Wal-Mart was founded in 1962 by Arkansas and Sam Walton. It’s a public owned company of America and is headquartered in Bentonville. It’s a largest revenue earning stores chain of United States.
Strengths
• Biggest employer network in U.S, as no one can find a place in the United States from where there is no one employed in Wal-Mart.
• A number of products are offered under single roof in different states.
• Sale prices are offered through out the year, and attracts millions of customers though their users friendly Policies.
• The company is the biggest retailer throughout the world, though not names as Walmart but still operating in China, Japan and India.
• A very well established information technology system to see at a glance, the prices offered by the market worldwide (Stolberg, 2011).
• The different divisions of the company such as SAM’s club and Supercenters always attract a wide range and class of customers,
• Different programmers are always ongoing by the policy maker’s strategy for promoting the business and spreading it worldwide.
• Community involvement is always welcomed.
• Big covered area, average being 102,000 square feet is very attractive for customers. Store locations are very good for maximum sales.
• Benefits are provided to the full time employees, from time to time.
Weaknesses
• Information technology though very established one, but still lacks expertise in its crew.
• The company is more focused towards America and Europe, having very few stores in other continents.
• The mission statement of Walmart is not very well established.
• Limited memberships are being offered, and that too are for SAM’s Club only.
• The policies adopted are quite old and very few innovative steps are being taken.
• The company rather posing optimistic being the largest revenue company is still gender biased.
• To maintain the constant price, the products are bought in bulk, which can, in any way harm the company’s revenue, if any of the products is thrown out of the market (Byrnes & Eidam, 2004).
• Mostly part time employers are given jobs at relatively low wages, and incentives are provided only to the full time employers.
• Most of the companies are not in favor of Walmart as it adversely harms their business.
Opportunities
• A number of opportunities to spread world wide focusing more on China, Europe and emerging industries of India.
• New up to date strategies for large and efficient Super centers.
• Opportunities exist for Wal-Mart to continue with its current strategy of large, super centers.
• The growing internet shopping and decreasing dollar value is the best opportunity for the company’s growth.
• The sales can be increased by changing the market perception.
Threats
• Emerging competitors with innovations that are not adopted by Walmart.
• Political involvement especially in case of provision of those products that is not profitable.
• The constant price strategy is not very accurate for the products with increased manufacturing costs.
• The policies and old fashioned approach needs to be revived.
• Employees union that is usually seen inside the company may prove a threat to company’s survival. So company should not differentiate between full time and part time employers.
References
• Byrnes, Nanette; Eidam, Michael. (2004). "Toys ‘R’ Us: Beaten at Its Own Game." BusinessWeek.
• Official Website of Walmart. http://www.walmart.com /. Online retrieved on March 6, 2011.
• "The Wal-Mart Timeline." Wal-Mart (published on walmartfacts.com). Retrieved on March 6, 2011.
• Stolberg. S.G. (2011). "Wal-Mart Shifts Strategy to Promote Healthy Foods". The New York Times. Online retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/business/20walmart.html.