Walmart's Business Strategy Essay

Wal-Mart is a brand that is well known around the world, especially in the USA. It has gradually developed into the largest retailer in the world. Wal-Mart’s globalization efforts have been happening rapidly. But have they been successful in all aspects of their international expansion or not? This is the main thought that is going to be discussed in this essay. The questions I will be looking at are based on a case called “Wal-Mart takes on the world” from the book of International Business The Challenge of Global Competition eleventh edition – Ball, McCulloch, Geringer, Minor, and McNett. Questions are the following:

The purpose of this business report is to gain familiarity with Wal-Mart and to learn about the different aspects that make Wal-Mart a successful company. This report gives an in-depth analysis of the company history, services and products provided, the company philosophy, business methods, organizational structure, and financial and competitive analysis.

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 evolved from Sam Walton’s purpose for great price and great consumer service. “Mr. Sam,” as he was known, believed in management through service. The principle that true leadership depends on willing service was the standard on which Wal-Mart was built, and drove the choices the business has made for the past 50 years. So much of Wal-Mart’s past is attached to the story of Sam Walton himself, and so much of our future will be deep-rooted in Mr. Sam’s principles. Sam's rivals thought his plan for a thriving business couldn’t be built around low prices and great service. As it happened, the company's achievement went beyond even Sam's hopes. The company went public in 1970, and the profits funded a steady growth of the business. Sam recognized the rapid increase of Wal-Mart not just to the low prices that fascinated consumers, but also to his staff of workers. He depended on them to give customers the great buying experience that would

Samuel Walton was a businessman and entrepreneur known for establishing the discount chain Walmart, that grew to become the largest corporation in the world. Samuel Moore Walton was born March 29, 1918, in King Fisher, Oklahoma. He is the first son of Thomas Walton and Nancy Lee, they lived on a farm. Sam’s father decided farming did not provide enough money for his family and started to work for his brother in farm martagons. Sam and his family moved to Shelbina, Missouri. In eighth grade, he was active in boy scouts and became the youngest eagle scout in his state along with receiving the recipient of Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the boy scouts of America. Later, the family moved to Columbia, Missouri, where Sam was a good student, quarterback on the football team, and voted most versatile boy at Hickman High School. After graduation, he attended the University of Missouri where he was a ROTC cadet and a member of the Zeta Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. Sam was also an active member of QEBH, a secret society on campus for senior men, and president of the Burall Bible Class. In 1940, Sam graduated with a bachelor in Economics. Sam worked for J.C. Penney as a manager trainee in Des Moines, Iowa, and was paid $75 monthly. He had to leave the company because of being inducted in the Army for World War II in 1942. While in the army, Sam worked at DuPont in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Walmart was founded on the belief stated above by its founder Sam Walton in 1962. “Saving people money, so they can live better,” was the main objective when Sam Walton opened the doors to the first Walmart (“History”). Today, Walmart is the world’s largest retailer and corporation in the United States and have been awarded and recognized by various organizations for being the best employer throughout United States and other countries. By the Fortune magazine, it is listed as one of the most admired

Cost Leadership is Walmart’s generic strategy. Walmart’s focus is on maintaining low prices of goods and services. Walmart is known for low prices, which is the main selling point of the business. The company keeps its prices low through cost reduction in operations.

to see where the company is now with the use of a brief Swot analysis.

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, which is the biggest retailer in the world, had coined the famous saying ‘individuals don’t win, teams do’. There are several characteristics of Sam Walton that enabled him to be successful in his life and business dealings. Sam Walton could do anything he put his mind to. This can be witnessed in his ability to transform a small town store into a 25 billion-dollar industry at the time of his death. Also, Walton difficult childhood gave him something to strive towards later on in his life.

Evidently, Wal-Mart is not doing anything to differentiate itself from rivals. It gives no frills to self-service outlets always providing the cheapest prices. Through a well-built influence with suppliers, the company has gained the power to manipulate prices and amend manufacturing procedures thus wringing out more savings for its customers. All that the company does from the frequent calls to suppliers to doubling up execs in hotel rooms aimed at saving the

A man named Sam Walton opened up the first walmart in 1962. His mission statement for the first Walmart was "The lowest prices anytime, anywhere." which worked because His family owned a total of 24 stores which made about 12.7 million dollars. Only two years later the business made walmart “Wal-mart stores, inc”. His stores went public in 1970 and he had a total of 276 stores by the year of 1983 with 1 billion in annual sales.

Walmart.com has an alliance with the master of retail process: Wal-Mart. Having the best process and infrastructure when it applies to supply chain is definitely a competitive advantage. Walmart.com can take advantage of back end operations and inventory management processes through its alliance with Wal-Mart.

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

Over the past twenty years one company has dominated the discount retailer market. It has been hailed as the most admired company in America twice in the past five years by Fortune magazine. As of 2006 the company employed 1.6 million people that worked in one of their 6200 facilities worldwide. Despite this company’s unmatched success, it has been demonized by many in American culture, often being depicted as a destroyer of small business and the symbol of corporate greed. The company that I am referring to is Wal-Mart. No matter if you are an advocate or adversary of Wal-Mart and their business model, one thing must be mutually understood: They have mastered

Sam Walton 's first venture as a milk boy is when he understood the value of a dollar and the knowledge of how far a dollar could take one in life. From Sam 's first five and dime stores in the 1950 's to his opening of the first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962, no one could have predicted the enormous success of this small-town merchant. Today, fourteen years after his death, Wal-Mart continues to grow and leadership of this company continues to rely on many of the traditional goals and philosophies that Mr. Walton left behind. In keeping one step