Case Study : Walmart 's Operations Management

Question 1: What were the rights of Walmart, the employer, during these two organizing drives?

the superior tracking capability of RFID chips would reduce shrinkage and other forms of loss by up

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.

Wal-Mart was conceived and founded by Sam Walton in 1962, at Rogers, Arkansas. Sam Walton started with just a few small variety stores, funded with borrowed money. His goal

To fully understand Walmart’s business one should first study the history of Walmart’s retail company. Born in 1918, Sam Walton married his wife Helen Robson while serving in the military. After Sam’s military term ended Sam and Helen moved around until they finally settled in the small town of Bentonville, Arkansas. Bentonville is when Sam’s Walton’s 5&10 store led him to open the first Walmart in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas (Founder of Walmart).

Operations management is defined as the design, execution, and control of operations that convert resources into desired goods and services, while implementing an organizations business strategy (Business Dictionary, 2015). Office Depot Inc. is one such organization that truly understands that solid operations is the foundation to the success they have had in recent years. In this paper, I will give the history and background of Office Depot Inc. and explain why they have been able to keep such a competitive advantage in the consumer and small business supply industry. Additionally, I will

Wal-Mart is a general merchandise discount retailer, which was incorporated in 1962. Wal-Mart’s history is based on one man, Sam Walton, who changed the course of retailing forever. Sam Walton first entered retailing when he was a management trainee at J.C. Penny Co. in 1940 in Des Moines, Iowa. After serving in the Army in World War II, Walton acquired a Ben Franklin variety store franchise with his brother James Walton in Newport Arkansas, until they lost the lease to the store in 1950. By 1962, when the first Wal-Mart Discount City was opened in Rogers Arkansas, both Walton’s were operating fifteen stores under the “Walton 5 & 10” name, and were the largest Ben Franklin franchisee in the

In the late 1940s, a man named Sam Walton was franchising Ben Franklin’s store located in Newport, Arkansas. As a retailer, Walton continuously was in search of suppliers with best deals on merchandise. Usually, if a retailer was able to get a deal from a wholesaler they would leave their store prices at the regular price and pocket the excess money. Being the innovator he was, Walton decided to pass the savings on to the consumer and make his money through the increased volume of sales. This understanding would become the foundation of Walton’s business strategy when he developed Walmart in 1962.

When 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 that he had a lot of competition from regional discount chains, him and his wife Helen traveled the country to study other new retailing concepts, and were convinced that it was the wave of the future. With Walton's vision, Wal-Mart grew to be a multi-billion dollar, international company, operating about 4,600 stores around the world.

Wal-Mart was started in Rogers, Arkansas during the early 1960’s by Sam Walton. (Ghillyer, 2010). Walton traveled all around the country researching what consumers wanted in a retail store. When Sam Walton fist opened Wal-Mart he

Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) were introduced in 1980 with the purpose of saving energy. They initially were very expensive and consumers were aware of many flaws that made them hesitant to purchase the bulbs and bring them into their homes. The positive effects of switching from alternative bulbs to CFLs were overshadowed by media attention highlighting the issues that remained unresolved. Wal-Mart pushed promotional programs in 2007 that were very successful. They introduced a private label at a lower price, offered online ordering, posititioned the products well, installed interactive displays and engaged with new partners to promote energy efficiency. In 2009 the CFLs were redesigned and

Walmart’s history dates back in 1945 when Sam Walton bought an outlet of the Ben Franklin retail stores with the aim of selling products at a relatively low cost, so as to generate huge sale volumes and make profits at a low margin. Although this portrayed the purchased outlet as a crusade for most consumers,

Wal-Mart is a company which operates in the service sector, more specifically in the “Discount, Variety Stores/Retail” industry. The company’s superior performance is demonstrated through the fact that it was America’s largest company (in terms of revenue) in 2002, and the reputation of the company is reflected in the opinion of “Fortune” who have identified Wal-Mart as one of the world’s most admired companies. In 2004 Wal-Mart had been hiring 1.4 million employees – making it the largest corporation in the world. Wal-Mart’s share prices have also been stable at time of stock market volatility. There are

We would like to show our gratitude to Resp. Prof. Mr. Sham Sharma, for providing us with the golden opportunity to prepare an intellectual report, on Distribution & Logistics Management of “wal-mart”.

1. What is the ethical dilemma facing Wal-Mart in this case ? Do Wal-Mart’s associates also face an ethical dilemma? If so, what is it ?