...Abstract The decisions that businesses make to adjust “pricing, output, expansion, advertising, marginal revenue, and profit conditions of every other firm in the market”. (Thomas, Maurice 2010, p. 561). An oligopoly is described in the book as a “few relatively large firms, each with a substantial share of the market and all recognize their interdependence.” (Thomas, Maurice 2010, p. 512). Meaning, direct competitors understand their internal decisions will affect not only their profits and placement in the market, but also greatly their competitors. Price cutting or expensive advertisement plans will affect the firm’s profit margins, but also with strategically place the competing firm in a position to react. Even in small towns or multiple businesses in the same industries from restaurants to retail, need to be aware of how their decisions affect their own business, but also their market. Decisions should be systematically made and will economically affect a business along with the anticipation of competitor’s reaction to their precise move. Oligopolies are everywhere and can be detected from wheat that is managed by large agriculture groups to cell phone companies. Oligopolies How do firms in the industry compete? Managers within interdependent industries make decisions that will affect not only their firm, but they must consider the reaction to their competitor as well. Without this consideration, the rival’s reaction will certainly affect his or her...
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...on the Paper “Wal-Mart under Attack” • Why does Lee Scott, CEO, felt the need to present the Wal-Mart social responsibility commitment to the public? “At Wal-Mart, we do not really see it as philanthropy or CSR or the Triple Bottom Line. All of those approaches have merit and can have an impact…….. As businesses, we have a responsibility to society. We also have an extraordinary opportunity. There is no conflict between delivering value to shareholders and helping solve bigger societal problems.” Lee Scott, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. National Retail Federation January 12, 2009. Since Lee Scott announced the company’s environmental goals, on “21st Century Leadership speech”, that included: to be supplied 100% by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain natural resources and the environment; there has been a constant effort toward being “green”. With the constant organized criticism regarding the Wal-Mart “way” of operating and their unsustainable growth model. A new and required position towards the Triple Bottom Line needed to be taken and the most important thing they required to make a big thing about it, make it public. Come on, they are the biggest company on the world, they are subject to lots of envies and/or disapprovals, and customers are changing the point of view regarding Wal-Mart. Even the media has had his share on criticizing Wal-Mart, on September 15, 2004, Wall Street Journal declared “Wal-Mart, because of its...
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...Target Sustainability Strategy Mohan (2011) stated Target made known publicly its sustainability commitments developed to guide Target continuing success, and sustainability which is outlined to lead the company toward a sustainability environment, and accomplish considerable commitments. The commitment outlines involves empowering customers, teams to lead sustainable lifestyles to make available the correct tools, and awards for increased productivity. The company commitment also includes sustainable choices for products that adequately balance suitability, and company performance. By 2015, Target goals are to have achieved its goals and continue its success as a sustainability organization throughout communities by bringing together different programs, and enhancing the communities. Wal-Mart's Sustainability Strategy According to Plambeck and Denend (2011), Wal-Mart chief executive officer Lee Scott and president made a speech to 1.6 million employees from 6,000 retail stores, and 60,000 suppliers. The purpose of the speech was to discuss Wal-Mart launching a steadily business sustainability strategy to decrease the impact on the international environment (Wal-Mart's Sustainability Strategy, 2011). The company goal was also to become a competitive and innovative global company. Although the company was profitable, it was not exclusive. Wal-Mart strong desirable goals were to restore more than 99% of energy, develop no waste campaign and selling products that support the...
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...following case will analyze the Wal-Mart China’s Sustainability efforts. Wal-Mart China is in the begging stages of becoming sustainable, in an ecological sense, and faces some key issues. First the case will provide background information on Wal-Mart Global and Wal-Mart China to ensure the reader is aware of the circumstances. Then the case will analyze Wal-Mart China based on the 4Rs, recycling, resource, regulations, and reputation, described in Operations Management by Heizer, and how their efforts correlate with them. The case will then address key issues, such as questionable logistics practices, and price sensitive customers, and weary stakeholders. Background Information Wal-Mart Global Sam Walton “our customers are the reason we’re in business, so we should treat them that way. We offer quality merchandise at the lowest prices, and we do it with the best customer service possible. We look for every opportunity where we can exceed our customers’ expectations. That’s when we’re at our very best” (2011, Wal-Mart Culture). Sam Walton opened his doors in 1962, Arkansas, with the promise of offering the highest quality merchandise for the lowest prices while maintaining the best customer service. The company then sprinted to the top becoming a Fortune 500 and one of the largest retail companies in only four decades. Wal-Mart soon took on public scrutiny for being too powerful and with that came the realization of how much power Wal-Mart used. It was in 2005 when CEO...
