Running head: Dollar General 1 Dollar General Columbia College RUNNING HEAD: Dollar General 2 Dollar General Dollar General is the leader when it comes to discount dollar stores with an annual profit of more than $12.73 billion a year. The major competition in the dollar discount stores for Dollar General in order are Family Dollar and the Dollar Tree. Another key player in discount stores is Walmart, although not a dollar discount store Walmart dominates all markets with $419.24 billion in revenue. 2011 brought on a year of expansion for Dollar General with plans to open up 650 new stores and remodel another 550 creating 6.000 new jobs in additional employees. Dollar General in owned by Koldberg Kravis Roberts & Co. L.P (KKR) who own more than 79% of all shares in Dollar General.
Wal-Mart like to portray itself as a seller of American products however the main problem is that it outsources all of its work and is full of shelves with items mad in foreign countries, mainly China. As a result many American manufactures are going out of business. I believe that Wal-Mart has many negatives such as not treating it employees fairly and should be required to sell a certain amount of American products. The first criticism of Wal-Mart is the way it treats it employees. Yes, Wal-Mart provides many uneducated Americans with job however it isn’t a job from which can make livable wage.
* Market share today: Out of 2,000 big companies Wal-Mart is at 17 with 201.36 billion in market value and in its industry of retail, Wal-Mart is ranked #1 with Home Depot and Target behind. * Profitability of the company compared to the past: Last year Wal-Mart closed with their net sales at $344.992 billion and as Wal-Mart finishes their third quarter their net sales is at $269.8 billion, this is a positive for them and an 8.6% increase on sales. B. Strategic Posture 1. Mission * The company’s current mission objective is to give their customers what they want.
Unionization of Wal-Mart in China Even though A Wal-Mart union will alleviate employer-employee debates and attract a more pleasurable option for new employees, Wal-Mart has not been unionized in the United States for very valid reasons. Unionization of Wal-Mart in the United States will raise retail prices due to financial demands placed on the company by its employees. Non-unionizing of Wal-Mart in the United States has created an extremely successful organization thus far. For millennia, the Chinese have had a high self-esteem and pride in their society and history. Appropriately, the name of their ancient country translates as “the middle kingdom,” (dictionary.com) or center of the world.
Questions for Wal-Mart Case Study 1) What specific challenges does Wal-Mart face with its distribution center and store placement? Operating in China posed several challenges to Wal-mart which were mainly due to inefficiencies of their supply chain and country infrastructure. Some of which have been identified as the following: * Lower than expected fill-rates (order completeness) from some products supplied to the DSD (direct store delivery). In contrast with U.S. only 40% of Wal-Mart China’s sales were supplied via its distribution centers. Fresh products such as bread, fish, vegetables and fruits along with some electronic goods and high-value items were sent directly to the supercenters.
WALMART NEGOTIATION The case talks about the negotiation process between Walmart, Kentucky Derby Hosiery (KDH) and Little Ones Products (LOP). KDH has supplied Little Ones –branded infant sox under an exclusive agreement to Walmart for six years. These sales were of major importance to KDH as it accounted for 20% of its total annual revenues and their margins were also double compared to other sox and hosiery. After six years of supplying the product, the top level of Walmart decided that they don’t want the brand anymore and the initial reason they gave for the same was the overall brand policy, competitive factors and other considerations even after taking care of all the conditions laid down by Walmart. This issue was of major concern for Bill Nichol (CEO of KDH) as they had a large amount of capital invested in LOP brand to satisfy Walmart’s high volume and quality.
Long Cycle Process 1. Determine the facts: a. Wal-Mart (WM) consistently appeared on Fortune’s list of the 100 best companies to work for in the U.S. b. WM was ranked 94 in 2002. c. Several lawsuits against WM alleging gender discrimination while published practices indicated fair practices. d. WM was the world’s largest employer and largest company in 2002. e. Non-unionized company working incessantly to fend off organizing attempts in the U.S. and around the world. f. Employees at WM increased by 50% since 1996 and reaching a total of 930,000 employees by 2001 in domestic U.S. stores. g. From 1996 to 2001, percentage of women working at WM decreased from 67 to 64%.
Wal-Mart operates more than 7,000 stores. (Wal-Mart Corporate Website) The corporate strategy of Wal-Mart is to sell everything people need at low price. As founder Sam Watson said, goal of Wal-Mart is to save people money so that they can live better. This is the focus that underlies everything Wal-Mart does. (Wal-Mart Corporate Website) Huge turnover, large customer base and returning customers show that Wal-Mart has been able to achieve this goal in its 50 years of existence.
MATTEL: CRISIS MANAGEMENT or MANAGEMENT CRISIS Introduction In late 2006 and early 2007 a number of imports from China were found to pose health risks. In the most serious case the deaths of 200 people in Haiti and Panama were linked to syrup from China containing the chemical diethylene glycol used in antifreeze, British Airways withdrew Chinese toothpaste from its in-flight pouches for the same reason. Large quantities of imported dog food were found to contain the chemical melamine, resulting in death and injury to as many as 4,000 pets. An investigation by the Chinese government found that two suppliers had intentionally used melamine to save money and increase the protein content. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the importation of certain seafoods from China because of contamination.
This unfortunate choice of Toyota’s incurred a huge cost among taxpayers, whose tax dollars would be utilized to provide $2.3 billion to replace the thousands of lost jobs. “What was the reason behind NUMMI’s closure?” one may ask. Certainly it was not due to slow-selling products, financial troubles, or a deteriorating factory, for Toyota’s Corolla was the second best-selling car in the United States in 2009, and Toyota is the wealthiest automaker in the world. Toyota’s argument was that NUMMI was no longer feasible without General Motors as a partner, but the 15% of production formerly produced by GM could easily be compensated by an increase in production from NUMMI. For a plant that exuded solidarity and had the potential to revolutionize the way cars are created in this country, the closure of NUMMI was more than a mere shock.