Walmart Case Study
Wal-Mart’s Midlife Crisis Case Study
Denika Smith
MGT 704 – Marketing Management
May 1, 2014
Wal-Mart’s philosophy, put in place by founder Sam Walton, was to offer the lowest prices to its customers and help them save money and live better. Their approach for keeping their costs down, however, is not very employee friendly. They limit spending by managers and keep low wages for its associates. Many businesses, like Wal-Mart, sometimes forget that one of their most valuable sources of information is their workforce. A happy workforce will deliver their marketing message via excellent customer service every time. If employees are unhappy, they will not meet customer needs and the customer may not return, despite their sales and marketing efforts. I have analyzed this case from an HR prospective because I strongly believe that happy employees leads to efficient employees and better work cultures, which results in happy and satisfied customers. Slide 1-20 – Holistic Marketing The case study states that Wal-Mart’s new proposed strategies include a more holistic approach to marketing. However, our text states that holistic marketing acknowledges that everything matters in marketing, which lists employees as part of both relationship marketing and internal marketing components. In order for Wal-Mart to successfully implement the relationship marketing strategy, they must first analyze their workforce morale and determine ways to keep costs down without affecting this valuable source of information. They must re-design their overall employee compensation and benefits package targeting improvements that will mirror those offered by some of the top 100 companies to work for. Slide 1-21 – Relationship Marketing
As stated in our text, relationship marketing targets building long term relationships with key constituents, which include customers, employees, marketing partners and members of the financial community to earn and
Denika Smith
MGT 704 – Marketing Management
May 1, 2014
Wal-Mart’s philosophy, put in place by founder Sam Walton, was to offer the lowest prices to its customers and help them save money and live better. Their approach for keeping their costs down, however, is not very employee friendly. They limit spending by managers and keep low wages for its associates. Many businesses, like Wal-Mart, sometimes forget that one of their most valuable sources of information is their workforce. A happy workforce will deliver their marketing message via excellent customer service every time. If employees are unhappy, they will not meet customer needs and the customer may not return, despite their sales and marketing efforts. I have analyzed this case from an HR prospective because I strongly believe that happy employees leads to efficient employees and better work cultures, which results in happy and satisfied customers. Slide 1-20 – Holistic Marketing The case study states that Wal-Mart’s new proposed strategies include a more holistic approach to marketing. However, our text states that holistic marketing acknowledges that everything matters in marketing, which lists employees as part of both relationship marketing and internal marketing components. In order for Wal-Mart to successfully implement the relationship marketing strategy, they must first analyze their workforce morale and determine ways to keep costs down without affecting this valuable source of information. They must re-design their overall employee compensation and benefits package targeting improvements that will mirror those offered by some of the top 100 companies to work for. Slide 1-21 – Relationship Marketing
As stated in our text, relationship marketing targets building long term relationships with key constituents, which include customers, employees, marketing partners and members of the financial community to earn and