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...Sustainability and System Change Wal-Mart’s Pioneering Strategy Frank Dixon (Published on CSRwire.com, April 18, 2006) On October 24th, 2005, Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, gave one of the most important business speeches ever. In it, he committed the largest company in the world to making zero waste, using 100% renewable energy and selling sustainable products. The implications are huge. These goals cannot be achieved without broad systemic changes in areas including supply chain, regulatory and consumer awareness. To achieve its goals, Wal-Mart is integrating system change efforts into its sustainability strategy. By doing so, it is pioneering what may be the first sustainability strategy that actually has the potential to achieve sustainability (sustainability relates to ensuring society survives and prospers over the long-term). This article discusses the need to better address systemic issues that essentially compel all firms to negatively impact society. It also describes why sustainability will be the competitive advantage strategy of the 21st century and how Wal-Mart is capitalizing on this opportunity. System-Watch All companies produce negative environmental and social impacts. As companies impact the closed Earth system, pushback from the system is inevitable. This pushback can take the form of activist campaigns. As the largest company in the world, Wal-Mart has high environmental and social impacts. Several activist efforts have arisen in response to...
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...Donald Tiffany Retail Marketing Mid Term alternate assignment CASE 3 Wal-Mart’s Sustainability 360 1. Is Wal-Mart good for society? Would society be better off with or without Wal-Mart? The debate on whether Wal-Mart has done more good or bad for society has been a longstanding one. Apologists of the world’s largest retailer defend its business strategies, touting it as the prime example of unfettered American capitalism, the epitome of free market efficiency with low costs and high quantities of production and consumption. Opponents argue that the retail behemoth has led to the transfer of millions of jobs to less-developed countries like China, the exit of many small-to-medium businesses, and also infringement of employee rights. There are two sides to this debate depending on the stance one takes, along with how “society” is defined. From an economic standpoint, society refers to, collectively, the common person; the consumer. Consumers would benefit from low prices and an increase in quantity of goods consumed. Wal-Mart’s strategy of “everyday low prices” has certainly served society well in that respect. Due to its enormous economies of scale, notably its bargaining power with suppliers and the establishment of its own distribution centers, Wal-Mart has managed to offer very competitive low prices to its consumers due to the low costs. This has resulted of millions of Americans – especially the low-to-medium income consumers it traditionally targets – being able...
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...significant environmental threats and discuss how the company should respond to each threat to ensure that the impact to the business is minimal. Wal-Mart recently faced a hard time due to the recent increase to boost their revenue because of competitive low price by rivals in the retail market. In addition, a tough economic trend in the world and the saturation point coming in the US also let economists expect a more customer slowdown. Although, Wal-Mart tried to target on up-markets with their high-grade products as a new strategy, it was abolished due to individuals with lower incomes did not adapt to their shopping habit. As a result, Wal-Mart set the price leadership strategy, which pursues lower costs in broad target. This grass-roots strategy led the company to the success. Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart, pointed that their decision based on customers’ monetary condition was totally right in the current economy, and they believe that it is still vital to continue in the next spell Another fact is the successful decision on international operation. Wal-Mart has been running this international division in 13 countries and operated expansion of its subsidiaries carefully (walmartstores.com). However, they have also failed in some divisions because of unsatisfactory sales results. As an example of their decision, Wal-Mart ceased their German operation to sale 85 shops to a local competitor (walmart.com), they also closed operations in South Korea in 2006 (walmart.com)...
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... July 5, 2011 Resources and Capabilities of Wal-Mart Wal-Mart had enough financial resources to make capital investments to improve its operations and labor productivity. Most important investments were technological investments such as the UPC (Uniform Product Code) infrastructure, the computerized system within stores and the satellite network that enabled almost real-time communication among the stores, the distribution centers and vendors. These technological resources can also be classified as equipment related resources. As a result of these resources, Wal-Mart had strengthened capabilities in financial management, purchasing, administration, inventory management, labor productivity and store management. The computerized system within the stores enabled Wal-Mart to wire the merchandise requests of the stores directly to the central computer at the related headquarter, which functioned as a distribution center. In case the stock levels were lower than the critical levels, the merchandise could be reordered directly from the related vendors thanks to this computerized system. This system not only enabled to track inventory, sales and accounting functions but also strengthened the bargaining power in purchasing of Wal-Mart. Each vendor could supply no more than 2.8% of total purchase of Wal-Mart. With the $20 million worth of satellite network investment, Wal-Mart could ease the real-time communication among the stores, the distribution...
