Wal-Mart Executive Summary

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:

There are large and small businesses all across the country, with many different public and private accounting firms that handle their accounts. Many of these businesses are raking in millions and millions of dollars a year. Wal-Mart is one of them. We will be exploring Wal-Mart and how it came about as a business, along with examining their balance sheets, income statement, and the cash flow statement. We will also be taking a look at what Wal-Mart’s current revenues are over the annual reporting periods, and who handles their accounting process.

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.

The Target Corporation is a general merchandise retailer that opened up in in 1962 under the parent company of Dayton Corporation. This parent company was renamed the Target Corporation in 2000 and are based out of Minneapolis. There are over 1,800 Target stores throughout the United States which includes Targets and Super Targets. In 2005 Target began expansion in India and in 2011 to Canada however this expansion into Canada did not fare well and all Target Canada stores were closed by 2015. According to Forbes in 2005 they we ranked amongst the highest cash-giving companies in America with 2.1% given and they donate about 5% of its pre-tax operating profit. In 2010 Target was ranked number 22 by Fortune magazine’s World's Most Admired Companies.

Individuals of higher income levels often have private insurance that allows them to see a physician on a regular basis. These individuals are able to prevent many diseases before they exacerbate. They often eat low fat diets or plant based diets. They are educated on their nutritional health and often make better choices when choosing the different types foods to eat. Due to their income, they can afford to eat healthy food and make healthy food choices. Even though these individuals may be predisposed to certain diseases, their diets prevent them from becoming prevalent in their lives. Due to the individual’s socioeconomic status they make enough money that they don’t stress about the necessities in life. These individuals live in areas such as Roswell, Johns Creek. Alpharetta, Buckhead, Kennesaw, and Stockbridge. Individuals of a poor economic status have limited access to healthcare. These individuals often have Medicaid, Medicare, or no health insurance at all. They often eat diets that are high in fat. Individuals of poor economic status aren’t often educated about eating healthy. They often eat unhealthy because it is too expensive to eat healthy. These individuals often receive government subsidiaries such as WIC and SNAP benefits for themselves and their children. There aren’t many healthy food stores if any at all in these neighborhoods. Stores such as Whole Foods, Sprout, and Trader Joe’s aren’t located in poverty stricken communities because the individuals can’t afford the prices. It is a disadvantage that the grocery chains in the neighborhood don’t offer the resident a healthier option. Individuals of poor economic status often fight chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and often cancer. They often live sedentary lifestyles that contribute to these diseases. They eat diets that are high in red meats one that contributes to

The dollar menu section of this documentary focused on how processed foods and fast food are typically less expensive than healthier foods. The documentary shows one family having the dilemma at the grocery store: a family is aware that the father who has diabetes needs a healthier diet with more fresh, but they are forced to buy foods they can afford. As the film implies people with lower incomes are more likely to eat processed, cheaper, foods, leading to a higher rate of diabetes, obesity and other health problems. The federal government spends billions each year subsidizing commodity crops. Over time, prices of certain crops, like soybeans and corn, were lowered due to these subsidies causing overproduction which made them a lot cheaper than other crops. Since these crops were so cheap, meat and food producers started using them for a variety of purposes, such as, high-fructose corn syrup, animal feed and hydrogenated oils. The lowest-priced options at the grocery are processed foods made from subsidized ingredients that have refined grains with added fats and sugars. This cheap food has had the greatest impact on low-income families. Because are on a tight budget, the price difference between fresh healthy foods and food with subsidized

hospitals that can better shoulder losses as part of an overall marketing strategy focused on access to care (Chain Drug Review, 2011).

(2004) in which surveillance of two communities, East Harlem (low economic status, predominantly minority) and Upper East Harlem (high economic status, mostly whites), was performed. The research purpose was to determine the availability and cost of healthy food for people with diabetes within these communities. Five food items that are recommended for people with diabetes were chosen and placed in different stores within the two communities. The stores that they were placed in was bodegas and large supermarkets, which was licensed as certified markets by the state of NY. The nutrition value of the food, the cost, cultural acceptability and how ease and quickness of identifying the item on the store's shelves were taken into account. The surveyor's job was to document if at least one or more item out of the five was present in the stores. The results were tally individually, then collectively. The comparisons between the individuals and the group findings were made to alleviate discrepancies. Before noting any discrepancies, a reliability test was performed. The X2 test was used to verify the different of the prevalence of desirable and undesirable based on neighborhood and store sizes. A store was rated desirable it has one out of five of the item and undesirable if it did not have

