Tong, C. H., & Lee, T.(2006). Exploring the cornerstones of Wal-Marts success and competitiveness. Competitiveness Review, 16(2143-149). ProQuest…
Wal-Mart is a giant of the retailing industry yet is not immune to the pressures of globalized trade, supply, and competition. Wal-Mart’s profit sustainability is always ‘in doubt’ unless it continues to fight off various competitive conglomerates or large size retailers such as Amazon and Target. Mergers on the scale of Wal-Mart are rare yet the marketplace shifts based on the continued expansion of physical and online retailers like Amazon and Amazon’s many partner/provider organizations. To stay ahead of the various operational and governmental threats, Wal-Mart’s focus is on maintaining their low cost…
Although Wal-Mart is a very successful company, there are still many areas of improvement they need to consider. The problem a lot of companies make is that once they reach a certain revenue dollar amount they feel they have arrived. Although having increasing revenues consistently is key to success, there are many other factors that measure a company’s success.…
Every organization is usually surrounded by factors within and outside which affect its performance. These factors fall within the internal environment and the external environment. Wal-Mart is one such organization that has a set of internal factors which influence its operations. The corporate structure of Wal-Mart is seen to affect operations. Even though it is a public corporation, the majority of the stock is held by the Walton family which creates a lot of involvement from the family members. The family has much influence on the top level management of the organization. In the same way, the centralization of the organization in Arkansas is usually seen to be a major concern with respect to management as it creates challenges in control. The organization has a strong corporate culture which has greatly enhanced its success across the world (Chiron, 2012).…
For Wal-Mart to continue its long-running success, the company needs to realize that there are changes that need to take place from time to time. The first step to change the mental models and mindsets is to recognize the power and limits of mental models (Wind, Crook, & Gunther, 2005). If Wal-Mart believes that because they are strong they will always be strong, then they will surely fail. By implementing the first step, Wal-Mart can overcome the negative side of their mental models that they currently see as positives. Not all mental models are negatives. In addition, not all negative mental models start out as such. Some of them are positive at first, but evolve into negatives as a result of the current events and issues. For example, Wal-Mart may currently view all Japanese made electronics as superior. So they may only sell these electronics. Although it may be true…
The purpose of this paper is to explain how internal and external factors affect the four functions of management in the Wal-Mart Corporation. For any organization to survive, irrespective of its size, it must develop and implement its own management concept. Management is the process of working with people and resources to accomplish organizational goals (Bateman & Snell, 2011). The four traditional functions of management include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The Wal-Mart Corporation has managed to use the internal and external factors of these functions to their advantage. With their strategic goal of seriously and rapidly expanding, the company currently employs over 2.2 million associates, owns 8,500 stores, and serves 200 million customers weekly(“www.corporate.walmart.com”, 2012).Their strategies have minimized competitors making this company the world’s largest retailer. The following paper will describe how the Wal-Mart Corporation has found a successful way to use the functions with internal and external factors influencing globalization, technology, innovation, ethics, and diversity in business.…
Wal-Mart’s worldwide employments presently consist of 4,263 stores and 660,000 employees in fifteen nations externally the United States. There are completely controlled stores in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the UK. With two.one million workers globally, the business is the gigantic independent entrepreneur in the US and Mexico, and 1 of the gigantic in Canada. In the monetary span in 2010, Wal-Mart’s worldwide departmentalizing commerce were $one hundred billion, or 24.7% of overall marketing.…
Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton wanted to “bring big-city discounting to his corner of the rural American South,” offering low prices every day. The strategy was simple, sell cheap, so the company worked very hard to lower costs by buying directly from manufacturers and always increasing workers’ productivity. After Walton’s death, the company went on with an accelerated new technologies and globalization of its operations. From 1995-1999 Wal-Mart alone gained 25% of productivity of the US economy. Also, by 2004 it became the largest importer from China in the world (10% of all China’s exports.) With this huge market power, Wal-Mart was able to exert lots of power over its business partners and employees. They…
