...CASE STUDY Professor: Dr. Mary Flannery Teaching Assistant: Jia-Yuh Chen ECON 136 – Business Strategy February 27, 2006 INDUSTRY ANALYSIS The retail industry is dominated by few retail giants, with Wal-Mart competing in several retail categories. Wal-Mart competes against Kmart and Target in the general merchandise retailing; against Costco in the warehouse club segment; and against Kroger, Albertson’s and Safeway in the supermarket retailing. Competition among retailers centers on pricing, store location, variations in store format and merchandise mix, store size, shopping atmosphere, and image with shoppers. Further analysis provided by the following figure diagnoses the competitive environment of the retail industry. Five Forces Model of Competition Threat of Substitute Products Weak: Substitutes for big box retailers are smaller grocery stores; substitutes are higher priced relative to the performance they deliver. Supplier Bargaining Power Weak: Industry members account for a big fraction of suppliers’ total sales and continued high volume purchases are important to the wellbeing of suppliers. Rivalry among Competing Sellers Fierce: Competing sellers have triggered heated price competition and are active in making fresh moves to improve market standing and business performance. Buyer Bargaining Power Weak: There is a broad base of buyers so no single buyer can demand price concessions; buyers purchase merchandise in small quantities; buyer loyalty for...
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...1404837 曾延 The Gap between Chinese Business Model and the International Advanced Business Model ----Chinese cannot be the employee of the world China has been regarded as ‘World Factory’ for a long period until now. This appellation was considered as an honor by a vast majority of Chinese people in the past decades. Nevertheless, it was recognized that China cannot be the world factory because the labor cost and the manufacturing costs are increasing. This change reduced the profits of manufacturing industry, which means that the business environment for our manufacturing has been becoming more deteriorative. From government’s perspective, China need industrial transformation and upgrade industries. On enterprises’ viewpoint, the significant method for this situation is innovate the business model. This essay will demonstrate the gap between Chinese business model and the international advanced business model. The control power to industry chain determined the merchant mode. In modern business, controlling the upstream section of the industry chain means that the enterprises make profits and economize the resource and cost furthest. For instance, China only control the one part of industry chain. That is manufacture which is a low-income and high cost part. However, the upstream section of the industry chain was controlled by American companies. The most famous example may be the Apple Inc. that never produce even one element of electronic...
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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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...Introduction We’ve all heard those commercials with the companies’ slogan; my personal favorite is “better ingredients; better pizza, Papa Johns” I love pizza. Like wise large retail discount stores and chains such as Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart for example all have a company mission, vision, and value’s statements which help them to perform at optimum levels of operations. Missions, vision and value statements: the overall goal is to provide the organization with their purpose; which is the case for these retail chains in the U.S. The mission, vision and value statements aid each chain to define their brand, culture, and consumer relations. Each retail chain differentiates them-selves by providing unique good and services to their consumers, more-over their mission, vision and values statement must also be unique, enabling them to stand out form each other. The big players in the discount retail market are Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Target. (retailindustry.about.com) Supporting Paragraphs Both mission and vision relates to an organization’s purpose and are typically communicated in some written form. Mission and vision are statements from the organization that answer questions about which we are, what we value, and where we’re going. (Coffman, Freire, Heaver, & Soltis, 2002) Mission statements are often longer than vision statements. Sometimes mission statements also include a summation of the firm’s values. (Cady, Wheeler, DeWolf, & Brodke, 2011, p. 70) Values are the beliefs...
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...million employees in 2008). In 2008, the company operated about 4,000 stores in the United States (discount, supercenters, neighborhood markets, and Sam’s Clubs) as well as more than 2,200 stores in other countries, mostly in Mexico, Canada, Brazil, and the United Kingdom. Its revenue exceeded $400 billion, with net income of about $15 billion. Sam Walton said it best, “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. During the initial years, Walton focused on establishing new stores in small towns, with an average population of 5,000. These towns were largely neglected by leading retailers like Sears Roebuck & Company, K-Mart and Woolco, which concentrated more on larger towns and big cities. In his efforts to attract people from the rural areas to his stores, Walton introduced the concept of everyday low prices (EDLP). EDLP promised Walmart's customers a wide variety of high quality, branded and unbranded...