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...i) Name of the organization : Wal-Mart URL :www.walmart.com ii) wide variety of general merchandise which includes grocery items, cosmetics, clothing, pharmacy, toys, foot wears, furniture,etc iii)Wal-Mart’s target market includes families and individual with modest incomes. Part b) Strategies adopted by Wal-Mart a) Generic Strategy – It is evident that the generic strategy adopted by Wal-Mart is Cost Leadership. The Wal-Mart mission is – We save people money so that they can live better. Wal-Mart adopts very firm policy to keep costs low. It follows the Everyday Low Price Strategy (EDLP) in which It promises its customers to keep the low prices without the need to wait for sale price events and comparison shops. EDLP saves the time and money needed to mark down prices in stores during sale events and market these events and is believed to create shoppers loyalty. It is a correct strategy wherein competitive market it has kept the low prices keeping in view its target market. Part c) Porter’s five force analysis 1) Competition between rival companies: * Currently there are three main competitors of Wal-Mart- Sears, K-Mart , Target * Wal-Mart often has low cost advantage over its competitors. * Wal-Mart has mature industry life cycle thus it gives tough competition to its competitors . 2) Bargaining power of buyers : * The individual buyer has quite a minimal power when it comes to Wal-Mart. * Consumer could shop at the competitors who...
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...Tactical plans can be devised with the strategic plan as the guiding force. The allocation of resources, or financial planning, is what helps an organization realize its goals and achieve success. Wal-Mart successfully has accomplished this task year over year. In just under 50 years, one store has grown into an economic force. “Wal-Mart was built on the foundation of saving people money so they can live better. This mission has allowed the company to grow to more than 8,400 stores in 15 countries around the world” (Wal-Mart, 2010, p. 2). Strategic Planning Initiative Strategic planning initiatives for Wal-Mart are numerous for an organization of its size. It has initiatives that include sustainability with a commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, community involvement as well as global expansion. The organization has a global reach that has spread cost-effective, clean technologies around the world. This allows Wal-Mart to share its best practices in environmental design across all its markets. Wal-Mart’s United States, International organizations, and Sam’s Club exceeded $100 billion in net sales for the first time in company history. One successful strategic planning initiative Wal-Mart has, considering the size of the organization is Sustainability. They strive to create zero waste, be supplied 100% by renewable energy, and sell products that sustain people and the environment. This initiative, which encompasses...
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...Wal-Mart: Strategic Plan [pic] Strategic Plan Saren Thompson BUS 413 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction Page 3 Mission Statement Page 4 Macro-Environmental Analysis Economics Page 5 Demographics Page 6 Socio-Culture Page 8 Political/ Regulatory Page 11 Technological Page 13 Micro-Environmental Analysis Industrial Page 14 Markets Page 16 Competition Page 18 Supplier Page 19 Resources Page 20 Preferences Page 22 Opportunities and Threats Strengths and Weaknesses Page 23 Opportunities and Threats Page 25 Opportunity Analysis Page 27 Alternative Strategies Formulation Page 28 Ranking Strategies Page 28 References Page 29 INTRODUCTION Wal-Mart is the top retail company in the United States and has grown from a small customer centered store in Arkansas to an International Retail Store. This company was founded in the 1962 by Sam Walton. Walton and wife Helen put up 95 percent of the money for the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas. He traveled abroad to study retail and believed it was the future. His company began a success and the Wal-Mart empire began when it was incorporated October 31, 1969. Wal-Mart stock was first traded over the counter as publicly-held company in 1970. Since Wal-Mart has had eleven 100 percent stock split as of March of 1999. The company has grown to new levels and I hope to introduce and inform throughout this paper. ...
