My BCG Matrix On Wal Mart

The company I chose to conduct my BCG Matrix on was Wal-Mart, because this company has become one of the largest and most successful companies within the United States. Wal-Mart started out as a small retail business in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas by Sam Walton. Today Wal-Mart has more than 10,000 stores in more than twenty eight different countries. In 2012 Wal-Mart gained revenue of $421,849 million dollars, which was an increase of 3.4% from the previous year. (www.topics.nytimes.com>Business>Companies, p. 1). While accessing the four quadrants within the BCG Matrix I felt that Wal-Mart fits into the Cash Cow Quadrant. The Cash Cow Quadrant is when a company has a high market share in a slow growing industry and the company generates more cash than the amount of cash that is needed to maintain the business. (www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_bcgmatrix.html). I feel that Wal-Mart fits in this quadrant because they have the highest market share in the industry; in addition the industry has a slow growth rate. (Roberts, May 28, 2012). The growth rate for this superstore is 3.8% and its market share in their industry is 3.6%, which puts Wal-Mart in a very stable position. When the vision of Wal-Mart came about to Sam Walton it was his idea to create a store that believed in this slogan “Saving People More to Help Them Live Better”. By coming up with this idea this has helped to build a high customer base and in return has allowed Wal-Mart to expand and by doing so Wal-Mart was able to open its first Sam’s Club in 1988. Now Sam’s Club is one of the most profitable discount stores. Wal-Mart’s ability to branch out, and expand has been one of the key reasons why it fits into the Cash Cow quadrant of the BCG matrix. In addition to opening the Sam’s Club stores across the country, Wal-Mart has expanded in other ways. Wal-Mart was able to develop into a complete service superstore by adding a complete grocery store to its stores. This has given Wal-Mart the edge

References: 1. www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_bcgmatrix.html 2. www.topic.nytimes.com>Business>Companies 3. Roberts, Bryan and Natalie Berg. Walmart: Key Insights and Practical Lessons from the World’s Largest Retailer. Kogan Page Publisher. May 28, 2012