The Supply Chain Of Walmart 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:

1) Should Wal-Mart be expected to protect small businesses in the communities within which it operates?

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.

Retail super-giant Wal-Mart has fought its way to becoming the world's largest company. Wal-Mart’s legendary supply chain technology has allowed them to break the three-day barrier that some economists in the eighties felt that it was unbreakable. In other words, Wal-Mart is often able to replenish items on the Wal-Mart shelf in less than three days – not from the central warehouse to the shelf, but from the manufacturer to the shelf. With quick and reliable 2-day turn around, Wal-Mart is able to maintain lower levels of inventory and still meet customer demand. These lower inventory levels result in either a reduced floor plan with lower carrying costs and lower interest expense – or a greater diversity of products on the store shelves.

The supply chain management is considered as a management concept from past two decades as the customers are concerned about timely and safe delivery. The competitiveness has been increasing among the companies to deliver the products as quickly as possible to the customers all around the world. This has made the supply chain management as a vital tool for the management. This is also measured as a competitive parameter for the companies.

In 1950, former J.C. Penny employee, Sam Walton opened Walton’s Five and Dime in Bentonville, Arkansas. By 1965, in the same small town Walton would open the first Walmart store unknowing that his investment would become the world’s largest retailer. By keeping sales prices low Walton was able to get ahead of the competition and successfully opened an additional store within the same year. Walton’s success continued and by 1967 his chain of stores had grown to 24 locations, and was bringing in about $12.6 million dollars in sales annually.

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

Retail super-giant Wal-Mart has fought its way to becoming the world's largest company. Much of their success can be attributed to providing a vast assortment of products at exceptional prices all under one roof. Wal-Mart began operations in 1964 and has since become the world leader in retail. Today, Wal-Mart is visited by 138 million customers per week at their 4,750 stores. Wal-Mart operates under four basic rules in order to satisfy such a large number of customers:

Yes, I do believe Wal-Mart is doing enough to become more sustainable. Wal-Mart is one of the most powerful companies internationally. As with all things that come with power, Wal-Mart’s business practices are scrutinized thoroughly. This includes their relationships with suppliers, employees, consumers, and the environment. In recent years, the environment has become such a big issue that Wal-Mart, as well as other companies have had to respond to this growing concern.

Wal-Mart is sitting at number one on the Global Fortune 500 list. Sam Walton would never have thought that his creation of Wal-Mart in 1962 would lead to a global dynasty. By 1972 Wal-Mart went public which gave an infusion of money and capital for Mr. Walton that gave them 276 stores by 1980. In the mid 80's Wal-Mart expanded to having member only warehouse stores, Sam's Club. From there Wal-Mart opened supercenters that included full grocery and 36 departments of regular merchandise. By the end of the 1980's there were 1,402 stores and 123 Sam's Clubs (Wal-Mart corporate 2012).

 Illustrates low prices and at the same time, not portray a cheap image to consumer.

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.

Walmart has a large retail seafood business and it is always a challenge to reduce cost and promote sustainability. With upward trend for the demand of sea-food, depletion of the seafood supply is inevitable unless Walmart have a deep engagement of their supply chain. One strategy that Walmart wants to promote to their suppliers is for all of them to take up the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification program. This process will be time consuming, expensive and complex. The depletion of some fish poses a threat to Walmart and its seafood supply chain.

1. Wal-Mart has been able to achieve respectable leadership in the retail industry because of its focus on supply chain management. Discuss in detail the distribution and logistics system adopted by Wal-Mart.

Carrefour’s global presence gave the company experience in enter new markets. Carrefour store formats gave them the ability to engage in all level of retail ranging from large Hypermarkets to small cash and carry food stores (Deresky, 2014, pc3-19). The company’s size and profits gave them the ability to enter new markets through the acquisition of firms in the target regions. Carrefour also invested in pre-entry offices and studies to determine risk factors of going into a new country. Carrefour global strategy mixture of short and medium term success also help the company gain a competitive advantage in the market by establishing the company as a top player.