...EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: WAL-MART’S GLOBAL EXPANSION This report explores Wal-Mart’s global expansion plan in an environment where businesses have to adapt to the fast pace of change and cope with the challenges that are implicit in the emergence of an increasingly complex global economy. Principally, Wal-Mart grew to where it is today through the vision of its founder, Sam Walton. Over the years, it serves the needs of the community where it exists well. However, when it brings it business abroad, this report has identified three (3) key issues. It was obvious that the Supply Chain Management system which was successfully implemented back home is not so business friendly when it goes abroad. Furthermore, doing business in a foreign land means more than just providing goods which it thought was best for them. Cultural understanding plays an important role in the case of Wal-Mart as it faces many uphill tasks in dealing with sub-cultures that belongs to the communities. As we have found out from the analysis, pricing and discounting strategy is a key area that hobble Wal-Mart’s global expansion plan. What works in the home country generally may not necessary work in the host country. Wal-Mart boosts its reputation with a well established supply chain management and a pool of highly trained employees which they called ‘associates’. Perhaps one of its more obvious strengths is the strong branding that it has in association with high quality, low price products. Having said, its global...
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...Wal-Mart Goes International: Stepping into International Waters Abstract The vision set by Wal-Mart is to continue progressing in the retail business not only in the United States, but internationally as well. The company's mission, provide cheap products and services to the public, claims to be the driving force that makes the company aspire in retaining leadership in the retail industry. This paper will explore reasons behind Wal-Mart’s engagement in an aggressive effort to penetrate the international market to sustain its growth in the coming years. The strategies utilized by the Wal-Mart company focus on market penetration, specifically since Wal-Mart is a highly recognizable brand. It is a well-known reality that for a company to be completely successful in the industry it belongs, it must venture in the international arena. We shall look at the drivers of globalization and analyze the various forces (economic, financial, physical, environmental, socio-cultural, labor, political, and legal) which may have impacted the decision to go global. Additionally, we will evaluate whether Wal-Mart will taint international business with negative publicity. Wal-Mart Goes International: Stepping into International Waters Wal-Mart transcended into international waters in 1991 when the company opened a Sam’s Club near Mexico City. Two years later, Wal-Mart International was born. Today, Wal-Mart International is a fast-growing part of Wal-Mart's overall operations, with 4,082...
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...August 18th, 2014 Tana Romero Cross-Cultural Perspectives Wal-Mart is a global organization with a multinational presence. Wal-Mart started in the United States of America and after obtaining huge success in the U.S., they went global with their brand of marketing and selling products at a lower price than their competitors, in order to help lower income families. Wal-Mart is considered the world’s largest retailer, but this title has not come without issues. Wal-Mart Cultural issues Wal-Mart is a massive retail store chain in the United States, this goes without saying. I would find it hard to believe you could find a single person in the United States that has not heard of or been to a Wal-Mart. Because of their great success in the U.S., it only makes sense they would travel abroad and attempt to bring their services to other countries. Wal-Mart devised and produced a 36 page, global policy for ethics, which states the following: According to "Walmart Statement of Ethics" (n.d.), “Each business organization Walmart operates is expected to have a complete set of policies providing guidance to associates for whatever country they are working in”. “Walmart also publishes several “global policies,” which are designed to give associates a set of rules that are the same for all locations.” “This Statement of Ethics is an example of a global policy.” “If any part of this Statement of Ethics goes against local policies or laws, then the local policy or law must...
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...Wal-Mart Cross-Cultural Perspectives Timothy Johnson ETH/316 Ethics and Social Responsibility July 3, 2014 Rodney Adams Wal-Mart Cross-Cultural Perspectives The subject of whether ethical and social issues should be a major concern for businesses is frequently debated, expressly in an arrangement of compositions from Larry Summers, Bill Gates, and many others. In recent times, a book called Creative Capitalism was put in print to discuss this very issue. There are varying opinions in regards to the cross-cultural perspectives of cultural issues that affects the organization’s interactions outside the United States. Nevertheless when you see the optimistic influence from the intention of a favorably image conscious Wal-Mart is producing in China, it undoubtedly indicate that individuals advocating for ethical and socially conscious organizations may be as it should be. Even as Wal-Mart‘s national establishment has grappled over the course of one year, Wal-Mart’s global establishment hasn’t performed effectively as well. Propelled by difficulties in China, Mexico, and Brazil, Wal-Mart’s global revenues “grew by a mere 1% in 2013 and its revenue per square feet declined by 4.2%.” (Team, 2014) Now that Mexico is Wal-Mart’s principal global site, austere outcomes from Mexico are an immense consternation for the mega department store. The China market is also crucially imperative to Wal-Mart in regards to enduring perspective, despite the...
