...clearing possible liabilities better outcomes will be evident. Eventually, legacies become built and the company’s prominence exerts dominance and confidence. During environmental scanning of a company, there is a thorough assessment into a complete global analysis. This involves companies, markets, clients, industries, and businesses in the same market. For this study will consider the trends, technological events, successes, and expectations in business. Let us commence by a comparison of Costco’s values versus Sam’s Club values. Costco has developed a brand named Kirkland. The Kirkland brand has the Costco expectation to be equivalent or better than national brands. A continual product improvement is the exact objective for the maximum competing goal. Product quality and price comparison is continuously revisited by the internal Costco research team. Sam’s club is a division from the Wal-Mart Corporation. Although Sam’s and Costco have a close race,...
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...in 1962, Wal-Mart has grown to be the largest corporation in the world. Wal-Mart is revolutionizing the way the retail items are passed from producer to end-user by drastically cutting costs at every opportunity and demanding the same of their suppliers. These savings passed onto the consumers has not come without a price! Where some see a discount or a job opportunity, others see an empire that pulls the rug out of existing businesses. For years, Wal-Mart has been accused of a number of criminal actions and questionable ethical practices. Many people, from all walks of life, find themselves discussing (and some even arguing) the topic: “Is Wal-Mart good for America?” Many blame this modern trend of globalism, the outsourcing of manufacturing, the closing of mom & pop stores and independent grocers on Wal-Mart. But the question that must be asked is as follows: Is Wal-Mart really to blame for all the things that they are being accused of? After all, aren’t the consumers fueling Wal-Mart’s position as the number one retailer in the world by their constant search for the lowest possible price? And don’t we have a choice as to where we should shop and isn’t it our responsibility to avoid businesses that we deem are unethical? Is Wal-Mart unethical or are they just misunderstood? Background Wal-Mart has been forced to defend itself against several lawsuits that were filed against them. In the case; Cynthia Haddad vs. Wal-Mart stores, Inc. Wal-Mart was found...
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...año en Estados Unidos. Target ofrece créditos para algunos consumidores a través de la REDcard. Las ganancias operativas de Target por tarjetas de crédito fue de 14.9%. La REDcard fue diseñada para enfocarse solamente en clientes que frecuentan las tiendas Target. Costco vs Target La compañía ha tenido una política de mercadotecnia bastante efectiva. En 2005 dedicaron al 2% de sus ventas y el 26.6% de sus ganancias de operación a expandir su imagen. ¿Qué es target? Empezó en 1962, ósea lleva 44 años en el mercado. Su cantidad de ventas en 2005 fue de $52.6 billones (gringos). Crecimiento de 12.1% de 2000 a 2005. Quiere abrir 100 nuevas tiendas por año. Hubo 10 propuestas que implicaban un gasto de $300 millones en gasto de capital. Target es comparado con Wal-Mart o Costco. Con el primero se relaciona en que tienen el mismo modo de operación, misma ubicación y productos similares; y con el segundo se relaciona en que tienen el mismo tipo de clientela pero se diferencian en que Costco tiene tarjetas de membresías. WALLMART Ventas de Wal-Mart- $309 billones en 2005 en 6141 tiendas y una capitalización de mercado de $200 billones. En 2000 fueron $178 billones en ventas con 4189 tiendas. COSTCO La membresía da precios de descuento a cambio de una cuota de afiliación. Estas ganancias fueron de 2% del total de ganancias en 2005 y ganancias de operación de 72.8%....
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...1. Introduction. Summarize the current situation facing the firm and other relevant issues. Wal-Mart is an organization which is subject to increasing levels of change and volatility in their business. While it is fact of business life, it also reflects that it drives a relentless increase in the proportion of an organization’s activity that is dedicated to change in meeting the new challenges. Wal-Mart has become one of America's most successful retail giants generating about ROI was 18.6% and 19.2% for fiscal 2012 and 2011, respectively. (Wal-Mart Annual Report, 2012). It is well know as the leader in thinking outside the box, anticipating market opportunities and executing effective strategies to capitalize on them. It has over 10,800 stores worldwide. Businesses have to face the challenge of too many competitors, partly originated by the globalisation, all competing for same objective of making highest profit. So, increasingly companies are not merely asking themselves the management question of ‘Are we doing the right?’ but are having to regularly ask ‘Are we still doing it right?’ They have been seeking a more holistic means of doing this than traditional means of delivering products and services to the customers. In a volatile world, decision makers need options on the future and the ability to change direction as strategic opportunities. Although, business as usual (BAU) performance change is providing a short term success but they are typically faced with a less...
