Walmart’s New Strategy

WAL-MART'S NEW STRATEGY

AN ANALYSIS AND PLAN OF ACTION

INTRODUCTION

Wal-Mart has long been known for things both good and bad. For example, on one hand, they provide convenience for the shopper by offering a one-stop shopping experience at an affordable price. On the other hand, a Wal-Mart entering a smaller community can mean death and demise for small-town businesses whose services will now be served by a lower-priced Wal-Mart.

In late October of 2005, the CEO of Wal-Mart, Lee Scott, announced a new strategy. This strategy called for broad systemic changes in hopes of encouraging and achieving sustainability. This paper contains the following three parts: Part I. Analysis of Wal-Mart's strategy, Part II. Planning Process for IT at Wal-Mart, and Part III. Conclusion.

PART I: ANALYSIS OF WAL-MART'S STRATEGY

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

 Strong name recognition and customer base

 Largest retailer in the world

 High ability to have an impact socially and economically

 Pioneering abilities and experience

 Largest employer in the world

 Among the highest for net sales in the world

 Has maintained an aggressive growth strategy adding new stores at a high rate

 Global presence Weaknesses

 The source of public criticism over low wages, poor health care, killing the small town, discrimination, and violating child labor laws

 Price deflation because of purchasing a high quantity of items and having to sell at reduced cost (overstocking)

 Too many stores too close together

 High employee turnover rate

 Do not attract higher income customers

 History of making promises it can't keep in regards to earnings

 So many suppliers they are hard to track

Opportunities

 Because of company size and world infiltration, efforts supported can be accomplished

 No strong presence in many parts of Europe

 Room to increase efficiency of energy in both trucks and stores

 Reduction of emissions and solid waste

 Provision of affordable health care for all

 Wage improvements

 Affordable and convenient health care for all Threats

 Other low price vendors such as dollar