Before analyzing Wal-Mart's corporate strategy, it is important to decide what business it is in. For example, if Wal-Mart is in the business of selling consumer goods such as TV's, sheets, clothes, etc then it is pursuing a concentric strategy by entering the food business. However, this changes depending on how you analyze what business Wal-Mart is in. Wal-Mart is in the business of selling everything customers need in their everyday lives. This includes the consumer goods listed above as well as food-service items. Even still, Wal-Mart pursues multiple strategies. Concerning concentration, Wal-Mart continually finds more consumer goods to sell at its stores which can take money from competitors. Additionally, when Wal-Mart entered into the food market, it quickly consolidated and held to good, saleable products. Wal-Mart never forays too far into a market and only sells what will make it a profit.
Lastly, an argument can be made that Wal-Mart is also pursuing a vertical integration strategy. Wal-Mart has developed its own name brand to sell products called Sam's Choice. This puts Wal-Mart into the business of making things like soda, cereal, and dog food. While they still don't grow their own crops or raise their own livestock, it is still a form of vertical integration. Also, Wal-Mart works heavily with its suppliers. This symbiotic relationship can be see as vertical integration due to the level at which Wal-Mart analyzes its suppliers and improves their manufacturing processes, etc.
Wal-Mart definitely has the business strategy of Low Cost Leadership. They do nothing to really differentiate themselves from competitors and provide no-frills self-service stores that always provide the lowest prices. Wal-Mart has built enough clout with suppliers that they can dictate the prices and go in and change suppliers manufacturing processes in order to wring out more and more savings for the consumer. Everything that Wal-Mart does from calling suppliers collect to having execs double up in hotel rooms, is to save the customer money. While they do try to provide good customer service on top of low prices, Wal-Mart's strength is low-prices. No one has such a supplier and distribution network like Wal-Mart that allows such low prices.
One aspect of Wal-Mart that sets them apart from other corporations is how they manage their relationship with their suppliers.
Wal-Mart follows the everyday low prices “EDLP” strategy, which proved to be one of the most successful pricing strategies. Wal-Mart achieves that through an efficient supply chain management that tracks all goods from manufacturers to suppliers to end customers. LU, C. (2014)
Wal-Mart represents the sickness of capitalism at its almost fully evolved state. As Jim Hightower said, "Why single out Wal-Mart? Because it's a hog. Despite the homespun image it cultivates in its ads, it operates with an arrogance and avarice that would make Enron blush and John D. Rockefeller envious. It's the world's biggest retail corporation and America's largest private employer; Sam Robson Walton, a member of the ruling family, is one of the richest people on earth. Wal-Mart and the Waltons got to the top the old-fashioned way: by roughing people up. Their low, low prices are the product of two ruthless commandments: Extract the last penny possible from human toil and squeeze the last dime from its thousands of suppliers, who are left with no profit margin unless they adopt the Wal-Mart model of using nonunion labor and shipping production to low-wage hellholes abroad." (The Nation, March 4th 2002 www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=hightower).
The success of Wal-Mart is so great, that many people believe that Wal-Mart is becoming a monopsony . Suppliers are forced to deal with Wal-Mart because of the large percentage of sales at Wal-Mart cash registers. As such, Wal-Mart also has the ability to dictate prices of the goods it receives from the suppliers. Every day, more and more retail stores close their doors for good because Wal-Mart controls such a huge margin of the retail sector.
Wal-Mart has faced several accusations of, "predatory pricing", or intentionally selling a product below cost in order to drive some or all competitors out of the market.
Since 1962 and the beginning of the discount retailer market Wal-Mart has been ahead of the retail game. By 1967 there were 24 Wal-Marts that had grossed 12.6 million dollars. In just 7 years Wal-mart had spread into 9 states. By 1979 Wal-Mart was the fastest store to reach a billion dollars in sales. In 2005 Wal-Mart has 3,800 domestic stores along with 3,800 stores internationally, and had made over 312 billion dollars. As you can see the Wal-Mart empire has grown monumentally. To move into this segment of the market would be tough.
Walmart has one of the lowest prices of goods and products in the retail business. Jeffrey Garten a dean at Yale says, “The essence of Wal-Mart is it is propelled by one thing: offering products at the lowest possible price” (24). While having, low prices is good Walmart is taking its toll on their employees. Having such low prices forces Walmart to pay their employees so little. A point made to Garten was “Walmart
Walmart can give businesses success over night if they comply with all Walmart’s requests. Walmart does not care what the suppliers say or want, suppliers can only follow the Walmart rules. While they can also drop companies in seconds which have a huge impact on businesses. Rubbermaid can serve as an example of how much Walmart have control over their suppliers. The Rubbermaid company was almost put out of business because their prices were too high for walmart. Walmart does not endorse the economy, but instead they only care about whatever they can make the most profits with.
