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RESEARCH ANALYSIS FORWAL-MART
GEOFFREY NGIGI
MG 302
April 16, 2018
Walmart was founded by the Walton’s. Co-founder Sam M. Waltonopened a franchise Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansasin 1945. His brother, James L. Walton, opened another store inVersailles, Missouri the following year. Walmart was incorporatedin 1969 in Delaware. In 1962, Walmart’s first discount store,Discount City, started operations in Rogers, Arkansas. The firstSam’s Clubs were established in 1984. Walmart’s first supercenterformat started operations in 1988. Walmart is a mass merchandiser.It’s the world’s largest retailer. It has over 11,100 stores in 27countries. With a market cap of over $275 billion, it ranks amongthe top ten companies in the world. This analysis is to look atWalmart business environment and recommendation on the company
Walmart is looking at different strategies to maintain itspresences for a long term. It intends to develop the people in away that they believe that Walmart is the only store that cansatisfy their needs. They are driving productivity loop in a waythat they are able to receive the latest information. With theincrease in online sales, Walmart is planning to win in the globale-commerce technology area. It is also planning to revive thecustomer by focusing in different culture, lead in environmentconservation and social issues. These particular strategies provedto make Walmart one of the top retailers. Walmart has manycompetitive advantage, to Walmart, nothing is more important thatcontinuing to deliver a powerful message to their people, both themanagement and higher organizational levels.
Walmart's center of attention is on developing leadership skillsand talent through training programs and business series such asthe Walton Institute. Walmart plans to recruit exceptional newtalent where it is needed. Walmart has huge diversity in productwhich allows customers to find variety of products. It hasconvenient prices in all there location which is affordable to lowincome earners. Its strong market presence makes it visible to manycustomers. There strong financial performance in the stock exchangemakes it visible and trusted by customers. Due to its cost, pricingadvantages over rival and good supply chain it has managed toincrease its sales.
The major weakness that Walmart has is brand image which makesit to have a weak reputation. Walmart has also low global presencesand is behind their rivals in e-commerce. The major opportunitythat the company has is a great global expansion in new geographicareas, increasing online sales, and many business strategicalliances like acquiring rival firms. Major threats that affectsWalmart is intense competition, laws and regulations like tradepolicy which are not good for business, cultural barriers, currenteconomy, slow market growth, and transport of distinctivecompetency
This analysis shows that Walmart must prioritize using itsstrengths to exploit opportunities in the global retail market. Thecompany’s weaknesses and threats should be secondary priorities.Walmart can improve its HR management standards and product qualitystandards to improve firm performance. Also, the company mustcontinue expanding its business to exploit economic opportunitiesin developing markets. Walmart’s strengths based on its globalorganizational size, global supply chain, and high efficiency ofthe supply chain can support aggressive global expansion in foreignmarkets.
Reference
"Walmart 2012 Annual Report." Online posting. Walmart Corporate.Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.http://stock.walmart.com/annual-reports
Statista (2016) Available at:http://www.statista.com/statistics/240481/food-market-share-of-the-leading-food-retailers-of-north-america/
Lu, C. (2014) “Incredibly successful supply chain management:how does walmart do it?” Tradegecko, Available at:https://www.tradegecko.com/blog/incredibly-successful-supply-chain-management-walmar
The World’s Most Valuable Brands (2015) Forbes,Available at: http://www.forbes.com/companies/wal-mart-stores/
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