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...Wal-Mart Wal-Mart, a US public corporation that ran large discount department stores, was by revenue the biggest public corporation in the world.The company was established in 1962 by Sam Walton. On 31 October 1969, it was incorporated and, by 1972, it had obtained listing on the New York Stock Exchange .In the financial year ending in 2007, the global Fortune 500 list ranked Wal-Mart at the top of the list, with revenues of US$351 billion. Wal-Mart constantly emphasized its corporate philosophy of strengthening its relationships with employees, suppliers and customers. Building its own transportation systems had allowed Wal-Mart to enjoy transportation cost savings and had helped Wal-Mart to deliver products to its various stores within 48 hours. Taking advantage of its wholly owned transportation capabilities, Wal-Mart was four times faster than its competitors in replenishing its merchandise. The pricing of its products was economical and prices were allowed to vary daily. On the procurement side, owing to the huge volume of its purchases, the company enjoyed strong bargaining power. Reliably low prices of Wal-Mart ensured that sales volumes were consistently elevated. Wal-Mart’s retailing activities were operated by three primary subsidiaries: Wal-Mart International, Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart Stores Division US. In addition, Wal-Mart had nine different retail formats for its businesses: restaurants, cash-and-carry stores, membership warehouse clubs, apparel stores, soft...
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...Capstone Wal-Mart Introduction Wal-Mart Corporation is one of the largest retail stores in the world. They serve customers in meeting their needs with low cost saving items. On October 31, 1962, Wal-Mart was founded and incorporated by Sam Walton in Bentonville, Arkansas. Mr. Walton went into business because he felt that items sold were too high for the average customer to afford. His focus was to sell products at low prices to get higher volume sales at a lower profit margin. He bought bulk products from different suppliers so he could incorporate savings into his pricing to lower cost for customers. Under the savings cost concept, Wal-Mart grew rapidly and surpassed its competitors in sales and generating profits. By 1987 there were 1,198 stores in the United States with sales of $15.9 billion dollars and 200,000 associates (Wal-Mart Corporations, n.d.). In 1988, under the direction of David Glass, (the CEO who proceeded Sam Walton) the first Wal-Mart Supercenter was created. It combined general merchandise with a full-scale supermarket to provide a one-stop shopping convenience for customers. By 1991, Wal-Mart Corps had outperformed its competitors in the market. Surpassing both K-Mart and Sears; Wal-Mart was labeled as the leading retailer in the United States. Currently, Wal-Mart has 10,700 stores in 27 different countries and they are operating globally around the world (Wal-Mart Corporations, n.d.). Vision, Mission and Stakeholder Influences...
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...segments; c) to increase awareness of a new product or division. Wal-Mart is not particularly known for their impeccable customer service. Even further, Wal-Mart lacks in cleanliness and breadth of product lines. But what they lack in aesthetics, they make up for with an absolutely unparallel convenience and price competitiveness. Wal-Mart has redefined the art of online marketing, using techniques of the public relations at grand and impressive scales to become one of the top company’s in the wide history of corporate America. According to Experienced public relations experts, Wal Mart quick to point out that many practitioners will spend most of their professional lives dealing with fairly moderate levels of competition such as advertising. On the other hand, a more heightened level of competition might exist between public relations professionals at Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco, companies that compete with each other to increase consumer recognition and retail sales. Most public relations activity and programs, as already noted, deal with competition between organizations for sales and customers. With the help of Social media networks, Wal Marts utilized by a growing number of PR specialists to establish a direct communication with the public, consumers, investors and other target groups and they achieved their goal successfully. Around the world, Wal mart delivers value for customers in different ways. Wal Mart operate Supercenters, Sam’s Clubs, e-commerce sites and many other...
