Walmart Management Structure [Stores]

Running Head: Management
0
WAL-MART
Introduction to Management
Research & Analysis Paper – Part II
3/27/2020
Name of the Student:
Instructor’s name:

Management
1
Contents
Summary..........................................................................................................................................2
SWOT- Formulating Strategies.......................................................................................................3
Environmental Constraints..............................................................................................................4
Stakeholders.....................................................................................................................................5
Organizational Structure and Design...............................................................................................7
Motivating Employees.....................................................................................................................8
Control and recommendation..........................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

Management
2
Summary
Wal-Mart is the retailing company that was founded by Sam Walton in 1962. The
headquartered of the company was Bentonville, the U.S. The company serves its serves world
widely and operates the chain of the hypermarkets, grocery stores, and the discount department
stores. It is the world's largest company in terms of revenue with US$14.05 billion in the year
2019 (Colacicco, 2018). The main purpose of the company is to serve the needs of the customers
and to offer them a variety of products like electronics, footwear, spotting, health and beauty,
and grocery products. The report will put the major focus on the formulating strategies of the
company Wal-Mart by analyzing the SWOT analysis. The environmental constraints of the
company which affects their performance such as political, legal, social, etc. will also be stated.
Different types of stakeholders are involved in the company so in this report the importance of
each stakeholder and their impact will also be analyzed.
There are some of the stakeholders which have to manage by the company Wal-Mart and
have to give the highest priority so in this report it will also be explained. The organizational
structure and design of the company Wal-Mart will be enhanced such as chain of command,
work specialization, decision making, centralization or decentralization, etc. (Martínez, et al.,
2017). The motivational theories will also be explained in this report which helps in motivating
the employees of the company. The company also monitors the progress of the business plan so
in this report the recommendations will also be provided for measuring the effectiveness of the
company.

Management
3
SWOT- Formulating Strategies
Strength
 The company Wal-Mart has the most recognized brands in the market so it helps the
company in increasing its revenues by attracting a huge number of customers. The
company several products in one store only so it becomes convenient for the consumers
to buy the product.
 The company has expanded its global expansion by acquiring the Flipkart and UK based
Retailer Company so it helps in expanding its growth and increasing productivity. The
company Wal-Mart's market power has become stronger. The company has created joint
ventures which help in accessing to the new market and increasing their capacity by
accessing the different distribution network (Brockhaus, et al., 2017).
 The global presence of the company is in every country which helps the Wal-Mart
company in increasing the reputation and exposing it to foreign investment opportunities
also. The company also has a low pricing strategy so it is the cheapest place to shop so
majorly customers are attracted to this and helps in increasing the profit of the company.
Weakness
 The employees of the Wal-Mart company have the low pay and their working conditions
are also poor so it can be improved by making the effective structure of working in the
company in which the health issues of the employees have to be addressed (Ghazzawi, et
al., 2014).
 The company Wal-Mart has a large size so they face the issue of the span of control
which can be protected by making the teams in the company. Every team should have
one supervisor or the leader which helps the company in interacting properly.
 The profit margin of the company is less which is the weakness that can be improved by
increasing the prices of some products and reducing the cost by eliminating some
unnecessary items in the company (Martínez, et al., 2017).
 The company also does gender discrimination by paying more to the male rather than the
women so this issue can be solved in the company by applying the theory of equality and

Management
4
diversity. There should be a law in the company that hires and promotes more to women
so that equality can be brought.
Opportunity
 The company is expanding its market to other countries with a high supply chain so it
gives the advantage to the company in enhancing its market share by attracting a large
number of customers.
 The company can obtain a certain benefit from the strategic alliance such as they can
build the intellectual capital, gain the new client base and helps in entering the new
business territories (Raja, et al., 2015). It also helps the Wal-Mart company in access to
the new technologies in the company.
 The company Wal-Mart is increasing its practices of HR so this opportunity helps the
company in improving the turnover of the employee and satisfying the employees.
Threat
 The increasing competition is the biggest threat for the company so it can be protected by
serving the quality products to the customers at the cheapest rate so that maximum
customers can be retained. The company has also built a good relationship with the
customers so it helps them in targeting the customers (Muda, 2018).
 The company has come into the controversy which has affected its reputation so it can be
protected by following some rules and regulations in the company related to corporate
human rights so that true victims can be detected.
Environmental Constraints
PESTEL environment
Political: The performance of the company is getting affected through the political
pressure in terms of the higher wages of the employees. In the retail market, there is the high
stability of the market so it helps the company in extending its market share.
Economical: The economy is stable so it helps in growing the business from the
company in the developing countries (Pope and Pope, 2015). The company is offering many job

