This memo is in response to the requested analysis of the overall position of Walmart. The memo will first discuss the current position of Walmart. This will be followed by two issues, woman working in walmart not getting paid as much as men as well as not having very many upper management positions, and the perception that Walmart ruins small communities way of life once they open up their doors. The memo will then give a reccommendation for how to fix and improve the company to allow it to prosper in the future.
Overview Walmart is successful by following a cost leadership strategy. Their sales revenues were $375 billion in 2008 but their profit was only $12. 7 billion. This shows that the markup on all of their items is very low. Because of the large volume of sales Walmart depends on to be successful, they have mastered the technique of “just in time inventory. ” This means that whenever a product in a Walmart store drops below a certain level an order is automatically placed to one of its giant distribution centers which then delivers the inventory within a few days.
Walmart is able to charge such a low price on all of its inventory because of its negotiation powers over its suppliers. Walmart makes all of their suppliers reduce the selling price in order for their product to be sold at Walmart stores. Most companies do not have the power to dictate to their suppliers the price that the products are sold for. Walmart has this ability and control over the suppliers because of their mass volume of sales allow suppliers to still make profit. This relationship between Walmart and the suppliers allows for the “everyday low prices” strategy.
In recent years Walmart has been expanding outside of the United States through acquisition and new store construction. Their entry into European, South American and Asian markets has been possible by acquiring existing general merchandise or supermarket chains. Although international sales only accounted for 24. 2 percent of its total sales in 2008, it is expected to rise in the coming years. There are many obstacles that stand in the way of Walmart’s continued success including two of the issues listed below. Unequal Rights for Woman Working at Walmart
Walmart has taken a lot of heat for paying female hourly and salary employees less than men for the same job and also giving woman fewer promotions. A study was conducted and the results showed that it took woman longer to enter management positions then it did for men. These negative practices has hurt Walmart’s reputation and if it is not addressed or this image is not cleared up through public relations, Walmart will face more and more lawsuits, and possibly a drop in female customers who care enough about equality for female employees. Destroying Small Communities Way of Life
Whenever there is talk about a Walmart coming to a small town most of the local citizens and business leaders rally together to prevent them from coming at all cost. There is a perception that when Walmart comes to town it destroys once-thrieving downtowns, and runs small businesses out of business. People also see Walmart as paying meager wagers and selling products that were cheaply produced in sweatshops. As a result of all of theses perceptions, Walmart has a difficult uphill battle with a lot of communities where they would like to build new stores.
The time and effort Walmart has to devote and spend to appease communities can be very expensive, which is why the company is trying to develop a better image of helping the community not destroying it. Reccommendation There are several steps that can be taken to address the issues mentioned above for Walmart to continue its success and growth into the future. For the issue of unequal pay and rights for woman working for Walmart, the company can take several steps to repair this damage. First, the company can correct the problem and pay the woman employees the same as male’s with similar work experience.
Secondly, the company can improve its public image from this situation by providing college scholarships to girls, or by sponsoring woman’s equality events. Finally, Walmart can offer more upper level management positions for females who are equally qualified for the position as any other male (similar to affirmative action). For the issue of destroying small communities way of life, Walmart can take several steps to show that Walmart helps the communities it comes to and does not destroy small businesses.
According to several economists, Wherever a Walmart opens up, all of the surrounding businesses next to it flourish because of the large traffic flow of customer’s flowing in and out of the shopping center. Walmart needs to use its PR personal and a neutral third party to verify that Walmart is beneficial to the communities it opens its doors in both economically and in a socially responsible manner. The company must continue its efforts to provide for the communities it serves, and be quick to act in communities that face unexpected tragedies like New Orleans did with Katrina.
These are a few recommendations we have for Walmart to address the issues mentioned to allow the company to continue its growth into the future. Let me know if you have any further questions regarding the overall position of the company, two issues that could hurt Walmart going into the future or the recommendations to help fix these issues. Enclosed on the following two pages are a value chain model and Porter’s five forces model to help show the value of the company as well as the current position of the company.
Please follow all the requirements and complete the work as is requested. Everything is explained in detail
Paper II: Experimental Paper I:
Experimental Paper I: Paper I involves writing the beginning of a research paper that incorporates a TITLE PAGE, preliminary ABSTRACT, complete LITERATURE REVIEW (with the clearly stated research question(s) and hypothesis, METHODS, intended data analysis, and Demographic questionnaire. You are required to use at least 14 articles, and references for Experimental Paper 1.
This paper should be approximately 8-10 or more pages long (excluding title page and references). is the second of three papers.
For this his paper will have you adding to all the content from your corrected first paper by including three new sections:
-An abstract-A methods section-An appendix
The abstract will be 120-150 words in length and will provide a short summary of your paper and its content. The methods will provide a detailed explanation of your participants, study design, materials, and data analysis plan. And your appendix will contain your demographics form and your consent form (examples of which can be found on canvas).
Additionally, you will be expanding upon your literature review. You will be adding new content, either by further exploring concepts or by exploring new related concepts that were not previously investigated. You will need to review a minimum of 14 peer-reviewed journal articles. As with the previous paper, all papers must be submitted in Microsoft word format (either .doc or .docx).
Additionally, this paper will only be graded if corrections for the first paper (the literature review) have been submitted. Any student that has not submitted literature review corrections will not receive a grade for this paper.