Thursday, May 6, 2010

Innovation

Walmart joined with CleanTech Group to focus on environmental innovations that provide profitability and lower costs. Walmart will began installing LED lights in stores to reduce power consumption. Solar panels will be installed in stores located in Hawaii and California, which will account for nearly 30% of the power for those stores.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Human Capital (12)

Walmart escalates human capital by incorporating "business simulation" programs to coach employees on how to react to various situations. People are one of the most important aspects of the organization, so Walmart offers training on a continuous basis to keep employee's skills up-to-date. "Stores of Learning" and "Assistant Management Training" programs to help managers make good decisions and become better leaders.
http://walmartstores.com/careers/7740.aspx

Org. Structure

Walmart operates under a functional organizational structure. The Bill Simon, COO and executive VP, announced in January 2010 that American Walmart division will restructure the organization. Walmart will divide the US stores into Walmart North, Walmart South, and Walmart West.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Wal-mart's Corporate Goveranace (10)

Within the past few years,Walmart has been criticized for their poor corporate governance. Poor internal controls led to reports of gender discrimination,employees being forced to work extra hours without compensation, using unethical measures to pressure employees to not vote for unions.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Strategic Alliance

Earlier this year, Walmart formed a strategic alliance with Li & Fung to form Global Merchandising Centers (GMC). This alliance will enable Walmart to lower cost and increase their speed in the global market.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Walmart's International Risk (ch8)

Walmart opened their first international store in 1991, which was located in Mexico. in 1992,Walmart International was created to oversee the operations in other countries.

Walmart had to closed stores in Germany due to their lack of equating the risk of that country's international market. German Regulations prohibited Walmart from offering weekend or extended hours. Strict unions laws kept Walmart from achieving low operational cost. Furthermore, German shoppers tend to split the shopping activites among different stores, so Walmart's revenue was not as high in Germany.

New Acquisition (CH 7)

Recently, Walmart announced their plan to acquire VUDU. VUDU, a top digital services provider, enables instant access to digital movies on HDTVs or blu-ray players. Walmart's goal is to improve the home entertainment experience of customers by merging the digital expertise of VUDU with the retail knowledge of Walmart.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Diversification

Walmart invest in business units that are related to their core business and provide value to the company. Using a related constrained diversification strategy, Walmart divided the company into 3 main divisions Walmart US, Wal-Mart International, and Sam's club . The 2009 Annual Report shows that Walmart US consist of about 63 % of the total revenue for the company. Walmart US is composed of discount stores neighbor markets, and Supercenters. Wal-Mart International is the second largest division with about 25% of the revenue. Currently, Walmart operates in fifteen different markets, which have a global focus of providing low cost products to customers. With 26.9 Billion in sales,Sam's Club, a deep discount wholesale provider, only makes up 12% of the company's total revenue.

I was surprised to find out that Walmart had their own realty company. Walmart Realty was designed to find businesses to move into their old Walmart stores or sell property near their current store locations. In 2002, they opened Walmart transportation to handle the flow of goods. Since Walmart uses a cost leadership strategy, the ability to manage the incoming and outgoing logistics is a great factor in their success

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Competitors and tactial actions (CH 5)

Walmart's main competitors are Target and Costco. Walmart uses a tactical response of offering large scaled price cuts on products to defer the competition. The holidays and peak seasons are especially targeted for large price reductions.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Business-Level Strategy

Walmart is the largest retail chain in the world. The company achieve a high status by employing a cost leadership strategy. Walmart provides good quality items for an affordable price. By forming a tight relationship with suppliers, Walmart is able to offer greats deals to their customers, which has lead to their success over other retailers.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Walmart's Internal Environment

Walmart's low cost strategy and high level of customer loyalty provides a barrier of entry for competitors. Their strong ties with supplier and efficient use of technologies are among some of Walmart's strengths. Walmart's weakness seems to be their inability to adequately pay their employees, which has led to many lawsuits. The majority of employees are paid below the Federal poverty line.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Walmart's External Environment

A. Technological- Walmart uses a private satellite network and various other technologies to maximize effectiveness of their operations.

B. Economic- Despite the economic downturn; Walmart boast substantial growth in sales returns.

C. Global- Walmart has stores worldwide, and the store believes in adapting to standard protocol for each country.

D. Legal- Walmart has several pending lawsuits regarding discrimination against women. Lawsuits state that women were denied managerial positions.

E. Demographic- Walmart is one of the largest employer. In foreign countries, Walmart hires local workers.

F. Sociocultural- Walmart enploys a cost leadership strategy. Walmart offers afforable prices to the low income market.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Wal-Mart

Due to major competition from Costco, Wal-Mart cut thousands of jobs in their Sam's club department. The store will lay off approximately 10,000 demonstrators and 1,200 membership recruiters. In-store demonstrators that were laid off can apply for a job with the subcontractor, Shopper Events.


http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2010/01/patriotic_walmart_eliminates_1.php

Tuesday, January 26, 2010