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...Problem Statement: Wal-Mart is one of the world’s largest companies and largest retailer in the world, with over 5,000 stores around the world and nearly 2 million employees there is no reason for this company not to be highly successful. Although Wal-Mart as whole is a highly successful company, they still have problems like every other company. Through Wal-Mart’s history they’ve encountered many obstacles and complications on the way to the top. Most of these problems have found a solution but Wal-Mart still has major and minor problems. Whether new problems or past ones still lingering, either way with a problem you must have solution. Especially with a multi-billionaire company such as Wal-Mart you want to be as efficient and eradicated of as much problems as you possibly can. Major Problem: Wal-Mart International In the highly successful world of Wal-Mart they face a problem most companies also have trouble conquering and that is going international. Wal-Mart International is a success in its own right, as it still is the world’s largest retailer but it’s just not successful on its own standards. Wal-Mart conquered North America with successful ventures in Canada and Mexico but not so successful in some countries over seas such as Germany and Japan. Wal-Mart expanded to Germany & Japan in the late 90’s and early 2000’s and for a long time was unprofitable in both regions. Whether its Wall-marts approach on new markets or forcing their culture too quickly, something...
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...P E S INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY BANASHANKARI 3RD STAGE BANGALORE. Term paper submission on “SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AT WALL-MART” -SUBMITTED BY SUJAY C 1PB12MBA51 INDEX S.NO DESCRIPTION 1. INTRODUCTION TO SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 2. LEVELS OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 3. HISTORY-WALMART 4. WAL-MART INTRODUCTION AND ITS BUSINESS PROCESSES 5. SUPPLY CHAIN MANGEMENT AT WAL-MART 6. PROCUREMENT AND DISTRIBUTION 7. LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT 8. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT 9. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND BUSINESS MODELS USED AT WAL-MART 10. RFID IN WAL-MART 11. EFFICENCY IN SUPPLY CHAIN WITH RFID 12. CONCLUSION Introduction to Supply Chain Management Supply Chain Management is the discipline which encompasses the end to end business activities carried out in any business, independent of the manufacturing or service sectors. It is the synchronization of a network of facilities and distribution options that performs procurement of materials, processing the materials into finished products, and distribution of the products to customers. SCM is seen as involving five fundamental processes. These include planning, sourcing, making, delivering, and returning. Typical supply chain showing interrelations...
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...from innovation. In this case, Wal*Mart achieved a sustainable competitive advantage thanks to high responsiveness toward outside environment as well as inside environment. Outside environment includes demand and competition. Inside environment includes distribution and inventories management as well as the ability to encourage new initiatives. Wal*Mart’s ability consistently to outperform Kmart and other discount retailers is based on a business system that responds quickly and effectively to changes in demand and competition. Using inventory and sales data, the local store manager decides which products to display, and allocates shelf space for a product category according to the demand of his or her store. In term of competition, Wal*Mart does not centrally set the price. At places when Wal*Mart and Kmart were located next to each other, Wal*Mart’s prices were roughly 1% lower. When Wal*Mart, Kmart and Target were separated by 4-6 miles, Wal*Mart’s average prices were 10.4% and 7.6% lower, respectively. In remote locations where there is no direct competition from large discounters, its price was 6% higher than where it was next to Kmart. Wal*Mart’s flexibility regarding customers demand and pricing strategy are key elements that sustain Wal*Mart’s competitiveness. Wal-Mart’s distribution and purchasing are driven by point-of-sale date, resulting in low inventories, few stock-outs, and few forced markdowns. Using point-of-sale, A Wal*Mart store devoted 10% of its square...