Wal-Mart’s competitive environment is quite unique. Although Wal-Mart’s primary competition comes from general merchandise retailers, warehouse clubs and supermarket retailers also present competitive pressure. The discount retail industry is substantial in size and is constantly experiencing growth and change. The top competitors compete both nationally and internationally. There is extensive competition on pricing, location, store size, layout and environment, merchandise mix, technology and innovation, and overall image. The market is definitely characterized by economies of scale. Top retailers vertically integrate many functions, such as purchasing, manufacturing, advertising, and shipping. Large scale functions such as these give the top competitors a significant cost advantage over small-scale competition.
In the 1960s through the 1970s, companies realized strong engineering, design, and manufacturing functions were strong market strategy keys to create and capture customer loyalty. As the demand for new products rose in the 1980s, these market requirements were to increase their flexibility and responsiveness to adapt existing products and processes or to develop new ones in order to meet customer needs. As manufacturing improved in the 1990s, managers began noticing material and service inputs involving suppliers and their major impact on an organization’s ability to meet customer needs. As a result of these changes, organizations now find that it difficult to manage their own organizations. First, they must be involved in the management of their network of all upstream firms that provide directly or indirectly, as well as the network of downstream firms, which are responsible for delivery and market service of the product to the end customer. In order to succeed, managers have to realize that they cannot do it alone and they must work together on a daily basis with the whole organizations in their supply chains. Because supply chain management involves all functions within an organization, managers need to know what a supply chain is, why it is important, and the impact of supply chain management on the success and profitability of their organization. Today, Wal-Mart topped the list of the America’s biggest companies on the Fortune 500 list, “with sales of almost $345 billion — more than a quarter of a trillion dollars” (Forbs). Wal-Mart’s supply chain management is becoming recognized as a core competitive strategy.
By keeping their prices low, Walmart can easily pass that savings on to their customers and in return, their buyers are able to have a higher income and can spend their money on more products, preferably Walmart’s.
Wal-Mart follows a lower cost competitive strategy and cost leadership. For Wal-Mart, strategic thinking is the process of continuously redefining its objectives. Competitive advantage over its competitors both actual and potential and management of risk to levels regarded as acceptable by the corporation’s main stakeholders.
In comparison with Apple, Walmart uses a very expansive network of vendors to source all their types of different items. Apple’s key components are typically sourced from a single manufacturer and used across their whole product line. Apple’s devices are available only in a limited number of configurations, allowing the component sourcing to be managed and streamlined. Walmart’s vendor network supplies thousands of different products, making the supply chain larger and vendors more diverse. Walmart’s main controls are placed around cost, and while Apple is also cognizant of cost, they also have the capital to pay to ensure they receive high quality cost and
Wal-Mart is known to beone of the best supply chain companies in the world. Throughout the years Wal-Mart has adapted strategies that keep up to their name. Unlike many retailers, Wal-Mart purchases goods directly from manufacturers, skipping a few steps of the supply chain cycle. Buyers use advanced negotiation skills to make sure they are receiving the best price on purchases. Wal-Mart also has their own trucks picking up from warehouses, reducing the price significantly on transportation. Long term relationships with vendors are extremely emphasized to understand prices and cost structure. These practices build Wal-Mart to its name and keeps low prices for retail customers all over the world. Supply Chain studies have shown that in 1998, Wal-Mart would fill up stock in 2 days compared to their competitors which would complete it in 5. Part of the reason Wal-Mart would replenish so
Wal-mart has a reputation for caring for its customers, of course their employees, and for the prospective public. So Wal-Mart can be an industrial leader for the world of shoppers with an eye for lower affordable prices, company decision makers would continue it's systematic strategies that it's founder and president established years ago. Sam Walton believed in three guiding principles in his strategy planning they were to provide the customer with good value and service, to have a good relationship with its associates, and to be involved with the community.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a renowned retail goods superstore that sits atop the Fortune list at number one. It would be very difficult to find an individual who is unaware of Walmart’s position as the largest brick-and-mortar retail chain in the world. The company has thrived over the past few years and is continuing to grow by effectively managing its store operations and distribution strategies. One of the major contributors to the business consistently meeting market expectations is directly attributable to their management approach. Walmart has revolutionized the way retail companies manage their supply chains in more ways than one. But, perhaps the most revolutionary was the practice of unprecedented coordination with suppliers (Chekwa,