After reading the articles provided on both corporations, Wal-Mart and Target, I don't think my prospective on either has changed. I personally have not had as much association with Target, because the closest one to my hometown is over two hours away. Wal-Mart on the other hand is like a staple store in my life. Counting the hours and dollars I have spent there in the past four years would be almost impossible. I will address the individual business and the questions in focus in the following paragraphs.
To begin, since I am more familiar with it, I will start with Wal-mart. Before reading the information, my impression of this firm was great. To me Wal-Mart is a savior. Whether I need school supplies, shampoo or underwear, Wal-Mart is the easiest and quickest way to purchase them. After reading the information, it says that Wal-Mart pressures companies to sell at such a low rate, but to me that's business. Wal-mart does what they need to do to stay on the top. If I were the owner of the number one company, I would do whatever was possible to stay there, some argue that they overtake small businesses; I agree, but a successful business does what they have to.
Not much surprised me when reading about Wal-mart. Being the biggest company, most of the information in the articles is very talked about and made available everywhere. One article mentioned that Wal-mart was sued 6,000 times in 2002, this number does seem quite surprising, but they are mostly in the lines of discrimination and areas that our brought to immediate attention on the news. I try to stay on top of the news, so I have followed a couple of the cases.
I think that the primary area I would like to know more about regarding Wal-Mart is the good things ...
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... and an article I found said that eBay's investors voted to increase the number of stock options granted to the company's employees. This stock option, paired with others gives eBay employees incentive to work their hardest and do their best for competitive pay. eBay has the ability to give such competitive pay because of their great success. Although eBay only has 5,700 employees on its payroll, the sellers and buyers give eBay the power to keep the business profitable.
Comparatively, all three businesses I have discussed (Wal-Mart, Target and eBay) are all successful businesses because of their competitive prices and convenience. All three have positive and negative sides, but continue to be well known and powerful companies. The three businesses have different definitions of success for themselves, and fight to stay true to their definition and customer alike.
I don't see Wal-Mart as a huge retailer trying to take over the world with cheap prices. I see Wal-Mart as business that has played their cards the way they were dealt. Our economy is poor right now; banks are hurting because people a...
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).
Wal-Mart as we know it today evolved from Sam Walton’s goals for great value and great customer service. Mr. Walton’s competitors thought his idea that a successful business could be built around offering lower prices and great service would never work. Mr. Walton also credited the rapid growth of Wal-Mart not just to the low costs that attracted his customers, but also to his associates. He relied on them to give customers the great shopping experience that would keep them coming back. Sam shared his vision for the company with associates in a way that was nearly unheard of in the industry. He made them partners in the success of the company, and firmly believed that this partnership was what made Walmart great.
The first area to be observed is the products that Wal-Mart sells compared to Target. Wal-Mart offers products in the areas of: Apparel, Baby, Books, Electronics, Garden and patio, Gifts and Flowers, Home, Jewelry, Pets, Sports, Toys, Video Games, Automotive, as well as groceries, and cleaning supplies.
The good Wal-Mart Seglin describes as thrifty, industrious and offer fair deals. They serve society and due to their exceptional distribution system, pass along gains to everyone. The company employs insightful managers who "democratize the American dream". The company spurs productivity and helps fight inflation. The good one is "Americas most admired company" (Seglin, 2004).
Wal-Mart has branded stores in all 50 states and in over 27 countries. Wal-Mart started with humble roots in 1962 by Sam Walton in the small town of Bentonville, Arkansas. Within thirty years, the small local discount retailer grew to one of the largest retail companies in the United States of America. Now it stands as the largest retailer in the world. As the largest retailer, Wal-Mart has gained many detractors. In "The Case for Wal-Mart," Karen De Coster and Brad Edmonds recognize how people “like to attack bigness” (632). Many believe Wal-Mart offers low wage jobs with few employee benefits, discriminates against women, and among many other issues, doesn’t give back to the community (631). In contrast to the constant barrage negative attacks, Wal-Mart proves beneficial to the community. Wal-Mart prides itself on being an equal opportunity employer to such a degree it has the most diverse group of employees anyone can imagine. Most Wal-Mart stores are the anchor that provides a steady stream of consumers to other much small businesses in the area. Beyond providing quality jobs for the people in and around the store, Wal-Mart brings convenience, lower prices, and help to those in need.
