Woolworth vs. Wal-Mart
Woolworth's has a long relationship with Wal-Mart, and in recent years has attempted to compete with Wal-Mart as a low-cost provider by adopting of some Wal-Mart's supply chain efficiencies and pricing practices. This paper will analyze strategic decision-making at Woolworth's and compare it to that at Wal-Mart in order to gain an understanding of how each of these companies is run. There will also be a section in this paper about the nature of decision-making at each of these companies.
According to Michael Porter's typology, Wal-Mart is a cost leader and this drives virtually everything that the company does in terms of its operations (QuickMBA.com, 2010). The company supports its strategy by leveraging its buying power over suppliers and by using economies of scale to win efficiencies throughout its supply chain (Alagse, 2011). Woolworth's has in recent years begun to compete using that same strategy, after finding itself somewhere in the middle between being a differentiated provider and a cost leader. Greenhalgh (2007, 1) notes that Woolworth's has adopted the supply chain efficiency and intense negotiations to reduce the gross margin, both hallmarks of Wal-Mart's strategy. While Wal-Mart has long been an innovator in the field of cost reduction retail, Woolworth's in a relatively newcomer, mirroring the development of the retail business in Australia as well (Ibid).
Wal-Mart undertook its strategy as a means of growing its market. The BCG Matrix (NetMBA.com, 2010) allows for businesses to be compared in terms of their characteristics. Wal-Mart has always viewed its business as a star, characterized by high growth and high relative market share. Once Wal-Mart became a dominant player, it began...
Robson Walton - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Stephen P. Whaley - Senior Vice President and Controller Eric S. Zorn - Executive Vice President and President, Wal-Mart Realty III. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT: STRENGHTS and WEAKNESSES A. CORPORATE STRUCTURE Wal-Mart's retail division is formed from four major subsidiaries: Wal-Mart Discount Stores, Wal-Mart Supercenters, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Clubs. (Wal-Mart Facts, 2007) Wal-Mart Discount Stores more than 1,000 in U.S. alone average
Wal-Mart Inc. Wal-Mart is an American-based multinational discount store, currently operating more than 11,000 retail outlets in 27 different countries, and serving approximately 140 million customers weekly. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart grew from a small family-managed retailer in 1945 to the world's largest retailer, and was named the world's largest company by revenues in the 2014 Fortune 500 list. The company operates its retail stores in two forms: i) Sam's
Management Wal-Mart's challenges in the Global market Wal-Mart as the world's leading retailer has been spreading very fast extending its power across the world market. This began with the nine countries in South America, Asia, and Europe. This expansion is likely to extend even in the near future. As the company attempts at penetrating the hypermarket culture in different countries, it has encountered a battery of severe problems in the process of
purchasing and supply management issue of Woolworths Limited. Mainly, the paper will focus on how Woolworths performs their purchasing and supply system and the consequent issues in both its positive and negative aspect. In addition, the essay will also examine the relationships between cost, timeliness of information, goods and services that consequents as a result of their purchasing and supply activities. Woolworth Ltd. follows a centralized distribution model of supply
The use of RFID in this industry also has been more tactical and focused on the scanning and inventory management systems as opposed to automating an entire supply chain and creating auditabiluity and therefore increasing performance of the entire chain. This is one of the shortcomings of how the industry is shortchanging itself in terms of technology adoption. In addition, the majority of spending in this industry is going
Instead it has been heavily focusing on cost reduction and competitor's prices. It will probably learn the hard way what Kmart learnt when it started the same kind of price war with Wal-Mart and suffered immensely. As the result of that war, Kmart finally had to declare bankruptcy when Sears stepped in and took over Kmart operations. Woolworths somehow has failed to see this connection as yet. But it soon
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