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...1.0 Introduction Companies around the world are focussing on incorporating sustainability policy and practices in their supply chain (Ageron et al, 2011). The topic of sustainability has been of great interest for the last decade and businesses have adopted a certain level of commitment towards sustainability practices (Hassini et al, 2012), yet some business tycoons suffer in developing an effective supply chain model. This report primarily discusses the issues that Wal-Mart is facing in establishing and maintaining a sustainable supply chain. The report outlines the company's origin and its progress in the years, followed by describing the issue it is faces. The issue described is related to Wal-Mart's failure to develop a Green sustainable process and the effects it has on the environment. 2.0 Company Background - Wal-Mart The idea of retail business grew very popular in the United States in the early 1950's, and Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart was convinced that people wanted more than just retail showrooms. Hence he opened his own retail store providing large discounts (Reuters, 2013). Over the years he spread his business across the United States and set up his first Wal-Mart store in 1962. In the next five years he opened 24 more stores and in 1969 Wal-Mart established itself as an incorporated company under the official name, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (Wal-Mart Corporate, 2013). Phenomenal transformation of national retail business into global retail chains were witnessed...
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...Zhang Planning: For the Porter’s generic strategies, Wal-Mart is overall cost leadership strategy, because Wal-Mart’s mission is “Save money. Live better.” It always low prices, and using this strength to attract customers. Moreover, for the Miles and Snow’s strategy, Wal-Mart is the type of analyzer which incorporates elements of both the prospector and the defender, because Wal-Mart is not only defending its current market by lowering its cost, but it also seeks out the market opportunities that expand its scope of globalization. Wal-Mart has over 7100 stores worldwide and more than 4000 in America, so Wal-Mart is also a global strategy company. It views the world as a single marketplace and addresses the needs of the customers worldwide. Wal-Mart has proactive stance for the social responsibility. This company always does feedbacks to the society. In this article, Wal-Mart donates 4 million dollars to a city program that offers summer jobs to young people. This behavior helps finance 3400 jobs. CSR can also motivate employees and strengthen brands, while also providing benefits to society. References: “Always low prices”. The Economist, 29 Feb. 2008. http://www.economist.com/node/10727908 Javier, C. Hernandez. “As It Campaigns to Build in the City, Wal-Mart Donates $4 Million”. The New York Times, 05 July. 2011 http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/as-it-campaigns-to-build-in- the-city-wal-mart-donates-4-million/ Organizing: Walmart's...
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...The Sustainable SCM of Wal-Mart Group Work - Fall 2013 Global Supply Chain Management Common Assumptions • The categories chosen are Seafood and Electronics. • The market considered into the analysis is the U.S. market. • Every change in the supply chain has to be considered in a sustainable and profitable perspective. • The suppliers that are not compliant with Wal-Mart’s directive on sustainability are substituted after a short-medium time. • A Central Warehouse in the U.S. is not considered for both chains, because we assume that a system of cross docking takes care of the incoming goods from the arrival point in the U.S.A. if the good is imported. • We consider in the U.S.A territory five central warehouse that have a direct contact with all the Wall-Mart stores according to their geographical position. Seafood supply chain Electronic supply chain Assumptions The assumptions needed in order to analyze the seafood supply chain for Wal-Mart are the following: Our import market is the USA market and the export is the Thai one. Thailand, in fact, is one of the major exporter of the seafood category that we will consider: salmon. Wal-Mart fishes demand is similar to the American demand composition in terms of the quantity and the quality of the products. In our analysis we will consider as “producers” (first level of the supply chain) only the fishermen and not the fish farmers We considered only pre-frozen fish, that will be sold...
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...DR. BASMA KASHMOOLA bUSINESS ETHICS / SPRNG 2014 Case 2 Wal-Mart: The Future is Sustainability The Wal-Mart case was written to give students another perspective on one of the largest employers in the world. Over the years Wal-Mart has faced a large number of lawsuits and allegations of unethical behavior. Students will likely have heard stories of unethical and illegal activities involving Wal-Mart, and should be encouraged to share them in class. However, Wal-Mart has gained significant ground in recent years in regaining its reputation. The company has been a leader of adopting energy-efficient and renewable energy technology, offers a broad selection of organic items, and has improved its employee rights record. Nevertheless, it is still Wal-Mart, the largest corporation in the world, and many people remain hesitant to accept that Wal-Mart has fundamentally changed its ways. After having students read this case, instructors may want to ask whether they believe Wal-Mart is inherently unethical, or whether they are convinced the giant has changed its ways. As Wal-Mart has grown, its strategy has changed. Could its new push into sustainability and social responsibility be driven by profits, not by a real desire to clean up its act? In the 1970s, Wal-Mart’s strategy was to go into secondary markets, meaning communities with fewer than 10,000 residents. The company’s logistical strategy was to grow out from Bentonville, Arkansas in order to gain channel economies...
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