Today Wal-mart has a higher GDP than the entire country of Switzerland, but don’t worry they’re pretty neutral about it. But there has also been news about how they treat there employees. In 2004 an article was released entitled Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart, and soon after Washington got involved. The bad publicity took a toll on Wal-mart and in fact is still today, Maryland passed a law in January, 2006, that said larger employers, such as Wal-mart, must spend at least 8% of their payroll on health benefits for their employees, and now many other states have followed suit. The bad publicity also made it so 8% of customers shop elsewhere because of what they’ve heard, this has caused lower expected sales around the holidays during 2004, and 2005. Some things they’ve done is in 2006 they paid employees on average 9.36 dollars, while other major retailers like Target and Sears pay on average 11.08 dollars. While this can be easily denied by Wal-mart, another way they have gained bad publicity is from something called off-the-clock work. If they had not finished their job they had to clock out and then still finish their job, meaning they wouldn’t get paid for
During the last 20 years, Wal-Mart has moved into many areas wiping out all the stores around causing people to loose jobs, slashing the tax base and causing many more disturbing problems to neighborhoods so people should stop supporting Wal-Mart for many of these reasons. Always low prices, does this sound familiar? Well this would be the slogan of the world’s most controlling company; Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart grew over the years into a 256 billion dollar company after making its name across the world in 1915. The major problem with Wal-Mart is that it maintains its own mini-economy. Some people believe Wal-Mart supports the American economy while most others hold that Wal-Mart’s global outsourcing will and has damaged the economy over time. When comparing these two opposite points, Wal-Mart has and is continuing to be more destructive than constructive to our economy. It has left employees with little to even no healthcare at all, destroyed more jobs then it has even created and it has also dishonored our environment. The second most common job, cashiers, are suppose to earn just about $7.92 per hour and work 29 hours a week which was said in a 2003 analysis. This only brings in yearly wages of only $11,948 (Wal-Mart Wages and Worker Rights 1). It is incredible that their employees can support themselves with making such low wages."With its low price focus, Wal-Mart may appear to help the U.S. economy. But, the reality is that with its poor wages and benefits, massive China sourcing and tax avoidance, Wal-Mart makes its workers and the communities where it operates poorer."-David Nassar.
Our decision is to invest in Wal-Mart. The choice for Wal-Mart is on the basis that their functional-level strategy is really robust, nevertheless of the fact that they do not treat their employees well. The fact remains that they are financially stronger, have a better business-level strategy, and have a corporate-level strategy than Costco. Costco v. Wal-Mart: What must we learn about them? Let start with Costco. Costco is Wholesale, Retail Corporation which operates an international chain of membership distribution centers that provides quality, brand name merchandise at noticeably more affordable rates than a conventional wholesale or retail sources. Costco 's warehouses display the largest and great product categories such as groceries, candy, appliances, television and media, automotive supplies, tires, toys, hardware, sporting goods, jewelry, watches, cameras, books, house wares, apparel, health and beauty aids, tobacco, furniture, office supplies and office
Wal-Mart, the multi-billion dollar corporation and the second largest employer in the world, is the most controversial corporation in the world. Wal-Mart stands as a global powerhouse and affects countless individuals around the world. This company is constantly receiving criticism from unions, human rights groups, small towns and small businesses. There are accusations of Wal-Mart treating workers poorly and driving small businesses out of business. However these accusations are false and over exaggerated. Wal-Mart offers families and low income individuals quality products at affordable prices. Their workers are paid competitive wages and are treated with respect. Wal-Mart opens their stores in rural and under developed areas. Wal-Mart improves the lives of the folks who live rural area and improves their lifestyles.
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.
Wal-Mart has two brands of stores, the regular Wal-Mart and the Super Wal-Mart. The difference being that the Super Wal-Mart has a grocery store inside as well as all the other products. Products offered by Wal-Mart vary from automotive needs to Compacts Discs and DVD's. Family's can get households goods for kitchens, bedrooms, or patios. Wal-Mart's offer products for every household need like vacuums, mops, and brooms. Wal-Mart is an example of a one-stop shop; parents can get clothes for the kids or for adults.
The purpose of this presentation is to provide a comparative analysis of business activities of two well-known representatives of the US retail industry, Target and Walmart. My research is focused on a business strategy of these largest and most experienced American merchandising companies; particularly, on their activities in Canada. Based on the data collected from the various sources, I would like to detect, analyze, and demonstrate the obvious causes that have lead to a catastrophic failure of Target in its unsuccessful attempt to win a Canadian market.
Wal-Mart and Target are two similar global corporations. If one asks each of these store’s customers why they shop there, somewhere in their answer one will find them saying that they can find everything. The difference between these two corporations is their mission, marketing, and quality. Each of these stores are looking to offer a different experience despite selling similar goods. So, when profits are not changing in the United States, they’ve opted for an expansion into other countries. They have opened stores and provided services outside of the United States.
Walmart seems to be all over the news due to one of these reasons yet it still remains one of the top corporations in America today.