walmart SWOT
Wal-Mart: SWOT Tables and Synopsis
External Forces
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Trends
Legal and Regulatory
Extensive legal resources
Frequent violations of labor, environmental law
To become a leader in improving global labor law
Sweeping reform in global trade regulations
Unfettered labor and environmental practices in developing sphere
Global
Cheap outsourced production
Poor retail penetration outside base 14 countries
To penetrate growing markets like China and India
Creation of global wage standard
Continued deregulation in developing sphere
Economic
Largest retail firm in the world
Highly dependent on U.S. consumer habits
To penetrate growing markets like China and India
Continued decline of consumer confidence in U.S.
Penetration of emergent global markets
Technological
Intuitive IT systems
Outmoded sweatshop production facilities
Use IT systems to improve employee experience
Inefficiencies vis-a-vis production
Technological strategies for improved factor sustainability
Innovation
Maintenance of its own truck fleet
Cost of fuel
Improvements in transportation energy efficiency
Continuing fuel scarcity
Sustainable transport technologies
Social
Considerable resources for community involvement
Poor record on supporting community economic vitality
Enter into partnership instead of competition with area businesses
Disrepute
Continued devastation of local businesses, main streets and neighborhoods
Environmental
Improving sustainability in mega-store locations
Use of outsourced labor in low-regulation contexts
To become a leader in improving global environmental law
Sweeping reform in global environmental restrictions
Continued exploitation of nations without strong environmental laws
Competitive Analysis
Top retail company in the world
Limited success in European markets
To penetrate numerous untapped global markets
Continually targeted by smaller competitors
Sustained in its primacy by its difficult-to-beat price points
Internal Forces
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
Trends
Strategy
Lowest retail prices
Often associated with lower retail quality
To venture into higher quality brand ownership
Disruption of pricing strategy by global labor law strengthening
Continued appeal of low prices in the face of U.S. economic struggles
Structures
Processes and Systems
Highly streamlined IT/stock/inventory system
Limited success with web presence
To considerably improve appeal of web shopping
Eventual lag behind companies with better online presence
Heightened interest in balancing brick-and-mortar with online presence
Resources
Unlimited financial resources
Deficient attention dedicated to HR
Improved employee compensation with available resources
Damage by constant turnover
Investment of resources in improvement of personnel orientation
Goals
High profit margins
Overlooks myriad ethical considerations
To improve ethical orientation while still finding ways to keep prices low
Reputation issues
Continued success making inroads with those of modest financial means
Strategic Capabilities
Ability to maintain lowest prices
Low prices come at the expense of quality, reputation and ethics
To proliferate its low-pricing model in emergent international markets
The imposition of legal conditions altering Wal-Mart's current freedoms.
Maintained public interest in bargain prices
Culture
Culture of 'ruthless efficiency.'
Low morale at many levels of the company
To dramatically alter the orientation of personnel toward amoral pursuit of profit
Internal turmoil due to low morale
Profitability in spite of high turnover and low internal advancement
Intellectual Property
Highly visible set of brands and logos
Brand name often associated with poor ethical practice
To acquire reputable names such as ASDA supermarkets in the U.K.
The continued tarnishing of the Wal-Mart brand image
Obscuring Wal-Mart's association to more reputable subsidiary acquisitions
Leadership
Highly centralized corporate orientation
Largely inflexible within individual markets
To diversify practices depending upon the needs of a specific market
A failure to establish well-seated leadership in emergent international markets
The demand to create culturally perceptive leadership core in new international markets of operation.
Synopsis:
Considering the SWOT Tables constructed above, it is clear that while Wal-Mart remains a powerful corporate entity, it is not without its array of challenges. It is thus that we consider a number of the forces described above with a bit more scrutiny. Here, we consider the economic dimension first. Today, as the article by Carvin (2011) indicates,…
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