International Management: Wal-Mart Case Study

Thèmes abordés

International Management: WalMart Case Study strategy implementation execution great leadership Wal-Mart culture PR Lee scott

Résumé du document

There are no doubts that Wal-Mart is internationally renowned for its huge success in the United States and as one of the biggest American companies. It is commonly known that the average turnover of Wal-Mart actually reaches the Growth Domestic Product of Sweden and this shows how important is the company in terms of revenues and financial power. However, we cannot deny that as all big companies, Wal-Mart has known lots of issues that slowed down its perspectives of growth or affect its brand image. Thus, this paper is going to deal with the implemented strategy, the corporate culture as well as the Lee Scott's transformation initiatives.

Extraits

[...] Besides, purchases are local and international, entailing a global competition among retailers. Moreover, a standards policy about Wal-Mart's suppliers was introduced in 1992 to get the best practices, especially from suppliers located in foreign countries like China. Standards in terms of work force respect, management, safety, discrimination and other factors were set up in order to avoid ethical issues that can put in danger Wal-Mart reputation and affect relationships with both customers and shareholders. As a result, factory-auditing companies were taken over to better monitor foreign factory compliance with the company's supplier standards. [...]

[...] Are more transformational initiatives needed? Why or why not? Lee Scott's initiatives are based on cutting waste, reducing excessive packaging, and improve energy efficiency that permit to save tens of millions of dollars. Above all, in order to be more powerful and credible to implement these actions, Scott looked for well-known partners like Starbucks, Whole Foods or support from celebrities like Al Gore to get eco- friendly ideas from everywhere and promote them. According to me, Lee Scott's transformation initiatives are a defensive strategy regarding all critics and bad press Wal-Mart was subjected to in 2004 and 2005. [...]

[...] Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in 2008: Management's Initiatives to Transform the Company and Curtail Wal-Mart Bashing. [...]

[...] By the way, Wal Mart develops and uses its own IT systems, permitting a constant innovation of its supply chain management that its competitors envy. Distribution centers are also big hubs that are dedicated to fully supply all Wal-Mart stores in a close area through a truck fleet of 8,000 experienced drivers. The construction and the maintenance of the stores are also important, involving all kinds of cost savings from furniture to renovation every 7 years, from energy saving to other environmental solutions. [...]

[...] Thus, Wal- Mart remains very interesting from the shareholders side. The financial ratios are also good indicators even if the returns on assets have decreased for four years due to a consequent increase of assets, especially abroad. And the fact is that liabilities and debt are also increasing but in a less measure, proof of a good financial management and economies of scales. Above all, the increasing number of stores outside the United States shows the proof of a good development strategy implementation, going up from 892 units in 2000 to 3,121 in 2008. [...]