Walmart Case Study

Wal Mart Case Study

It opened in 1962 by Sam Walton, Wal-Mart has become the largest retailer in the United States, and with over 3,300 stores Wal-Mart continues to be successful. Under his successor, CEO David Glass, the small discount store chain started in Arkansas has become one of the largest corporations in the world. David Glass lays out the philosophy: “we approach this new and exciting decade of the 90’s much as we did in the 80’s focusing on only two main objectives, (1) providing the customers with what they want, when they want it, all at value, and (2) treating each other as we would hope to be treated, acknowledging our total dependency on our associate-partners to sustain our success.” This statement by Glass shows that Wal-Mart has devised a plan in order to maintain its high ranking in the retail business. The question becomes, can Wal-Mart continue to expand and succeed in an increasingly hostile retail environment? I will discuss the external stakeholders? 2) Do a SWOT analysis of Wal-Mart. What are the company’s distinctive competencies? 3) How would you describe Wal-Mart’s “Grand” strategy for the next decade? In terms of Porter’s generic strategies?

Stakeholders are the persons, groups, and institutions directly affected by an organization’s performance. Some external stakeholders for Wal-Mart include the following: 1) Customers: specific consumer or client’s groups, individual, and organization’s goods and/or use its services. Wal-Mart has grown by paying careful attention to its market niche of customers looking for quality at a bargain price. 2) Suppliers: specific providers of the human, information, financial resources, and raw material needed by the organization to operate. Wal-Mart also has an online system with its suppliers. 3) Competitors: specific organizations that offer the same or similar goods and services to the same consumer or client groups. Target and K-Mart are Wal-Mart’s major competitors. A Company has an obligation to act in ways that serve both its own interests and that of its stakeholders. This is known as corporate social responsibility.

A SWOT analysis examines organizational strengths, weaknesses, environmental opportunities, and threats to that company. A major goal is to try to identify core competencies in the form of special strengths.Core competencies can be found in efficient manufacturing technologies, special knowledge or expertise, superior technologies, or unique product distribution systems. First, looking at the internal assessment of Wal-Mart, I find the following strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths: Wal-Mart has a great reputation. I feel like all my basic shopping needs can be met at their stores without dealing with the high prices of other stores. Wal-Mart believes that by lowering the markup, they will earn more because of increased volume, thereby bringing consumers’ added value for the dollar everyday. Weaknesses: Wal-Mart has had some past planning failures. Their “Bring it home to the U.S.A.” buying program produced controversy when NBC news programs found clothing that had been made abroad on racks under “Made in the U.S.A.” sign in 11 stores.