Management
5
opportunities so it helps in reducing unemployment in the market. The demand for the goods and
services are increasing in the market for the company as they majorly emphasis on the fast-
growing economy.
Social: The lifestyle of the people is becoming healthy nowadays so it brings the
opportunity for the Wal-Mart company to enhance their profit (Mayer and Noiseux, 2015). There
is the trend of cultural diversity and every human has different preferences so the company is
offering the variety of the products which helps in satisfying the need of the customers.
Technological: The up-gradation in technology is the biggest challenge for the company
and these environmental constraints are constantly changing. This challenge has brought the
biggest opportunity for the company in increasing its revenues by using mobile devices (Noda
2015). The profit of the company has enhanced through online marketing but to manage them is
quite challenging for the company.
Environmental: The Company has maintained a sustainability environment so it is the
opportunity for them as they are making the concern towards environmental conservation. The
company also offers environmentally friendly products which help in increasing the efficiency in
the business (Cleary and Lopez, 2014).
Legal: There is a certain limitation on the retail firm by the laws and regulations which
are quite challenging for the Wal-Mart company. The tax law reform is a threat to the company
due to which the company has to pay the higher tax rates.
Stakeholders
There are several stakeholders in the Wal-Mart company such as the director’s creditors,
employees, government, customers, suppliers, owners, etc. Every stakeholder has its own
importance in the company but the owners are the most important stakeholder for the company
as they provide financial support to the company through which the company operates its
operations.
The directors of Wal-Mart promote the success of the company and they are considered
as the typical stakeholders of the company as they have to act in the good faith (Xu, et al., 2014).
They are responsible for directing the affairs of the company and ensure the prosperity of the

Management
6
Wal-Mart company. Creditors are also important stakeholders for the company as they operate
the smooth and effective functioning of the company and helps in surviving them.
Employees are another major stakeholder of the company as they help in achieving the
goals of the company by performing their functions (Lucia and Flavia, 2017). The employees are
the one which interacts with the customers so they only build a positive brand in the company
and helps in increasing the sales. The highest priority has been given to the stakeholders of the
company and they are considered as the important stakeholder as they are the ones who create
the value for the company. The potential growth of the company is determined through the
customers as they help in guiding the direction to the business.
Organizational Structure and Design

Management
7
The organizational structure of the Wal-Mart company follows the hierarchical functional
structure. The vertical lines in the hierarchy feature reflect the authority and command
throughout the structure. The senior authorities like CEO, senior management team, etc. which
gives the instructions to the lower supervisor. The company also has the function-based
hierarchy in which the employees of the Wal-Mart company involve in certain groups to perform
certain functions (Rudy, 2014). The hierarchical functional organizational structure of the
company Wal-Mart helps the entire organization to work effectively by accessing to their top
managers. The company can also do effective monitoring and controlling the things through the
proper organizational structure.
The company Wal-Mart has an organic structure where the major decisions are taken by
the CEO and the other higher management authorities so there is a high degree of centralization
(Hausman and Leibtag, 2017). If there is a bit change in the culture of the Wal-Mart company
then the high degree of decentralization has also seen. The company Wal-Mart makes effective
decisions as majorly decisions have made by the senior authorities. The chain command of Wal-
Mart is divided into three segments and they have the sub-segments with each.
Motivating Employees
Company Wal-Mart uses the Maslow Hierarchy theory of motivation for the employees
which helps in fulfilling the basic needs of the employees. The company Wal-Mart offers basic
needs to its employees so that employees feel motivated such as food, water, security and safety
(LeCavalier, 2016). The company also provides the psychological needs to the employees by
making good relations with them and providing love to them so that they can feel the part of the
company.
The company Wal-Mart also motivates the employees by fulfilling their self-fulfillment
needs such as by providing them an effective working environment so that they can feel the
positive vibes and work enthusiasm (Lu, 2019). The company also celebrates the occasions and
gives accomplishment to the employees which helps in increasing the efficiency of the
employees and builds a friendly relationship with them leads to the higher growth of the
company.