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...Is Wal-Mart Good For America? Introduction We all want to do what is best for our families, our friends, ourselves and our country. However, our nation’s number one corporation is under constant ridicule for being a negative part of the American way. Wal-Mart is the overall number one on the fortune 500, over taking Exxon Mobile after a one year slip to the number 2 spot. However Wal-Mart is constantly being ridiculed by media and everyday citizens, its employees included. These opinions are often brought forth because of four major issues; the pay and benefits packages of Wal-Mart employees, the quality and buying of their goods from China, big box corporation killing local businesses ,and Wal-Mart taking jobs away and not creating new, stronger jobs .To answer each question I will use research from many different mediums, financial statements, and my personal experience as a three year Wal-Mart employee, and present facts and numbers that would be crucial in making an educated decision, following this information I will present what I believe is strong and weak about Wal-Marts current way of doing business, and then offer my solutions to answer these questions and answer the big question. Is Wal-Mart good or bad for America? Does Wal-Mart Treat Their Employees Right? As a Wal-Mart employee, I have gotten to see how things are ran, how we receive the goods, how they are taken to the floor, how it is stocked, and cleaned. I have been an overnight stocker at one of the...
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...Target compares prices on over 25,000 items to make sure that they are offering their customers the best price. Target also accepts manufacturer’s coupons making them even more competitive. Target prides itself for focusing on supplier diversity. Target has developed relationships with minority and women owned vendor and suppliers. Target is focused on becoming the industry leader in supplier diversity. (target.com) Weaknesses: Target unfortunately has no international presence; all of their 1,763 stores are located in the U.S. Target’s focus on quality products more so than low prices is also considered a threat. Consumers may tend to shop at Wal-Mart or Dollar Stores due to the economy and the perception that they are much cheaper. Another threat is that it does not have as many stores as its competitor Wal-Mart. (target.com) Opportunities: Target plans on opening stores in Canada in 2013. Target has purchased the leases Zeller’s. Target will operate about 150 stores in Canada between 2013 and 2014. (target.com) Target...
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...Costco and Wal-Mart's Sam’s Club are competitors in the retail warehouse market. The retail warehouse industry is in an industry in which retailers offer goods to consumers in bulk quantities at cheaper prices. Back in 1992 the estimated size of the industry was $40, recently it has grown over 10.5 times to be around $420 billion (Halzack, Paragraph 8). Looking at this growth rate we believe this is an excellent market to be in and believe it will continue to see impressive growth in the future to come, especially with the current growth its exhibited. Within the warehouse retail space, the majority of market share is held be 3 firms which are Costco, Sam’s club and BJ’s Whole Sale Club being a much smaller player (Soni. " Sizing Up the Competition...
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...Overview Margarita Torres Costco member and shareholder Evaluating Costco’s financial performance Evaluation methods Common-size statements Sustainable growth model Benchmarking ratios Retail Industry $1.6 trillion in retail and wholesale trade (2001) 15% of GDP (1960) 16% of GDP (2001) Department stores Customer service premium Many SKUs Discount stores Low prices No frills Retail Industry Wholesale clubs Membership only Volume discounts Limited SKUs Online stores Convenience Low overhead Sears, Roebuck, & Company Founded 1893 First retail store opened in 1925 $41 billion in sales (2001) 2,185 stores Wal-Mart / SAM’S Club Founded 1962 First SAM’S Club opened in 1983 $218 billion in sales (2001) 4, 189 stores 528 SAM’S Clubs 39 million members (SAM’S Club) Concentrated in the South BJ’s Wholesale Founded 1984 $5 billion in sales (2001) 130 stores 6.7 million members Concentrated in the Northeast Costco Wholesale Corporation Founded in 1983 Merged with Price Club in 1993 $34 billion in sales (2001) 365 stores 17.1 million members Concentrated in the West Costco Wholesale Corporation Target markets Middle class customers Small businesses Mark up limited to 14% Kirkland Signature store brand Brand name quality at discount prices Efficient operations Common-size Statements Absolute amounts vs. relative ratios / percentages Trends Where are funds allocated? How efficient is the business? Benchmarking Comparisons between businesses Sustainable Growth Model Step 1: Profitability and...
