Wal Mart Analysis
...of Sam Walton 3
Background of Wal-Mart 5
Management Philosophy 9
Use of Information Technology as a Competitive Weapon 10
Purchasing Power 12
Supply Chain and Inventory Management 14
Supply Chain and Distribution 14
Inventory Management 18
Expanded Operation in Groceries 21
Labor Unions and Wal-Mart 22
Role of the Largest Company and Employer on Planet Earth 23
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Analysis (SWOT) 24
STRENGTHS 25
Wal-Mart's broad inventory and customer base 25
The ability to customize to and meet any customer segment 25
Partnerships 26
Wal-Mart management and Corporate Culture 27
WEAKNESSES 28
OPPORTUNITES 29
Other potential growth opportunities 30
THREATS 30
References 32
Sources of Images 33
History of Sam Walton
Sam Walton was born on March 29, 1918 in Kingfish, Oklahoma. While growing up in Missouri, he was an active student of retailing. His first job was working for his father's store while he was attending school (Galiano, 2005). Later, Sam attended the University of Missouri and majored in Economics. During his senior year of college Sam was elected Senior Class President (Kennon, 2005).
After college, Sam started his career in the retailing business by running several Ben Franklin five-and-dime franchise stores in Arkansas. He learned some of his first lessons about buying, pricing, and passing good deals on to customers from Harry Weiner, a manufacturer's agent from New York. Sam learned "by cutting your price, you can boost sales to a point where you can earn far more at the cheaper retail than you would have by selling them at the higher price" (Wal-Mart Stores, 2005).
Sam was convinced that this new discount retailing concept was the wave of...
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