Management Information Systems: A Case Study of Walmart

Information Systems (Distinction )

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
QUESTION 1..................................................................................................................................3
Ways in which different business units of Walmart are interconnected.....................................3
QUESTION 2..................................................................................................................................7
Different forms of data................................................................................................................7
Role of data warehousing in Walmart.........................................................................................8
Current information system.........................................................................................................8
Recommendations........................................................................................................................9
Advantages and disadvantages of system....................................................................................9
QUESTION 3................................................................................................................................10
Information from latest programme of Walmart.......................................................................10
GDPR data protection legislation..............................................................................................10
Key concerns of ethical, legal and professional implications....................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERNCES.................................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Information system can be defined as a kind of system that has been designed for
collecting, processing, storing, analysing and distributing information. There are many different
kinds of information system and each of them have their own importance and usage. Various
organizations uses these information systems as per their needs, requirements and importance.
Adoption of business information system directly helps in management of business task for
achievement of required information in an appropriate manner. this assignment will lay emphasis
upon a case study of Walmart for identifying strategies that can be adopted by Walmart for
enhancing their overall their e-commerce shares. For this different business units of Walmart
have been explained with the help of interconnection within them, role of data warehousing in
Walmart, ethical, legal and professional implications associated with information handling and
security in Walmart. Walmart is an American multinational retail sector organization that
operates as a chain of hypermarket, departmental stores, grocery stores etc. it was founded
in1969 whose main headquarter is in Arkansas, U.S.
QUESTION 1
Ways in which different business units of Walmart are interconnected
Walmart is one of the largest retail sector organizations that operates in US. They are
focusing upon enhancing their presence in retail sector market as well as are also focusing upon
enhancing their shares in e- commerce (Chakraborty, Deniz and Omari, 2021). They have
expanded their business internationally and operate in different countries such as US, India,
Canada, Africa, Central America, Chile and in Mexico. In order to enhance their business, they
have focused upon dividing their business in four different segments that are: Walmart U.S.,
Global e- commerce and technology, Walmart International and Sam's Club. All of these four
segments focus upon different business operations of Walmart. Walmart follows a hierarchical
functional organizational structure. This type of structure is also known as matrix structure. All
the four main segments of Walmart can be explained with the help of its organizational structure
shown below:

Figure 1 Organizational structure of Walmart at top executive level
This directly helps in achieving better and consistent results in terms of performance and
operations. As Walmart is a multinational chain that deals in retail industry, adoption of such
kind of structure that helps them in easily dealing in e-commerce market, in a much flexible
manner in a rigid and continuous changing market environment (Chen and et .al., 2021). All the
four business segments of Walmart have their own importance and operates in different manner.
Such as: Walmart US segment focuses upon company’s mass merchant concept. Whereas
Walmart international focuses upon organization’s operations outside US. On the other hand,
Walmart’s Sam’s Club segment focuses upon warehouse membership clubs in the United States.
Lastly, Global eCommerce and Technology segment focuses upon management of all the
websites of Walmart, presence of Walmart in eCommerce industry so that their online product
sales can be enhanced and can be managed in all the 24 countries n which they operate.
Walmart has a matrix structure which consist of hierarchy based and functional based
structure. This is because this type of organizational structure directly help Walmart in managing
flow of power within organization and it is important to be focused upon as Walmart is a
multinational organization that operates globally so flow of power within Walmart is required to
be managed in an appropriate manner (Chatterjee, 2017). So, this matrix structure directly help
Walmart is managing their business operations in easy and appropriate manner.
Hierarchy based organizational structure included every store and their employees in
which as employees move higher in the structure their responsibilities get expanded. Whereas
functional based organizational structures provided all the individuals to grow asp er their
capabilities. Combination of this structure directly help Walmart in guiding all of their
employees within entire organization.