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...Integrated Company Analysis Target Corporation December 14, 2010 Group: B7 Eric Dowling Alex Davydov Matthew Melnicoff Soledad Querol Molly Rotsch Contents Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................................3 Marketing Analysis .............................................................................................................................................3 The Target Brand ............................................................................................................................................3 "The Guest" ....................................................................................................................................................4 Target's Competitors ......................................................................................................................................4 Expect More, Pay Less ....................................................................................................................................4 Rise of the Store Brand ...................................................................................................................................5 Up and Up......................................................................................................................................................6 The Introduction of PFresh......................
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...I. The Theme Wal-Mart was built to save people money so they can live better. Hints to their slogan: “Save Money. Live Better.” Their mission has allowed the company to grow around the world. The culture and the values of their employees help strive for success of Wal-Mart while serving over 200 million customers and members each week(Wal-Mart Annual). We strongly believe that Wal-Mart is the best- positioned global retailer and that they will continue to progress. Cost leadership is the corner stone of how Wal-Mart goes to market. Doing our analysis of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., we gathered our information and different figures from the Hoover’s online through the Willis library’s website, Reuters.com, and Morningstar.com databases which gave us insight to several financial aspects of the firm, including its stock, cash flows, risk, dividends, sales, earnings, debt, and overall performance. II. Business Analysis Profile of the company “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone…we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton, summarized his vision back in 1962 for a new type of discount store that consumers would appreciate. As an owner of a much smaller discount store Walton had the experience, did the research, and then put up 95 percent of the startup costs for his new company in which he and his wife truly believed in. The first store opened in Rogers, Arkansas and was...
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...WMT Group 2 Report Date | S & P Value | Last Price | Intrinsic Value | Economic Moat | Recommendation | 11/29/2010 | 1,187.76 | $53.85 | 60.93 | Wide | Hold | I. The Theme Wal-Mart was built to save people money so they can live better. Hints to their slogan: “Save Money. Live Better.” Their mission has allowed the company to grow around the world. The culture and the values of their employees help strive for success of Wal-Mart while serving over 200 million customers and members each week(Wal-Mart Annual). We strongly believe that Wal-Mart is the best- positioned global retailer and that they will continue to progress. Cost leadership is the corner stone of how Wal-Mart goes to market. Doing our analysis of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., we gathered our information and different figures from the Hoover’s online through the Willis library’s website, Reuters.com, and Morningstar.com databases which gave us insight to several financial aspects of the firm, including its stock, cash flows, risk, dividends, sales, earnings, debt, and overall performance. II. Business Analysis Profile of the company “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone…we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton, summarized his vision back in 1962 for a new type of discount store that consumers would appreciate. As an owner of a much smaller discount store Walton had the experience...
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...ACCT 600 MAFM CAPSTONE BECAUSE OF THE RISKS CAN COSTCO ACQUIRE THE #3 KMART? ABSTRACT The retail business is very competitive. Because the retail industry provides products and or services for the needs, wants, and sometimes feelings of the consumer it can be hard to determine what they like and don’t like. Moreover, with the economy, which by the way affects all businesses, you just do not have an exact science on how things will turn out. Industry businessman, economist etc. can only make assumptions based on occurrences. So, if you are in a business to make a profit, and satisfy stakeholders you need to have a plan. Sometimes the plan calls for mergers and acquisitions. Mergers and acquisitions can have a positive and/or negative effect. “According to a KPMG study, 83% of all mergers and acquisitions failed to produce any benefit for the shareholders and over half actually destroyed value.”(http://www.itapintl.com/...the-impact-of), to be a good CFO you must do the research to determine if acquiring another company will be beneficial. This report will identify the risk factors of the target acquisition company Kmart and the risk factors present in the parent company Costco. Our team will then show how these risks can be mitigated. BECAUSE OF THE RISKS CAN COSTCO ACQUIRE THE #3 KMART? KMART RISKS/MITIAGATION Many investors such as Costco may be unaware of all the risks associated with investing in a specific company. Providing current and future...