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...Arguments against FDI in Retail in India 1. Predatory Pricing With its incredibly deep pockets Wal-Mart will be able to sustain losses for many years till its immediate competition is wiped out. This is a normal predatory strategy used by large players to drive out small and dispersed competition. This entails job losses by the millions. 2. Labour Displacement Another factor is that it can only expand by destroying the traditional retail sector. Till such time we are in a position to create jobs on a large scale in manufacturing, it would make eminent sense that any policy that results in the elimination of jobs in the unorganised retail sector should be kept on hold. If we assume 40 mn adults in the retail sector, it would translate into around 160 million dependents using a 1:4 dependency ratio. Opening the retailing sector to FDI means dislocating millions from their occupation, and pushing a lot of families under the poverty line. Plus, one must not forget that the western concept of efficiency is maximizing output while minimizing the number of workers involved – which will only increase social tensions in a poor and yet developing country like India, where tens of millions are still seeking gainful employment. This dislocated and unemployed horde has to be accommodated somewhere else. Agriculture already employs nearly 60% of our total workforce, and is in dire need of shedding excess baggage. That leaves us with manufacturing as the only other alternative. With...
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...radio waves, which is reflected reversed from the RFID tag. This digital information is passed on to computers that will evaluate the data sent. Active RFID tags come with a battery that can transmit signals in parallel, whereas passive RFID tags does not have battery, which need an external source to trigger the radio signal communication. Battery assisted passive tags have a higher range and they also require an outer source for triggering the signal. For retailers and the other vertical industries, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags present enormous opportunities to improve supply chain operations, since real-time inventory control, tracking, and alerting capabilities could be very important advantages of RFID. As tagged inventory goes through ports, terminals, freight forwarders, and into a distribution center, the RFID tag should provide near real-time visibility of an item's whereabouts at all times. Harley Davidson can take advantage of RFID for faster inventory tracking because RFID Offers a range from inches to hundreds of feet; does not require line of sight. This means individual...
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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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... June 28, 2009 Introduction and Overview Sam Walton founded the first Wal-Mart in 1962; the idea of bringing in a discount-shopping store into rural America was almost unheard of, except for the local five and dime stores. When Walton noticed he had plenty of competition from regional discount chains, he traveled the country to study other new retailing concepts. He was convinced that it was the wave of the future (Wal-Mart, 2009). Wal-Mart was founded in 1962, with the opening of the first Wal-Mart discount store in Rogers, Ark. The company incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on Oct. 31, 1969. In 1983, the company opened its first Sam’s Club membership warehouse, and in 1988 opened the first supercenter. Wal-Mart became an international company in 1991 when it opened its first Sam's Club near Mexico City (Wal-Mart, 2009). Wal-Mart competes in many industries that include 5331- Retail-Variety stores, 5411-Grocery stores, 5311-Department stores, 5812-Eating Places, 5399-Miscellaneous General Merchandise store, and 5912-Drug stores and Proprietary stores. In 2002, Wal-Mart became first on the Fortune 500 list and received the Ron Brown Award for Corporate Leadership (Wal-Mart, 2009). This is a presidential award that recognizes companies for outstanding achievement in employee and community relations. Compared together, Wal-Mart, Target and Kmart are very close competitors. They are all retail-variety discount stores making their existence...
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...«What do consumers think about Wal-Mart?» A few weeks after the opening of the Wal-Mart flag ship store in Dortmund the magazine «absatzwirtschaft» asked customers what they thought of the concept. This research is a cooperative project with pdc Marketing + Research. On November 18th last year, ten Wal-Mart customers accepted an invitation from «absatzwirtschaft/pdc Consumer Forum». The focus group met in a studio of the RS Teststudio GmbH in the centre of Dortmund. The project leader Peter Riedl moderated the discussion. The group consisted of eight women and two men aged between 27 and 63. The majority of participants were married with children. Two of the women were pensioners and two single mothers. Both men were experienced daily shoppers. «absatzwirtschaft» summarised the opinions of the consumers in three sections: The attitude towards the German low price trend as well as the good and bad points of the American organisation. Where do German price cutters stand? Aldi counted as the most important shopping source for the participants. The Wal-Mart predecessor Wertkauf was also regularly visited. The discussion revealed the strengths and weaknesses of both chains. Aldi held the advantage in price and product quality but there were also weaknesses. Germany’s leading discounter is cramped, not very family friendly and has a patchy selection of goods. Some of the traditional German supermarkets and stores came out even worse. The participants in Dortmund criticised the...
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...Domestic Partner Benefits a. Employee benefits b. Company Gains V. Conclusion Wal-Mart (WM) is the largest retailer in the world and operates in all 50 states. Recently passed laws that allow same sex marriage couples to marry legally and this has caused the company to reevaluate its domestic partner benefit offerings. Studies done by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) also show that 62% of fortune 500 companies offer domestic partner benefits to their employees. (Hoenig, 2013) Wal-Mart must continue to be at the front of employee relations and it will be necessary to cover all employees, regardless of lifestyle, in order to maintain those relations. It is important that we define what Domestic Partner is as defined by the government. The Office of Personnel Management states, "For purposes of ensuring consistent implementation of the President’s memorandum, a “domestic partner” is defined in OPM regulations (e.g. 5 C.F.R. § 875.213) as a person in a domestic partnership with an employee or annuitant of the same sex. The term “domestic partnership” is defined as a committed relationship between two adults, of the same sex, in which the partners— (1) are each other’s sole domestic partner and intend to remain so indefinitely. (2) Maintain a common residence, and intend to continue to do so (or would maintain a common residence but for an assignment abroad or other employment-related, financial, or similar obstacle). (3) Are at least 18 years of age and...