Management
8
Control and recommendation
By using the KPI indicators the performance of the company Wal-Mart will be measured
and monitors so that it can be evaluated that business plans and activities are effective or not. If
there is any business plan which is not working effectively then it would be changed by
establishing the new technology or by making some changes in the organizational structure of
the company. The concurrent and feedback control will be used so that activities can be
monitored and evaluated how much progress they have made. Concurrent control is the
regulations of the ongoing activities which are designed to ensure that employees in the company
are producing effective results or not. The company also takes feedback from its customers’s so
the business plan can also be improved by taking the feedback control (Śmigielska, 2016).
It is recommended that the company Wal-Mart should provide effective training to its
employees so that goals can be accomplished more effectively. The company should majorly
track their employee performance through measuring the efficiency in the concurrent tools which
helps in evaluating which employee is not working effectively and to whom major focus has to
be put on. The company should also provide the rewards and the benefits to the employees so
that the goals can be easily achieved by setting some specific targets.

Management
9
References
Brockhaus, S., Fawcett, S. E., Knemeyer, A. M., & Fawcett, A. M. (2017). Motivations for
environmental and social consciousness: Reevaluating the sustainability-based
view. Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, 933-947.
Cleary, R. L., & Lopez, R. A. (2014). Supermarket responses to Wal-Mart Supercenter
expansion: a structural approach. Empirical Economics, 47(3), 905-925.
Colacicco, G. (2018). Internationalization decisions in the retailing sector: Wal-Mart in South
Korea.
Ghazzawi, I. A., Palladini, M., & Martinelli-Lee, T. (2014). The Wal-Mart stores, Inc.: An
American dream that touched the world. Journal of the International Academy for Case
Studies, 20(1), 9.
Hausman, J., & Leibtag, E. (2017). Consumer benefits from increased competition in shopping
outlets: Measuring the effect of Wal‐Mart. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 22(7), 1157-
1177.
LeCavalier, J. (2016). The rule of logistics: Wal-Mart and the architecture of fulfillment. U of
Minnesota Press.
Lu, M. (2019). Evaluation of Financial Situation of Wal-Mart Company.
Lucia, A., & Flavia, C. (2017). Shopping as ‘Best Practice’-Analyzing Wal-Mart’s Dbeated
Sustainability Policies. Вестник Российского университета дружбы народов. Серия:
Лингвистика, 21(1).
Mahdi, Y., & Sadrinia, M. (2014). Does Wal-Mart strategic management have advantages in
comparison with Iranian Shahrvand chain stores strategic management?. Asian journal of
management research, 4(3), p570-582.
Martínez, A. B., Galván, R. S., & Alam, S. (2017). Financial Analysis of Retail Business
Organization: A Case of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Nile Journal of Business and
Economics, 3(5), 67-89.

Management
10
Mayer, S., & Noiseux, Y. (2015). Organizing at Wal-Mart: Lessons from Qubeec’s Women1.
Muda, I. (2018). Dimension of an Islamic Model Value on the Existence of Syariah Wal-Mart.
In Proceedings of MICoMS 2017. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Noda, T. (2015). Integration of lean operation and pricing strategy in retail. Journal of Marketing
Development and Competitiveness, 9(1), 50.
Pope, D. G., & Pope, J. C. (2015). When Wal-Mart comes to town: Always low housing prices?
Always?. Journal of Urban Economics, 87, 1-13.
Raja, D. T. V., & Gunaseelan, M. S. (2015). SWOT ANALYSIS FOR SMALL JEWELLERY
MERCHANTS FUNCTIONING IN CUDDALORE DISTRICT. Asia Pacific Journal of
Research Vol: I. Issue XXXI.
Rudy, B. C. (2014). The Wal-Mart Effect? Exploring the Social Costs of Explosive
Organizational Growth (No. 0191mgmt).
Śmigielska, G. (2016). The role of an entrepreneur in developing an organizational culture
fostering innovations. Studia Oeconomica Posnaniensia, 4(5), 54-68.
Xu, L. X., Xu, Q., & Liu, X. (2014). Wal-Mart and Carrefour's Supply Chain Management
Strategies in China. International Journal of Business and Management, 9(7), 155.