Cost Leadership For The Generation Of Revenue

Cost leadership is also an important key to success in any commodity industry since it is one of few areas where any true profit can be squeezed out of markets defined by undifferentiated products. ADM’s vertical integration

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.

How valuable a low-cost leader's cost advantage is depends on A. whether it is easy or inexpensive for rivals to copy the low-cost leader's methods or otherwise match its low costs B. how easy it is for the low-cost leader to gain the biggest market share C. the aggressiveness with which the lowcost leader pursues converting the cost advantage into the absolute lowest possible costs D. the leader's ability to combine the cost advantage with a reputation for good quality Correct! The correct answer is: A. Concept: OBJECTIVES AND GOALS Concepts Mastery OBJECTIVES AND GOALS 0% Questions 8 8.

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

The Wal-Mart company was established on July 2, 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas (History Timeline). The company was based on the vision of Sam Walton, who believed in giving his customers the lowest prices, anytime, anywhere. By 1967 the Walton family owned 27 different stores, and in 1969 they officially incorporated, becoming Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Just a year later in 1970 Wal-Mart went National, proving the wide spread appeal of Sam Walton's beliefs (History). This same year Wal-Mart became a publicly traded company, with its first shares priced at 16.50. A short year later the company was listed in The New York Stock Exchange (History Timeline). The 80's were a major success for this company. In 1983 the first Sams Club opened, this was and still is a store that sells product in bulk to small businesses and individuals. In 1988 the first Wal-Mart Super center opened. The Super center combined a full scale supermarket with general merchandise to create one stop shopping convenience (History). In 1992 the company suffered a hard hit when Sam Walton passed away at the age of 74. Although they lost the man at the heart of the company they were determined to carry on with his vision, and so they did. In 1996 they opened their first stores in China (History Timeline). By 2002 they reach the top of the Fortune 500 ranking of Americas largest companies. In 2012 Wal-Mart celebrated 50 successful years of business. Today the company employs 2.2 million associates worldwide and serves

Cost leadership (Johnson et al., 2013, p194) strategy involves becoming the lowest-cost organisation in a domain of activity. In this case, NiMH battery prices were reduced to remain competitive in the market considering the fact that NiMH batteries represented the Cash Cow of the company.

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart was a business man with a vision. Sam was born in 1918 in Oklahoma. He was in the military until 1945 and then moved to Bentonville. Sam Walton was a very cheap man. Mr. Walton opened his own 5&10 store, and it became a success very quickly. Walton realized that passing on savings to his customers while earning profits through volume, would be the best way to have success in life as well as providing a better life for all Americans. Through this philosophy Wal-Mart was launched in 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas. Sam shared this vision with his associates and made them partners in the company; believing that this partnership would make Wal-Mart great. Sam

6. What lessons can we draw from this case about the challenges of pursuing a cost leadership strategy?

In other words, customers are willing to purchase low-tech products as long as their prices are relatively low. As a result, Niche Cost Leadership seems to be the most appropriate strategy for these two segments.

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

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,

The organizations that endeavour to wind up the least cost makers in an industry can be alluded to as those taking after a low cost procedure. The organization with the least expenses would gain the most elevated benefits in the occasion when the contending items are basically undifferentiated, and offering at a standard business market cost. Organizations taking after this methodology place accentuation on cost diminishment in each action in the value chain. Note that an organization may be a cost pioneer however that does not inexorably infer that the organization 's items would have a low cost. In specific occurrences, the organization can for occasion charge a normal cost while applying the low cost leadership strategy and put the earnings made back into the business

One of the main sources for a firm to attain cost leadership advantage is through economies of scale. There are many chances for a manufacturing unit to bring down its cost through large scale production. Cost can be reduced through maximum utilization of the plant, machinery and warehouses. Standardized products can be manufactured in large scale to bring down the cost of a product. Usually when a firm enters in large scale production they cut down on the variations to the models and concentrates on standardizing the product and marketing it across the globe.

A successful cost leadership strategy usually provides the entire firm with high efficiency, low overhead, limited perks, intolerance of waste, intensive screening of budget requests, and wide span of control efforts. However, some risks of pursuing this strategy are that competitors might imitate the strategy, thus, driving overall industry profits down; that technology breakthroughs in the industry may make the strategy ineffective; or that buyer’s interest may swing to other differentiating features besides price.

Cost leadership implies that an organization or business tries to have low costs so that they can sell their products and services at low costs. This type of leadership strategy allows them to make profits even with low costs than their competitors. It places the business at a position where it can effectively compete on the basis of price with both the new entrants in the industry and existing competitors. It also creates a potential for profits; charging prices that are almost average to the industry while earning profits above industry standards. The following process is used to achieve cost leadership: advertising and promoting the product to achieve sales in large volumes (Buchner, Ellerman & Carraro, 2007). Invest in the latest production technology to lower production costs. Achieve high levels of productivity to reduce labor costs, one can copy designs rather than producing originals and cheaper raw materials can be used. Reducing localization and distribution costs will reduce distribution costs. Exploitation of organizational experience and knowledge will also be helpful. Finally, secure government assistance will be important.