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...CASE STUDY 10 | SHRM Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 2 ANNEXURE ............................................................................................................................................ 3 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPANY ................................................................................................. 9 QUESTIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 10 QUESTION 01: ................................................................................................................................... 10 QUESTION 02 ................................................................................................................................... 12 QUESTION 03 ................................................................................................................................... 14 QUESTION 04 ................................................................................................................................... 16 CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................
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...Whole Foods Market, Inc. Joi Farlough-Matthews Principles of Accounting 202 October 31, 2012 Whole Foods, Market Inc Introduction Whole Foods is an organic market that targets educated and affluent individuals. The company was founded in 1978 and has locations throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada (Yahoo Finance, 2012). Currently Whole Foods has 338 stores disbursed throughout these regions. This review will provide an understanding of issues currently faced by Whole Foods based on the 2010 financial report. The review further highlights the growth in sales. According to the Whole Foods Review (2010) “sales of natural products across all retail and direct-to-consumer channels grew to approximately $76 billion in 2009, a 5% increase over the prior year” (p. 3). 2010 Financial Report Whole Food’s 2010 financial report begins by providing shareholders an understanding of their target market based on geographical location (see chart 1.1.). This market segment demonstrates that profits are primarily due to the stores in the United States. Chart 1.1. Demonstrates the profit margins based on the region (Whole Foods, 2011, p. 3). Sales by Region | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | United States | 97% | 97.20% | 96.50% | Canada and the United Kingdom | 3% | 2.80% | 3.50% | Total Sales | 100% | 100% | 100% | Long-term assets | | | | United States | 96.60% | 96.50% | 96.40% | Canada and the United Kingdom | 3.40% | 3.50% | 3.60% | Total | 100% | 100% | 100% |...
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...Econ 2304 Prof. Alexander [pic] Overview Target has been a publicly traded company since 1963, but has been around since 1902. Target was originally part of the Dayton Hudson Corporation which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2000, because Target had become the largest division of the Dayton Hudson Corporation, it became known as the Target Corporation. Target is the second largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart. The company is also ranked number thirty on the Fortune 500, and is part of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Target operates about 1,750 Target and Super Target stores in 49 states, (with no stores in Vermont), as well as online at Target.com. The company has 355,000 employees. Interestingly Target also owns the land that its stores sit on. Target also offers its own proprietary credit card good only at Target stores. Target was able to cut out a niche for itself by offering more upscale merchandise than competitors such as Wal-Mart or Kmart, and has begun to enter the Canadian Market with the purchase of the Canadian discount chain “Zellers” from the Hudson’s Bay Company worth 1.8 billion. Target’s fiscal year ends in January: its sales exceed 67 million dollars. The company has a one year sales growth of 3.11% with a net income of 2.92 million dollars. Target’s total assets exceed 43 million dollars and its market value is 34 million dollars. [pic] A Look at the...
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...importance for us to complete this assignment. During the preparation of this assignment we were having problems in making it but our lecturer and tutor helped us lot and we are able to complete it in time. Table of content Executive summary: 4 Overview of the organization: 6 Issue analysis: 8 Chosen information systems: 9 A)Decision support system 9 B) Customer relationship management information 9 C) The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) System: 9 Detailed Analysis of Wal-Mart’s Supports system: 10 Organizational impacts: 15 Competitive Analysis of Wal-Mart: 16 References 19 1. Executive summary: The chosen organization “Wal-Mart” has shown continued success in their use of information technology with e-commerce. a system that allows managers to view point-of-sale information and the use of RFID chips. Wal-Mart had established itself as the largest retailer all over the world. This report...
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...WAL-MART’S PROBLEMS IN Wal-Mart’s Problems in International Market Patiporn Kitlertphiroj University College of University of Denver Abstract Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in the world, is spreading its power throughout the world, starting with nine countries in Asia, Europe and South America. The expansion has planed for more in the near future. With its attempt to penetrate hypermarket culture in every country which it enters, many severe problems are come into play. Acquisitions and joint venture with local businesses became a problem in nationalism country. Thus, strict governments’ rules and regulations blocked business operations. Misreading competitors and late in entry destroyed location opportunities the same as harmed relationship with local suppliers. Inadaptable to local culture become a big problem in global business. Moreover, low wages, unions and sex discrimination brought Wal-Mart to be an evil in employees’ perspective. Literature Review Wal-Mart is the largest Discount Store in the United States. Its magnitude is not only recognized domestically but also expanded to International Market. The company believes that one day this one will replace the United States position when the trend down (Molin, 2004). With this goal Wal-mart is encouraged to expanding stores into nine countries around the world and more in its plans (About Wal-Mart, 2001). Being number one in the United States does not always guarantee for being number one...
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