Control Mechanisms Paper

Wal-Mart is established by Sam Walton in 1962 and in 50 years, Wal-Mart successfully owned 10,000 retail outlets in 27 countries. Wal-Mart is designed as a discount store that applies everyday low pricing strategy. One of Wal-Mart strategic planning is open up large warehouse-style in low rent suburban area that close to major highways with the target market of blue collar shoppers. This decision also supported by rapid road infrastructure improvement. However the trade-off is none of the supplier willing to do a shipment to the store. Because of that Wal-Mart build their owned transportation

Wal-Mart’s mission statement is, “Saving people money so they can live better.” This statement was what Sam Walton aimed for over fifty years ago. According to Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (2015), there are now 11,488 stores worldwide and 5,187 of the stores are located in the United States. This company has grown each year since opening in 1962 and is still growing. Wal-Mart is and remains a successful company do to its use of the four managerial functions, all of which are needed to have a successful Management Process. In this paper I will explore how Wal-Mart uses the four managerial functions: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling to maintain their position on the Fortune 500

Since 1962 and the beginning of the discount retailer market Wal-Mart has been ahead of the retail game. By 1967 there were 24 Wal-Marts that had grossed 12.6 million dollars. In just 7 years Wal-mart had spread into 9 states. By 1979 Wal-Mart was the fastest store to reach a billion dollars in sales. In 2005 Wal-Mart has 3,800 domestic stores along with 3,800 stores internationally, and had made over 312 billion dollars. As you can see the Wal-Mart empire has grown monumentally. To move into this segment of the market would be tough.

Having strong presence in the retail industry, the firm expanded business to offer second hand car. The firm leverage on its competencies to provide its own product to consumer. Also, Wal-Mart works heavily with its suppliers. This symbiotic relationship can be seen as vertical integration due to the level at which Wal-Mart analyses its suppliers and improves their manufacturing processes. Wal-Mart definitely has the business strategy of Low Cost Leadership. They do nothing to really differentiate themselves from competitors and provide no-frills self-service stores that always provide the lowest prices. Wal-Mart has built enough clout with suppliers that they can dictate the prices and go in and change suppliers manufacturing processes in order to wring out more and more savings for the consumer.

PwC PSP utilizes its Performance Measurement System and Continuous Improvement Cycle to measure, evaluate and improve work processes and support processes. PSP commonly uses existing processes at the PwC level, but also designs its own work processes when no existing process addresses their requirements. One example of this is their Business Capture Process, which was later adopted by PwC and renamed Pursuit. (PwC PSP MBNQA Application, 2014)

Wal-Mart’s sheer size gives it unrestrained economic power which allows it to drive down costs in the retail and manufacturing sectors and to enact its own standards with regards to its work force.

Controlling is monitoring the performance of the organization, identifying deviations between planned and actual results, and taking corrective action when necessary. With all these four functions that are involved in the process of management, if all are followed correctly the organization will be properly ran and will have few complications.

A few reasons as to why Wal-Mart became a leader in the retail industry is due to their practices in obtaining competitive advantage by offering the lowest prices for the market. Wal-Mart built their practices by giving suppliers transparency to meet the demand of customers and granting them long-term relationships by purchasing goods in bulks. In addition, their turn times on inventory are three-five days faster than regular competitors. The inventory shelves are similar to Honda since they only hold up to four hours of inventory in their manufacturing site. Also, Wal-Mart holds their own transportation which is why they can manage their costs efficiently for the company. Their transportations system constitutes links between suppliers, distribution centers and retail stores. They have restrictive criteria for drivers where in order for them to be hired they would have to be accident free for a consistency of minimum 300,000 miles accident free. The supply chain practice that they have gained since they began the business was strategically faster and cheaper than all competitors. 85% of Walmart’s inventory is taken care of by their own transportation system and only about fifteen percent is taken care of by the suppliers through cross-docking. Wal-Mart uses

Wal-Mart is arguably the most dynamic corporation in the last 50 years in the United States, if not the world. Arising from its beginnings in Bentonville, Arkansas, it has grown to over 4,400 discount stores, super centers and corner markets worldwide. Wal-Mart continues to expand despite public criticism of its labor practices as well as complaints about their treatment of competitors. The many strengths of Wal-Mart, like their low cost production and marketing practices, will aid Wal-Mart as it continues to grow in the retail

Wal-Mart maintains their strategy of low-cost leadership, which appeals to a larger market than competitors. The most prominent difference is that Wal-Mart owns the supply chain and has superior bargaining power over suppliers. This cost-saving opportunity is represented in inbound and outbound logistics. They maintain a young fleet of trucks, and recently released a new concept truck and trailer that has higher fuel efficiency due to the low profile aerodynamic design, and a 53 foot trailer made out of carbon fiber, which saves on weight and can further

From the hub, they were sent directly to the store giving them a competitive advantage in reducing cost because Wal-Mart effectively took advantage of economies of scale by ordering large quantities. These items would then be distributed through their own logistic infrastructure to their stores. Reducing cost was always a key organizational goal and in doing so, Wal-Mart eliminated the middleman and dealt directly with manufacturers, an unprecedented move in retail at that time. Wal-Mart also developed a system known as cross-docking, in which they would deliver goods to a consumer directly from the manufacturer, eliminating the need to bring it to a store or hold inventory. Next, they developed one of the greatest computer systems that helped to link supplier and store information systems together. This allowed the supplier direct access to their sales; therefore, they were able to monitor the system to determine when to send inventory as needed, reducing purchase order time. An important part of its logistic system was its transportation system. Human resource managers made sure they hired competent truck drivers that were required to go from the manufacturer to the store or even to the consumer. The trucks were owned by Wal-Mart and therefore allowed it free reign over truck usage. As the years progressed, Wal-Mart invested in IT which allowed its stores to monitor their own inventory

There are four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading and controlling. The four basic principles of management found in all businesses and corporations. Management is a process designed to achieve an organization's objectives by using its resources effectively and efficiently in a changing environment.

Discussion Question: Which parts of the value chain does Wal-Mart target in order to achieve a low-cost advantage over its rivals? Answer: Wal-Mart has an extensive real-time information sharing network with vendors to make the supply chain much more efficient. It targets purchasing, store delivery, procurement practices that leverage the company’s relative buying power, investment in a large fleet of trucks for distribution of inventory, optimization of the product mix, use of security systems, preferred real estate rental and leasing rates, and lowering labor costs.

Controls are measuring sticks to see if the desired goals are being met. Successful managers create parameters for their employees and implement controls within a criteria to confirm if the job is being done to standard. Case in point, I give quarterly performance counseling’s to each subordinate in my department on performance, being efficient at the job and using problem solving techniques. Controls to an extent border along the lines of micromanaging, but it can also be used to emphasize how well the subordinate is doing too. All quarterly counseling’s are not corrective in nature, but it is a great assessment tool for exceptional job performance as well. The usage of controls is part of my responsibility as a supervisor to ensure the goals are being achieved to standard.

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”.