how to maximize the profitability of every store, every product and every worker. While demand for lower prices drives most companies into bankruptcy it has been capitalized upon by Wal-Mart as an extremely effective marketing tool throughout the company’s history. The business plan would appear simple, low cost = high profit, but Wal-Mart has taken this to entirely whole new levels as they essentially take over the retail industry. Through branding themselves as the “price rollback” company they have established droves of loyal customers around the world. By offering products at prices their competitors at times can ill afford to compete with they continually expand their customer base and strengthen their influence over manufacturers. As the demand for products on the shelves in stores is continually increasing it was essential for Wal-Mart to establish a highly effective and efficient distribution system to ensure the products customers want is in the store for them to buy. The success of this has only fueled the company’s expansion and profitability. They accomplished this by tracking each individual item, customer, and store. From this determinations can be made as to what particular products need to be delivered where in order for the customer to find what they are looking for. These distribution centers are models of efficiency as the majority of products that enter them each day are received, sorted,

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