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...American Warehouse Clubs: Costco Wholesale Club vs. BJ’s Wholesale Overview Costco and BJ’s are both wholesale stores. They offer a variety of products sold in case lots, furniture, food, household products, clothing, books, DVD’s, and many other bulk products. They limit their products to brand names and store product names. They offer bulk items at a lower cost than a typical grocery store. They are kept in warehouse stores which cost the companies less with cheaper shelving and store lighting fixtures. Low operating costs allows these wholesalers to charge much lower prices. These warehouses are very attractive for business owners, caterers and non profit organizations. They can get their products of greater quantity at a much lower cost. There are more than 1250n warehouses in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. 56% percent of them alone are in the United States. These warehouses have competed with Kohl’s, Target, Office Depot, Best Buy and Wal-Mart to name a few. The first warehouse was introduced by Sol Price in San Diego California in 1976. They lost money in their first year of operation but by 1979 had 2 stores. Before then they experimented with a retailer called Fed-Mart. Jim Sinegal who is the cofounder and CEO of Costco worked for Fed-Mart as a teenager. When Sinegal was 26 Sol Price made him the manager of the original store in San Diego. The first Costco store opened in 1983 the same year Sam’ Club opened. By 1984 there were 9 Costco stores with 200,000 members...
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...Supermarket Industry Analysis In 2013, the traditional supermarket industry is unattractive because of: a) Existence of powerful substitutes in the form of large discount retailers (Wal-Mart, Target), warehouse clubs (Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s, and pharmacy chains (CVS, Walgreen’s) that have increased emphasis on grocery sales. * Because increased traffic leads to increased sales of higher margin items in retail stores, there is growing attractiveness for retail stores to enter grocery industry * Retail leaders such as Wal-Mart and Target run highly efficient operations. Coupled with a large volume sale philosophy, both are able to take market share from traditional supermarkets through significant price cuts. As such traditional supermarket share has dropped in last year from 67% to 51% with the growth of retailers participating in grocery sales * Lack of differentiation across products and brands gives consumers a high degree of bargaining power because they incur little to no switching costs between rival competitors and brands (see below) and because of the growth of substitutes. Customers who want to do all their shopping both retail and grocery supplies either in small volume purchases or in bulk have many options to choose from (Wal-Mart vs Schnuck’s vs CVS vs Costco) b) Strong competitors across all segments of supermarkets, which can be broken down into traditional, premium, and discount stores, * The supermarket industry is traditionally...
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...OF BUSINESS CASE: A-186A DATE: 06/19/03 CosTco WHOLESALE CORPORATION FINANCIAL STATEMENT ANALYSIS (A) INTRODUCTION Margarita Torres first purchased shares in Costco Wholesale Corporation in 1997 as part of her personal investment portfolio. Between 1997 and 2002, she added slightly to her holdings from time to time when the company sold stock for what she felt was a reasonable valuation, and up to that time she did not sell any of her shares. Having watched Costco grow from 265 warehouses to 365 worldwide, and from sales revenue of $21.8 billion to $34.1 billion, she wondered what factors led to such successful growth. She also wanted to determine whether those factors would hold consistent going forward. At this point, Costco was one of a special breed of retailers called wholesale clubs. Unlike other retailers, wholesale clubs required that customers purchase annual memberships in order to shop at their stores. Costco operated a chain of warehouses that sold food and general merchandise at large discounts to member customers. The company was able to maintain low margins by selling items in bulk, keeping operating expenses to a minimum, and turning inventory over rapidly. Costco’s closest competitors were SAM’S Club (a division of Wal-Mart) and BJ’s Wholesale, which both operated as wholesale clubs. Other competitors included general discounters (such as Wal-Mart), general retailers (such as Sears), grocery store chains (such as Safeway)...
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