Wal Mart: Strategic Planning Essay

In 1962, Wal-Mart opened their first store in Rogers, Arkansas. In 1970, Wal-Mart's first distribution center and home office in Bentonville, Ark. open and Wal-Mart went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Just nine years from that, Wal-Mart's annual sales exceeded one billion dollars. In 1988, Wal-Mart super centers opened across the country. In a merely three years from that, Wal-Mart opened their own store in Mexico City, Mexico; making Wal-Mart an international corporation. Not even sixty years has past, and yet, Wal-Mart is over-powering our country.

As the world’s largest retail store in the world, Walmart wants to be in every market that they can be prosperous in. They know they rule the United States market, so why not try to expand overseas and dominate those markets as well. Now that they have reached limits on expansion here in the U.S., the next step was to test the water in other nations. As they began to go international, there were many critics saying they will never make it because their business practices and culture wouldn’t work in other countries. Yet the company’s globalization efforts progressed at a rapid pace. Its more than 4,263 international retail units employ more than 660,000

There was a marked improvement in China’s economy. To further increase and attract foreign investment, the Chinese government increased its numbers of experimental, special economic-zoned cities in which foreigners could operate a business. There were, however, restrictions set forward by the government. One restriction in 1996 was that all foreign businesses would have to be in a joint venture or other type of cooperative agreement with at least one Chinese partner, with that Chinese partner getting a stake greater than 51%. In August 1995, Wal-Mart, the great American retail chain and Middle America success story, arrived in China, establishing a joint venture with Shenzhen International Fiduciary Investment Co, Ltd, China. In the following year, 1996, Wal-Mart opened its first supercentre and a Sam’s Club, its members-only big-box store, in the special economic zone of Shenzhen, in the southernmost Guangdong Province. However, it took the Chinese government’s removal of further trade restrictions for foreign retailers in 2004 for Wal-Mart to kick-start its expansion plans. Three years later, in 2007, Wal-Mart acquired a 35% stake in Trust-Mart, a Taiwanese-owned chain of retail supercentres operating in the Middle Kingdom. By 5 August 2010, Wal-Mart’s presence in China grew to 189 units in 101 Chinese cities, with the creation of over 50,000 local jobs. By early 2012, Wal-Mart nearly doubled its

Wal-Mart has preferred to expand internationally by buying existing operations and converting them to Wal-Mart stores. The company entered Canada by purchasing the Woolco chain that was competing with Kmart in that market, and it entered Mexico in much the same way. The company entered Europe by purchasing the Asda stores in the United Kingdom and an operation in Germany that later failed. Wal-Mart entered foreign markets via acquisition for a couple of reasons. The first is that the company relies on real estate as the cornerstone of its business. The second is that as a cost leader, Wal-Mart needed to build up economies of scale that would allow it to enjoy strong bargaining power in these markets immediately. Moreover, moving rapidly into a market minimizing the ability of competitors to register an adequate response.

Within less than 30 years, Wal-Mart had transformed from a small rural retailer in Arkansas into the largest retailer in the U.S. In order to continue this rapid growth, the company had started to pursue international expansion grounded in the belief that the firm’s business model of offering quality products at low prices and great customer service would appeal to consumers everywhere around the world (p.8)[1]. China was of particular interest in going international as Wal-Mart’s top management held the opinion that it was the only market in which the firm’s success story in the U.S. could be repeated (p.2/8). However, in 2005 (nine years after its

Inventory from China is now reaching 18 billion dollars, and has increased 20 percent over the past two years. Currently over 5,000 suppliers have steady alliances with Wal-Mart. Not only does this benefit U.S. customers by keeping prices down, but it keeps the Wal-Mart corp. very well received by the Chinese people. A large portion of the world's population is located in China being a respected company in this part of the world will greatly increase sales. Wal-Mart is, however, responsible for 10 percent of the countries trade deficit to China.

Wal-Mart began operations in 1962 which quickly dominated the American market and then internationally by 1991 opening Sam’s Club a subsidiary company in Mexico. Within the next 10 years Wal-Mart expanded its global reach to China, Uniting Kingdom and Europe creating its global empire. Wal-Mart currently employs 2.2 million associates around the world and has over 5000 stores in America which is the

5. International Growth- The video pointed out that internationally Wal-Mart has just scratched the surface and has lots of room for growth. Expect to hear more from Wal-Mart about where we’re going in emerging markets like India and China (Gogoi, 2007). Wal-Mart is committed to being a global company and feels like expanding internationally will drive growth and hopes to add 500,000 jobs worldwide in within the next 5 years (Clifford & Rosenbloom, 2010). Brazil,

Wal-Mart is one of the most successful retailers in the world (Wal-Mart corporate 2012). Currently, there

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).

Wal-Mart is a world-wide active American retail trade company and currently the largest retail company in the world. Beginning in 1962, Wal-Mart has made the transition from a small firm in Arkansas to the largest employer with 3, 800 store units in the United States with record revenues today. But nevertheless, since Wal-Mart launched its online branch, it had to suffer from substantial setbacks from competitors such as Amazon.com or Ebay.

Wal-Mart was first opened in 1962 by Sam Walter as a retail store. It started out a five and dime store in Rogers, Arkansas and was called Walton’s. He opened this store with one goal in mind, to sale at the lowest prices possible, quality leadership and great customer services. He thought that his idea could change the retail industrial. Wal-Mart was built on a solid foundation that remains stable even after the death of Mr. Walton. Wal-Mart became the largest multinational retail store in America, with a grocery store and a pharmacy. There is a Wal-Mart in all fifty states and seventeen international states and has more than 2.3 million employees. This store

In order to understand the success and failure of Walmart Stores, Inc. in markets other than the United States, we

Ans. Internationally, the retailer operates in Mexico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, China, Korea, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Its expansion strategy internationally has been aggressive and powerful. The latest expansion strategy is for the company to gain entry into a nation by corporate takeover of a national retailer. Once the company is bought, Wal-Mart converts the stores into Wal-Mart stores. Three countries, all with no previous Wal-Mart stores, became part of the corporation 's international presence when domestic retail chains were overtaken. In 1994, Wal-Mart bought 122 Woolco stores in Canada; today there are 196 units in Canada. In 1998 Wal-Mart bought the Wertkauf store with 21 units, now there

The premier Wal-Mart location opened in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Walton and his wife Helen set up 95% of the cash for the endeavor. Only six years after the fact Wal-Mart started extending outside of Arkansas State. Wal-Mart stores opened in two more southern states, Missouri and Oklahoma. On October 31, 1969, Wal-Mart had become incorporated. In 1971, Wal-Mart stock had its first 100% part and was sold at a stock price of price of $47. By 1972, Wal-Mart was being traded on the New York Stock Exchange. By its 18th birthday, Wal-Mart turned into the speediest organization to reach $1 billion in sales. The chain included 276 stores, 21,000 partners, $1.248 billion in sales. All through the 1980s, Wal-Mart developed to have areas in 13 new states. By 1991, Wal-Mart proceeded onward to the international business sector, opening its first