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...Wal-Mart in China Executive Summary Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is the largest retail company in the United States and is larger than any other retail chain in the world. Wal-Mart is more than just the world's largest retailer. It all started with a simple philosophy from founder Sam Walton: Offer shoppers lower prices than they get anywhere else. That basic philosophy has shaped Wal-Mart's culture and driven the company's growth in the United States. This culture is most prevalent at the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Wal-Mart has had phenomenal success in the US due to a few key factors. First, a model based on cost control was centered around offering the lowest prices in the market, with an emphasis on beating any competitors’ price by an average of around 20%. Second, it targeted a niche by focusing on the customers that everyone else seemed to neglect, the small town shoppers. Wal-Mart started by concentrating on opening stores in small towns and introduced innovative concepts such as self-service. Their strong customer demand in small towns led to the rapid growth of Wal-Mart. The main reason for Wal-Mart's success in smaller towns was that it offered low prices and catered to the specific needs of the targeted consumer. The strategy was especially successful as it achieved instant market saturation leading to very strong loyalty. This strategy also helped Wal-Mart stay below the leading competitor’s radar while building up their competitive...
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...WAL-MART COOPERATION [pic] I. Company Profile Wal-Mart is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's largest public corporation, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2014, the biggest private employer in the world with over two million employees, and is the largest retailer in the world. Walmart remains a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own over 50 percent of Walmart. It is also one of the world's most valuable companies. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart is also the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, it generated 51 present of its US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from grocery business. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the company rose from a regional to national giant. By 1988, Walmart was the most profitable retailer in the US and by October 1989 it had become the largest in terms of revenue. Geographically limited to the South and Lower Midwest up to the mid 1980s, by the early 1990s Walmart's presence spanned coast to coast - Sam's Club opened in New Jersey in November 1989 and the first California outlet opened in Lancaster on July 28, 1990. A...
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...of Contents Introduction2 Wal-Mart’s resources2 Tangible resources2 Intangible resources3 Human resource3 Wal-Mart’s capabilities4 Distribution4 Corporate function4 Operation4 Management Information4 Marketing5 Competitive advantages5 Knowledge management5 Distribution network5 Relationships strategy with suppliers and associates6 Financial management6 International operation6 Conclusion7 References list7 Introduction This project will analyze resources and capabilities of Wal-Mart and the linkage between two strands. According to Wal-Mart’s case, it can be divided Wal-Mart’s resources into three main types of resource: tangible, intangible, and human resources. Moreover, thanks to its resources, Wal-Mart’s capabilities comprises of distribution, operation, management information, marketing, and corporate function. If linkage between resources and capabilities can be indicated and understood, it enables Wal-Mart to produce many competitive advantages: knowledge management, distribution network, partnerships, and financial management. Through those advantages, Wal-Mart creates some strategies for the growth of its operation line within United State or extending over the world. Wal-Mart’s resources Tangible resources In terms of financial resources, the company has established in discount retailing format and become the largest and most profitable retailer in the world. It has been developing rapidly, as result; Wal-Mart produces much profit to reinvest...
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...Verhaal Wal-Mart Case Study September 16, 2014 Sam Walton started Wal-Mart in 1962. When Wal-Mart was first introduced, it was believed to be the least likely to succeed in the discount retailing business. The central focus of Wal-Mart was on price. By 1970, Wal-Mart had expanded to 30 towns, all in small towns. In order to expand Wal-Mart beyond its small region, Wal-Mart decided to go public. By the 1990s, 100 shares increased in value from $1,650 to $3,000,000. At this time, Wal-Mart had also spread throughout the United States in both large cities and small towns. Wal-Mart had many different opportunities and threats facing them including, but not limited to, the general environment, five-forces, and their industry structure. Using the VRIO framework, one can assess Wal-Mart’s resources and capabilities and conclude whether or not they have sustainable competitive advantages. The overall general environment of Wal-Mart posed opportunities as well as threats. Technology posed disadvantageous to Wal-Mart and other companies in the discount retail industry. “Internet shopping was appealing because of the convenience and selection available, but perhaps the most attractive aspect was the competitive pricing” (Hesterly, p. 1-13). Less people were coming in to look around the stores, and many items could be ordered at the comfort of the consumers’ home with the click of a finger. The demographics posed an opportunity for the discount retail industry and Wal-Mart. Demographics...
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