Strategic Plan II



Strategic Plan II

Introduction

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is a global American retail giant, which dominates a large part of the U.S. market. Walmart is in the list of Fortune Global 500 listed at number three of the largest companies in the world. Walmart employs more than two million people worldwide, making it the largest private employer in the world. The turnover of Walmart in fiscal year 2011 was U.S. $ 446.9 billion. The profit was 15.6 billion U.S. dollars. Major competitors of Walmart are Carrefour and Tesco (www.sec.gov). The Group generates its money by charging very low prices at low profit margins, but the throw by the huge sales and over other chains, significantly lower wages still profit. It is also crucial that Walmart has almost no stock of goods - a sophisticated logistics system ensures that the products are delivered directly to distribution centers from the truck and not have to be stored (just-in-time production). Walmart's logistics center comprises a database 35 times as large as that from amazon.com is.

Discussion

Strategy

Walmart has been pursuing a number of strategies that WalMart has always applied to the organization. Most of the time, the strategies applied became successful. This section will look into the strategies applied by WalMart.

Cost Leadership Strategy

When a customer walks into WalMart, the first thing that he notices there is that prices that are offered by WalMart are much lower than the ones that are offered by any other stores in the industry. The reasons of such low prices are the efficient management of the supply chain of the company and the efficient management of distribution and operations strategies (www.sec.gov).

Efficiency in Supply Chain Management

One of the most prominent features that WalMart has is the efficiency with which the supply chain of the company is managed. The company has always applied the most efficient systems of the management of supply chain across the organization. Most of the items, as well as, their data can be racked back to the producers, the suppliers, the warehouse, as well as, the store shelves. Millions of dollars are saved by the company in through this successful management of the supply chain of the company. A lot of money is also saved because of the fact that the losses from the faulty product management are also saved because of this management.

Efficiency in Distribution and Operations Strategies

Efficiency in the operation, as well as, the distribution strategies of the company has helped WalMart in lowering the prices much more than the industry average (www.nytimes.com). The stores of WalMart are opened outside the large cities within the vicinity of 200 miles of the stores that already exist. This helps in bunching of the stores in close vicinities that help in the operation, as well as, distribution management in a much better way. There also are four different retail options that are available to the customers of the company. These options include supercenters, discount stores, neighborhood markets and the Sam's club. All of these are targeted at ...