Wal-Mart, although one to the largest and most productive organizations in the world, faces many threats and challenges. Critics and groups everywhere are lining up to take shots at this global giant and destroy its image. Some of Wal-Mart’s current challenges can be seen in daily operations, its internal and external environment, product sourcing, healthcare, wages, communities, diversity, employee benefits, and social challenges. Though these challenges or weaknesses pose a very large threat to the organization, they also pose great opportunities to turn them into strengths. If these challenges are met correctly, Wal-Mart stands to gain a great amount of profit and respect among its critics.…
Wal-Mart’s conundrum with the economy is that it provides premium services and goods at a price well below that of any competitor. The size and scope of the company’s operations allows for them to put pressure on the companies that produce these goods. Wal-Mart often uses outsourced labor and imported goods as a means…
Wal-Mart has three competencies that has helped to build it to become the retail giant it is: excellence in how it operates, customer satisfaction, and supplier product relations. Wal-Mart’s CEO understands to continue having a successful retail business it is important to “coordinate a complex information management and distribution network and to efficiently manage supplier relationships” (Bender, Howell, Lavin, and Torgerson, 2001, p.…
Walmart is dealing with different problems and blunders in its international expansion. The nation’s largest private employer faces challenges in every sector of the environment. Recently the corporation that had been entirely nonunion was jolted by a victory of organized labor on their premises. February 17, 2000 brought the United Food & Commercial Workers union to triumph in the first union election at a U.S. Walmart store. Although it initially involved only eleven meat cutters in Jacksonville, Texas, and the company challenged the election results, the impact of the external human resources sector is being felt within the organization. The weight on Walmart’s bottom line could be significant over time because currently Walmart pays an average $9.63 an hour, or 47% less than at unionized grocery chains. Other elections may follow, at the same time additional effects from the environment are felt. For example, the previous year, the same union began scoring victories in the political environment against Walmart superstores by working with other unions, urban-sprawl opponents, and even other grocery stores; initiatives were for passing bills such as the one in California prohibiting new retail stores larger than 100,000 square feet from using more than 15,000 square feet for non-taxable items such as groceries. Not all such efforts are immediately successful; for example, the bill passed by California’s legislature was later vetoed by the governor. Nevertheless, the impact of the general environment on the giant retailer is clear, and the potential effect is huge. Walmart’s 720 superstores already account for 27% of revenue, and with 300 more superstores scheduled to open in two years, the company knows it must pay close attention to its environment.…
The main issue facing the management of WalMart is how to sustain their extraordinary growth that they have sustained over the years in their growth in profit margins and growth in sales. As the domestic market reaches saturation, a strategy for at home and for global expansion will be necessary. Wal-Mart faces many direct and indirect competition in retail, but I feel that the use of their state of the art supply chain management built in with their partnerships with suppliers gives Wal-Mart an edge over the competition. Wal-Mart has been very successful in creating share holder value, and customer value. Wal-Mart strategic vision is to be the low cost-leader, this strategy has helped Wal-Mart to penetrate and fulfill the market with their services. Even in a bad economy Wal-Mart does well. This is a good business model to have and to…
Competitive advantage can be defined as a means by which a firm manages to keep making money, add value by providing distinct products and sustain its position against its competitors. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is one of such companies in the retail sector that has achieved sustainable competitive advantage over a period of time. ¬This report focuses on how Wal-Mart has achieved competitive advantage by adopting cost leadership strategy and providing consumer goods at lower prices. The report also discusses how Wal-Mart is taking lead on environmental sustainability by investing in solar power plants, offering environment friendly products in its various stores and encouraging recycling of different products. Wal-Mart’s strategies that have helped to reduce power consumption to a great extent as well as the company’s future plans to go green have been studied in this report.…
Internal and External Factors of Wal-MartIn 1962, Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store and the retailing giant has been rising to success ever since. Various factors have played an integral role in the success of Wal-Mart, but without the strong execution of the four functions of management, Wal-Mart would have failed like many others. This paper will discuss in detail the how internal and external factors affect the four functions of management.…