The lack of access to and availability of health food has always been a Public Health issue, affecting many lives, particularly the underserved population. The presence of small corner stores in inner cities that carry unhealthy food items has been linked with increased risk of chronic diseases and obesity. The inner cities in New York with low-income and minority communities have a large number of corner stores in close proximity to the neighborhoods and fewer number of grocery stores as well as supermarkets at a distance from the neighborhood. The owners of the corner stores in the inner city neighborhoods have very limited knowledge about the health benefits associated with the consumption of highly nutritious food. They are also unaware of the health consequences associated with the consumption of unhealthy food. Without any knowledge about health and food, these corner stores are simply

Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores. Wal-Mart controls over 11,500 stores in 28 countries around the world. It was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. Walmart’s CEO is Doug McMillon and the Chairperson of Board of Directors is Greg Penner. Walmart as we know it today evolved from Sam Walton’s goals for great value and great customer service. He

Wal-Mart is the number one retailer in the world in both sales and earnings, dwarfing many of its retail competitors. It offers a full assortment of products ranging from clothing to electronics. It currently has 6000 locations predominately within the United States with over $312.4 Billion in net sales during 2006. In addition to its strong domestic presence, Wal-Mart has expanded aggressively to Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico with over 1000 locations within those countries. This expansion can potentially create greater economies of scale for Wal-Mart services and merchandise. The synergies created by expansion will also drive profitability in the future by providing goods and services at even lower costs to consumers. In order to enter foreign markets successful, Wal-Mart engages in both joint ventures and acquisitions. By utilizing this method, Wal-Mart intends to leverage foreign retailer's market knowledge with its own core competencies of merchandising and supply chain management (Stilgoe, 2003).

In 1962, Wal-Mart was built sometime by Sam Walton in Roger, Arkansas. Wal-Mart has 5,100 stores and clubs all over the United States and a sum of 8,300 unit's global. The company was able to employ something like over 2 million associates from all over the world and about 2.4 million in the United States. Wal-Marts average annual total income rate was somewhat in excess of 10% for the three years from the fiscal year that is ending 2009 to the fiscal year ending 2011 (Blanchard, 2008). Research shows that they also had what was known as a stock split of 100 %; Wal-Mart was able to see this split 12 times all through the eras of 1973 through 2002. They have received many awards and were categorized 5th in Fortune magazine's "Global Most Well-regarded All-Stars" as the third most appreciated corporation in America (Wal-Mart, 2013)

He instilled a spirit of well being and created a company where 70% of its managerial staff was recruited from hourly workers in the stores (ICMR 2003). Transferring this particular work culture to foreign countries has been a struggle for local employees. Walmart Stores, Inc. has had to adjust their company culture to transition more smoothly into certain markets. Walmart’s rapid international growth created a lack of quality management. Managers in foreign countries were unable to speak the language of that particular country, therefore creating a swarm of problems. The language barrier was not the only issue, cultural differences accounted for the majority of the issues. It wasn’t until the company chose to decentralize management authority from their headquarters to their International division that each leader of their market was able to freely manage their operations and merchandising (Zellner, Schidt, 2001). Walmart has attempted to recruit top management for each market from the host country. For example, Rai Jain the Managing Director and CEO of Walmart India is a native of India. However not all of the market leaders are from the host country. An example would be Steve Dacus, an American who is the President and CEO of Walmart Japan (Walmart.com).

To be the world 's largest low cost store that carries all types of merchandise for all possible consumers.

Wal-Mart was founded by businessman Sam Walton in 1962 as a small retail store in Arkansas, USA. From there it has grown to become the largest retail giant in the world. Ranked by Forbes 2000 list for 2011 as the 18th largest public corporation in the world, Wal-Mart is the highest revenue generating public entity in the world as of 31st January 2011, with gross revenue of 422 billion US Dollars (Walmart Annual Report, 2011). It is also noted for being the largest private employer in the world having just over 2 million employees serving in 8500 stores, in 15 different countries, under 55 different names, worldwide. (Daniel, 2010)