They are encouraged to express their thoughts and ideas and to treat each other with dignity.
Service to their Customers -- customers are the reason that they are in business, so they believe that they should treat them that way. They offer quality merchandise at the lowest prices, and do it with the best customer service possible. They look for every opportunity where they can exceed their customers' expectations. They believed that this is when they are at their very best.
Striving for Excellence -- They are proud of their accomplishments but are never satisfied. They constantly reach further to bring new ideas and goals to life. They model themselves after Sam Walton, who was never satisfied until prices were as low as they could be. They believe that a product's quality is as high as customers deserve and expect (3 Basic Beliefs & Values, 2009).
Wal-Mart stocks items that are made in more than 70 countries. At any given time, the Arkansas-based retailer averages $32 billion in inventory. With those kinds of numbers, having an effective, efficient inventory control system, or inventory management system, is essential. Wal-Mart's system helps it maintain its signature everyday low prices by telling store managers which products are selling and which are taking up shelf and warehouse space unnecessarily (Crosby, 2009).
Inventory management systems are the key for big enterprises, but smaller businesses and vendors are beginning to use them, too. These systems ensure customers always have enough of what they want when they want it. The goal for a retailer's financial need is to maintain as little stock as possible. Mishandled inventory means disappointed customers, along with too much cash tied up in warehouses and slower sales. Factors such as quicker production cycles, a proliferation of products, multi-national production contracts and the nature of the big-box store make them a necessity (Crosby, 2009).
Modern inventory management systems must have the ability to track sales and available inventory, communicate with suppliers in near real-time and receive and incorporate other data into the mix. They also must be flexible, allowing for a merchant's intuition to change at any given time. They must be able to tell a storeowner when it's time to reorder and how much to purchase. In order to do this, inventory management systems pull together several technologies into one cohesive approach to benefit all (Crosby, 2009).
The systems work by bar codes or RFIDs telling scanners which items consumers are buying. The scanners then transmit the information to computers by reading the bar codes and sending that information to the software. The software then determines the numbers from the bar code and matches those numbers to the type of merchandise they represent. This allows a store to track their sales and inventory. This can be done either at the checkout counter or with a hand-held scanner. This keeps the store on top of which items are selling and which ones are not (Crosby, 2009).
This specialized software keeps track of how much stock is going out the door via purchases and how much still remains on the shelves and in the warehouse. This gives managers a real-time picture of what's happening. The software also analyzes the data and makes recommendations as to what needs re ordering. Sometimes, the software is programmed to automatically order when inventory gets to a certain level. These systems provide good information to support decisions but leave the final call up to managers (Crosby, 2009).
Once a manager makes a re-order decision, the system uses an electronic data interchange to communicate the order directly to the vendor. Electronic data interchange is the procedure of sending and receiving data between two parties. The data is stored in a computer's memory bank and read by managers at both ends of the communication, to ensure accuracy (Crosby, 2009).
An estimated 80% of American households report that they shop at Wal-mart at least once a year and 90% say that they plan to shop there in the future. Despite its success, Wal-Mart has suffered some recent setbacks. These have included voters in the city of Inglewood, California successfully blocking the first planned supercenter in L.A. County, a huge class-action gender discrimination lawsuit, along with recent coverage of employee mistreatment and violations of immigration law (Lake, Mermin, and Wiefek, n.d.).
Analysts are predicting that Wal-marts worldwide sales will grow from $285 billion to $500 billion by 2010. This will be because the discount chain will open more stores, introduce new formats, and move into foreign markets and non-retail business, like store banking. Currently Wal-Mart plans to have 3,131 Supercenters in place by 2010. They want to expand into the top markets and to build grocery-only neighborhood stores and freestanding apparel stores. If they accomplish all of this, in five years Wal-Mart's operations could represent 3.59% of the gross domestic product. All of this makes it profusely...
For Wal-Mart, cost is the sole determinant of their purchasing policy. In terms of production costs, other countries have a competitive advantage over the United States. China, for example, has a technology level almost equivalent to the United States, which enables it to produce reasonable-quality goods. Their advantage, however, lies in labor costs. The average Chinese worker makes $100 per month. American factories simply cannot compete with that in
16; Wilbert, 2006, p. 2) Strategic process, planning and decision making As confirmed by Lee Scot's words regarding the aggressive strategy followed by each Wal-Mart store (Mohideen, 2009, p. 9), even if general stream planning and decision making is still largely centralized, being undertaken at the Wal-Mart Headquarters in Arkansas (for elements such as type of products to be sold, stores to be opened or closed, financial results and objectives, etc.),
Wal Mart Over the last several years, Wal Mart has been a story that is focused on continuing successes and challenges. This is because the company was impacted by issues such as employee rights, costs and fierce competition. Yet, at the same time, they were able to experience continuing increases in their bottom line results. This is despite the fact that consumer spending has remained stagnant in the aftermath of the
The result of this is a company that consistent meets its objectives for cost reduction, growth and profits. Works Cited Faletta, Salvatore. (2005). Organizational Diagnostics Models: A Review & Synthesis. Leadersphere.com. Retrieved October 30, 2008 at http://www.leadersphere.com/img/Orgmodels.pdf Nadler, David; Tushman, Michael & Nadler, Mark B. (1997) Competing by Design: The Power of Organizational Architecture. pp. 28-39 Retrieved October 30, 2008 at http://books.google.com/books?id=pemtYXc1Y1gC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=nadler+tushman+congruence+model&source=web&ots=QI3cHfWVfu&sig=LO7-ujjwO6zj0ebfkBwQxDkBcBM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result Cawsey, Tupper F. & Deszca, Gene. (2007). Toolkit for Organizational Change.
Wal-Mart International Expansion International Expansion (Wal-Mart) Company Background Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the prime retailer in the world, the world's second-largest company after Exxonmobil and the nation's leading nongovernmental company. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in a variety of retailing layouts in all 50 states in the United States. The Company's selling operations and functions serve its customers mainly through the operation of three segments. The Wal-Mart Stores segments comprise its discount stores,
Employees and managers have also benefited from Wal-Mart's approach. In addition to job creation, Wal-Mart's wealth and might have allowed it to enrich the lives of its employees. For example, the company subscribes to the principles of respect for the individual, service to customers and striving for excellence, each of which allow employees to feel good about their jobs and lives. The company's suppliers for the most part are also
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