Research Paper Word Count: 1274 How successful can a company become before it is an economic danger for our country? That is the question a lot of Americans have begun to ask about the massive super store Wal-Mart. In a struggling American economy Wal-Mart thrives while smaller companies struggle and some even go bankrupt. There is always going to be companies that make it while others don’t, but when do American citizens need to step in and draw the line when one mega company like Wal-Mart becomes too powerful? With Wal-Mart using materials from other countries while its growing and expanding everyday it knocks out smaller businesses everywhere, which in turn hurts the economy and is literally a growing Monopoly in America, which we cannot
But consumers aren't helping their fellow countryman earn his own living by buying these imported items. Consumers are giving their hard-earned money to Walmart to go back to China to buy more items. (Smith & Young, 2004). Walmart has created new jobs for people when they open new stores, but they are underpaid jobs. Many of the positions are part-time, therefore, they are positions without benefits.
While diversity is built in the Wal-Mart culture of business the locals of South Korea did not agree with the taste or style of western merchandise proclaims David Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of Productive Environment Inc., (2004). According to David Schwartz proper research was not conducted in order to target a large population such as South Korea, therefore lack of culture would hinder the company of a successful launch in Asian countries such as Korea, China or Japan. Stakeholders The Sustainability Report of 2007 suggest social responsibility of the company is the ability
AEA in 2005 selected some qualified workers and then started the growth of the firm tremendously. Dough Hansel the new CFO, mark that there was no specific infrastructure for the company to support the manufacturing and controlling the policies and procedures. The company sells its product in the market at price of $4.50 at a wholesale price but actually, the retail price of the product must be $9. This created a sense of feeling in the minds of the consumer that the product does not meet the quality. The company researches show that 15% of the customers sold its product at a discount to consumers and 15% is sold at premium.
There are several parallels that lead us to believe that history may be repeating itself. Today’s U.S. economy is producing 2.2% more goods output then before the economic recession started in the late 2000’s, but with 3.8% fewer workers. This can be attributed to our modern day recession stimulating huge productivity and efficiency gains as business let mediocre employees go to save on labor costs. They have learned to do more with less. Unemployment rates were steadily on the rise just a few months ago and corporate profits are at all time highs.
There is no training program for them that state any reasons why the culture of the company relies on customer satisfaction. So in this case some employees may feel resentment for having to put so much effort into making their customer happy. For instance, some Nordstrom employees may feel that it is too difficult to meet the needs of some of their customers. Employees are expected to go out of their way, even to work long hours or beyond their hours to meet their customers’ needs, but they do not get compensated for any overtime. The environment for this employee could be very stressful and cause them to not want to put much effort into sales.
Individual Organizational Structure Paper MGT/230 August 31, 2012 Wal-Mart is one of the largest corporations around the globe. They accommodate thousands of customers more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,446 retail units. Wal-Mart employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide. Wal-Mart’s size is one of great proportion and requires the horizontal, divisional, and vertical organizational structures to lead as one of the largest corporations in the world. Wal-Mart’s divisional structure, according to the text, “as organizations grow and become increasingly diversified, they find that functional departments have difficulty managing a wide variety of products, customers, and geographic regions.
The rapid and enormous expansion of Wal-Mart and its market share have changed the landscape of Main Street in towns and cities across America. By 1981, Wal-Mart became Americas largest retailer. It has approx. 6,700 stores worldwide, $345 billion in net sales (2007), and roughly 100 million weekly customers. Wal-Marts massive footprint has had three primary areas of concern: 1) Putting local small business merchants out of business 2) The creation of urban sprawl 3) Traffic congestion In the mid 1980′s, Wal-Mart was becoming responsible for the loss of American jobs due to the sheer volume of foreign purchases from its overseas vendors.
American’s can’t “pinpoint any lasting way in which the stunning attacks brought Americans together, strengthened our national character, made us more willing to sacrifice or even changed the daily routine for most citizens of the United States”. The shaky economy is still present today, the United States’ GDP accounted for about 23 present of the world’s outputs. Today that has gone to about 19 present. The nation is in debt, 5.8 billion in 2001 and now over 15 trillion in 2011 which is about 100 present GDP. People wanted a memorial for 9/11 but this will cost the country more money and that fact that it will put them even more under isn’t helping either.
Situation Analysis Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer and the highest revenue-generating business in history. The company is incorporated in the United States of America and operates international outlets in a number of countries worldwide. In 1962, Sam Walton risked all his property to secure finances to start-up a new venture in the discounts retail industry. The store has had its ups and downs, but still thrives in the retail business to extend its growth to other regions across the world. The company has strategically established itself in the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Japan, and South Korea.