Wal-Mart Internal/External Factors
Wal-Mart Internal/External Factors
Team B
MGT/230
February 4, 2013
Penelope Thomas
Wal-Mart Internal/External Factors
Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store in Arkansas on July 2, 1962, (Carson, 1999-2013). The vision of Sam Walton for his store Wal-Mart was to provide lower prices and to reflect on the values of the community and the customer. Consumers remember Wal-Mart for its motto "customer satisfaction" and “guaranteed lower prices."
Wal-Mart offers employee training for everyone in the store from the greeters to the managers to ensure excellent customer skills and to instill Sam Walton's philosophy in the consumers mind. Wal-Mart's growth leads to the company becoming incorporated in 1969 that has led to stores opening in the nation and globally. Celebrating 50 years of helping communities and customers, Wal-Mart has more than 10,000 stores in at least 27 countries (History Timeline, 2012). Sam Walton has proven successful management using the four functions of management to grow his business. The four functions include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Wal-Mart's success in various levels of management has led to multidivisional structures. Wal-Mart has 13 divisions of strategic management that offers traditional functional areas and geographic areas in the retail operation.
Globalization
Thomas Friedman wrote "if Wal-Mart were an individual economy, it would rank as China's eighth-biggest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia, and Canada". It's marketing strategy of "Always Low Prices" is met by importing the majority of its products from countries where there are lower wages like China. The majority of manufacturing jobs have been moved out of the United states and overseas because of the cost savings and this has impacted the economy here tremendously. Yes we are able to purchase products cheaper but most Americans would trade the cost savings for a job in the end. Wal-Mart is expanding its growth and
Team B
MGT/230
February 4, 2013
Penelope Thomas
Wal-Mart Internal/External Factors
Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store in Arkansas on July 2, 1962, (Carson, 1999-2013). The vision of Sam Walton for his store Wal-Mart was to provide lower prices and to reflect on the values of the community and the customer. Consumers remember Wal-Mart for its motto "customer satisfaction" and “guaranteed lower prices."
Wal-Mart offers employee training for everyone in the store from the greeters to the managers to ensure excellent customer skills and to instill Sam Walton's philosophy in the consumers mind. Wal-Mart's growth leads to the company becoming incorporated in 1969 that has led to stores opening in the nation and globally. Celebrating 50 years of helping communities and customers, Wal-Mart has more than 10,000 stores in at least 27 countries (History Timeline, 2012). Sam Walton has proven successful management using the four functions of management to grow his business. The four functions include planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Wal-Mart's success in various levels of management has led to multidivisional structures. Wal-Mart has 13 divisions of strategic management that offers traditional functional areas and geographic areas in the retail operation.
Globalization
Thomas Friedman wrote "if Wal-Mart were an individual economy, it would rank as China's eighth-biggest trading partner, ahead of Russia, Australia, and Canada". It's marketing strategy of "Always Low Prices" is met by importing the majority of its products from countries where there are lower wages like China. The majority of manufacturing jobs have been moved out of the United states and overseas because of the cost savings and this has impacted the economy here tremendously. Yes we are able to purchase products cheaper but most Americans would trade the cost savings for a job in the end. Wal-Mart is expanding its growth and
References: Carson, H. (1999-2013). eHow. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/way_5714916_wal_mart-customer-strategies.html CNN Money. (2013). Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/full_list/ History Timeline, Retrieved February 9, 2013 from http://corporate.walmart.com/our- story/heritage/history-timeline Wailgum, T. (1994-2013). CIO. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/147005/45_Years_of_Wal_Mart_History_A_Technology_Time_Line Wal-Mart Statement of Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ethics.walmartstores.com/StatementOfEthics/BasicBeliefs.aspx Friedman, T. (2005) The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century