Walmart's_History_and_Strategy

Veronica Manigo Business 692 Selection of a Firm Professor James Ziegler July 9, 2012 Abstract Several factors contribute to the success of a firm or organization. In hopes of continued survival and success, you must take into consideration effective leadership, effective and satisfied workers, and doing what is necessary to support the needs and desires of consumers. You must maintain management personnel who possess the knowledge and skill necessary to perform required duties, and develop a business strategy that will be highly beneficial to the company. In constant creation and modification of personnel and strategies that will recognize the importance of employees and consumers, organizations can ensure that their company will thrive and see financial growth and development. Selection of a Firm Walmart, founded in 1962 by Sam Walton, is a highly competitive and equally successful organization within and beyond national borders. Five years after its founding, Walmart expanded to 24 stores in Arkansas. Within six years, Walmart opened its first stores outside of Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma. Since then, Walmart has continued to grow and implement new ideas that have helped to garner its success. Walmart, which is a retail corporation, offers a wide segment of products and services, including the following: clothes and jewelry; electronics; toys; groceries; health/beauty products; pharmaceuticals; books/cards; school/office supplies; home/cleaning goods and supplies; gardening equipment; and car repair services. Walmart’s unique and innovative practices have resulted in the corporation being listed as the 18th largest public corporation and the largest public corporation when ranked by revenue (Walmart Stores, Inc., 2011). After a brief account of significant management personnel and their responsibilities, the corporation’s unique and clever business strategy, with specific focus in the area of human resource management, it can be concluded that Walmart’s persistent dedication to developing and modifying its human management practices in conjunction with a devotion to its customers has led to their continued survival and success. Significant Management Personnel The management personnel, recognized by Walmart as the Executive Committee, consists of three members: Michael Duke, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Walmart Stores, Inc.; Christopher J. Williams, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Williams Capital Group and Management; and S. Robson Walton, who also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors. With these positions comes the heavy task of assuming a portion of the power, authority, duties and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, as they must exercise business practices and strategies that they believe will be in the best interest of the company. Additionally, they establish the priorities of the company and manage day-to-day practices and operations, and assist the Board of Directors in the strategic planning process, executive development, and succession planning. All information regarding the practices of the company, they are obliged to report to the Board. The Executive Committee’s knowledge and skills have helped to create and adjust the business strategy of the organization, which has ultimately led to its growth and financial triumph. Business Strategy Walmart’s business strategy includes lower prices, technological advances, and expansion and growth. To gain more shoppers, Walmart offers products/services to a practical market segment or buyer group, while implementing unique and innovative techniques as they offer the same or better quality products and services at a price that is less than that of their competitors (Loria, 2008). Walmart aims to cater to the financial needs of its customers, as they keep prices low and cut their supplier’s prices, so that customers who cannot afford or do not wish to pay for particularly expensive items and repairs, can comfortably shop for and consume common necessities. Additionally, in order to attract a diverse pool of customers, Walmart’s strategy also consists of branching into new segments of retail. They sell a variety of products and offer numerous services in order to support the many different needs of the people. Keeping record of the products in an effective manner has also played a role in their success. Walmart forced the retail industry to establish the universal bar code, which forced manufactures to resort to common labeling (Wilbert, 2006). Walmart, who was great at exploiting the information behind the bar code, has since become a pioneer in developing technological techniques for tracking inventory. Recently, they were the first retailer to require manufacturers to utilize radio frequency identification (RFID), which transmits data stored on small tags attached to individual products, and holds more data than a bar code (Wilbert, 2006). This resulted in a 16 percent drop in out-of-stock merchandise at stores equipped with the radio frequency identification technology (Wilbert, 2006). In addition to maintaining lower prices and implementing new technological ideas, Walmart has been persistent in expanding the organization internationally. As of now, Walmart has successful stores in United Kingdom, China, India, and Mexico, and is working to improve their organizations in Germany (Daniel, 2010). Because Walmart recognizes success in maintaining technological advancement, exercising expansion, and constant dedication to consumers, Walmart has had great financial success in comparison to other large retail organizations, and additionally has garnered the respect and admiration of several other corporations. But, what also distinguishes Walmart from other retailers is its move to include human resource management in its overall strategy for constant victories within the retail business. Human Resource Management Practices/Techniques Walmart continuously searches for new and innovative ways to satisfy their current employees and attract new ones to compensate for their plans of expansion. A few of Walmart’s successful human resource practices include employee recruitment, employee advancement, employee training and development, and benefits. The corporation has taken great efforts to attract a diverse group of employees, and their strategy to recruit from college universities has been quite successful. Walmart takes into account historically black colleges and minority Greek organizations, in order to gain a wide demographic for their workforce. This has led many different people from many different backgrounds to seek employment with Walmart, because they felt an openness and acceptance within the working environment. Not to mention, there is a great chance of advancement to a higher position with more benefits. Walmart works to ensure that employees who are at the bottom are provided with the opportunity to progress within the business. Most of Walmart’s current managers consist of those who merely began as cashiers, and were ultimately promoted to more qualified positions. And, the training and development implemented ensured that workers can adequately perform in their area of work has helped to instill the knowledge, skill, and confidence needed to perform the job. The enforcement of routine training has attracted many prospective employees because they are aware that they will be provided with the necessary information, to successfully perform the duties and responsibilities required of them. These employees, most of who come from a lower class background, are thankful for the benefits that are offered. As much as sixty percent have stated that they stay with Wal-Mart because the benefits that are provided, allow for them to better support their families (Carlson, 2004). Their human resource management practices have led to Walmart become the biggest private employer in the world, as they have over two million employees (Walmart Stores, Inc., 2011). Walmart recognizes that the people are heavily accountable for the success of an organization, and in satisfying their needs, they can successfully perform the duties to keep the company effectively and efficiently operating. Conclusion Walmart, which began as a mere mom-and-pop store, has gone on to become a multi-billion dollar corporation. By taking into account the desires of the customers, the desires of the employees, maintaining strong and effective management personnel, and creating and continuously modifying their business strategy, Walmart has continued to grow and attain success in areas besides finance, including admiration and high employment. Unlike many other organizations, Walmart values the needs of its consumers and employees, as they do what is necessary to ensure that they are all comfortable, and also does what is necessary to attract more customers and workers. They cater to the basic needs of the needy, as many of their workers and consumers are impoverished. They maintain low prices, and their wages and benefits have allowed for their employees to support themselves and their families, which is an opportunity that most would be grateful for. Their diverse workforce shows that they are open and accepting to all who wish to work and those who desire to shop. Furthermore, their efforts to train workers has led to them developing the confidence and skill necessary to complete the job. With the many practices implemented in the area of human resource and the strategies developed to attract more customers, it is quite evident that Walmart’s success rate can be credited to its unrelenting devotion to searching for, developing, and altering new and effective techniques in human resource management and customer service and satisfaction. References Walmart Corporation and Financial Facts (2011). Walmart Stores, Inc. Retrieved from www.walmartstores.com History (2012). Walmart Stores, Inc. Retrieved from www.walmartstores.com Senior Management (2012). Walmart Stores, Inc. Retrieved from http://investors.walmartstores.com Corporate Governance (2012). Walmart Stores, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.walmartstores.com Daniel F. (2010) Head of Walmart Tells WFU Audience of Plans for Growth over Next 20 Years. Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved from www.journalnow.com/news Carlson, S. (2004). Walmart Case Study. Rare Thoughts. Retrieved from www.rarethoughts.com