Wal-Mart, a Global Position in a Tumultuous Market

Résumé du document

Sam Walton, an American business man, began his career in 1940 in the retailing market. For several years, he worked at retail stores and developed a business strategy in order to be very competitive. The discount department store concept was borne. That's why in 1962, he decided to open his own store in Arkansas under the name of Wal-Mart. The company grew very quickly and stores started to be opened in big cities of the US. The strategy, at that time, was the same as now: high sales volumes, low prices, profit margin reduced. In the mid 1970s, the company was quoted on the New York Stock Exchange and had developed its recognition and brand image through American customers. The brand started to diversify its offer by opening supercenters, pharmacies and even auto service centers. As competition was growing every day due to the globalization phenomenon. In the 1990s, the company started to develop several new strategies in order to remain a leader in its market and to export its model to the wild world. As a matter of fact, Wal-Mart opened in South America, Asia, Canada and so on. Today, Wal-Mart is still a retailing public Corporation, managed by Mike Duke, generating in 2009 $404.16 billion dollars. The company has known an amazing success since its beginning but is now facing several problems on the global scale, which involves a strategic reorganization in order to survive. In fact, the brand image has decreased and the international Wal-Mart model has been rejected in many countries where competitors have understood the local needs. In such a position, Wal-Mart has to identify how to maintain its global position in a very difficult and competitive market.

Extraits

[...] It also has to understand the local cultures and expectations to enter a country as a world retailing actor. References http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/7606.aspx, the Wal-Mart website gave me several information about the brands, the stores, the strategies, and the company's figures http://www.boursier.com/vals/us/US9311421039-information- walmart+stores.html, figures about the company http://www.walmarteffectbook.com/thebook.html, Wal-Mart Effect, How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works and How It's Transforming the American Economy”, Charles Fishman, national best seller http://walmartwatch.com/pages/take_action, this website has been created by Wal-Mart workers who criticize the company: Walmartspeakout.com, hundreds of Wal-Mart workers are coming together and telling their stories to the world. [...]

[...] Wal- Mart, as we explained before, has developed a very efficient process in order to know in real time what are its stores needs across the world. This represents a real opportunity for the brand ( Ecological environment Nowadays, customers wants to buy a product which respects the ecological problematic. Wal-Mart, as the world's largest retailers, has to consider this question. have to change how we make and sell products,” explained Michael T. Duke during a “sustainability meeting,” have to make consumption itself smarter and sustainable.” The brand has decided to reduce packaging and to develop a “green marketing”. [...]

[...] The brand started to diversify its offer by opening supercenters, pharmacy or even auto service centers. As competition was growing every day thanks to the globalization phenomenon, in the 90's, the company started to develop several new strategies in order to remain a leader on its market and to export its model in the wild world. As a matter of fact, Wal-Mart opened in South America, Asia, Canada and so on Today Wal-Mart is still a retailing public Corporation managed by Mike Duke generating in 2009 $ 404.16 Billion dollars. [...]

[...] It has to correspond to what they are All these elements have to be taken into consideration in Wal-Mart market but above all on the international scale. In fact, the company is already established in the US and even if it of course has to consolidate its position in its country, the international needs are different. In order to reach that goal, the brand has to analyze the global competition to understand what strategy it has to adopt The competition As we already explained, competition is very high in Wal-Mart market. [...]

[...] The Internal Analysis The Supply Wal-Mart, a business model The Value Chain Activities The Internal Strategies 10 II. The External Analysis The PESTEL analysis The Industry environment analysis The competition 15 III. Synthesis 16 IV. Alternatives Strategies and Recommendations The objectives and Implementation Timeline Recommendations 20 Conclusion 21 References 22 Appendix 23 Introduction Sam Walton, an American business man, began its career in 1940 in the retailing market. During several years he worked for retailing stores and developed a business strategy in order to be very competitive thanks to low price and to become more profitable. [...]