Case Study 4

.docx

School

Point Park University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

234

Subject

Management

Date

Apr 3, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

2

Uploaded by ProfWorld13041

Report
1. How has Wal-Mart been so successful? What has it done well? Walmart has been successful for many reasons. They maintained low prices and that generated a huge margin from lower income customers. Additionally, Wal-Mart worked very closely with their suppliers to help cut costs on items purchased. Wal-Mart also managed to have multiple strategic business decisions that created success like “cross docking” which is the ability to maintain their own fleet of trucks for shipments. This allowed Wal-Mart to restock their shelves rapidly, sometimes even the same day. 2. What problems face Wal-Mart? Are the criticisms of Wal-Mart fair? Would Wal-Mart have received this kind of attention if it were a much smaller company? a. Walmart faced some stakeholder issues such as a public relation struggle in 1992. They were accused of replacing labels with “made in the U.S.” stamp even though they were foreign products. This was specific to Bangladesh companies, and they employed young children. This was a horrible look for Wal-Mart. b. Another issue or criticism of Wal-Mart was the use of sweatshops. In the mid 1990s, some American factories that made products for Wal-Mart were extremely damaged. However, the focus is on the sweatshop labor used in other countries. It was publicized that 50,000 children in Bangladesh worked in the factories under severely unsafe conditions. I think that these criticisms were valid. Regardless of being a large company, standards should be upheld across all businesses, and they should be more careful. 3. Do you feel that Wal-Mart changed after the death of Sam Walton? If so, in what ways has it changed? Walmart doubled in sales after Sam Walton died. However, he was very hands on as a CEO so morale dropped significantly. The employees' wages are low, and they began to struggle with making ends meet, which made morale even worse. Additionally, the accusations of sexual and racial discrimination in 2005 were intense. Wal-Mart faced a class-action lawsuit and 1.6 million employees claimed discrimination based on sex. There was a gap in the length of time it took women to be promoted to assistant by two years compared to men. These two incidents overall began to change the culture of Wal-Mart. 4. If you were made CEO of Wal-Mart, what changes would you make? Where would you start in trying to “fix” Wal-Mart? Why? If I were the CEO, I would do my hardest to boost staff morale and make them feel happy about their jobs. I believe that was a significant accomplishment in which Sam Walton was proud. Employees are important because they have a tight relationship with both the company and the customer and may make all the difference in whether your business succeeds or fails. If that's the case, you want your staff to respect you and not see you as some corporate behemoth out to
conquer the globe, at the very least. Establish a scheme for rewarding employees and reinstate incentives for higher output. In addition, I would reduce output in nations where the company's founding principles are not upheld. 5. How would you handle the company's negative public relations? What does it need to do differently on this front? Given Walmart's size, I think it would be advantageous to engage a public relations agency to handle circumstances like this. In situations like determining how to win over the public when introducing a Walmart to a new place or dealing with backlash against their low salaries for hourly workers, a team that can concentrate just on Walmart's connection with the public would assist to ease tensions. If I resolve the issues within the organization, the PR issues almost go away.
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
  • Access to all documents
  • Unlimited textbook solutions
  • 24/7 expert homework help