Fortune 500 Analysis: Walmart & Apple

This assignment analyzes the positions and strategies of leading companies in the Fortune 500 list, focusing on Walmart and Apple. It highlights changes in rankings over time, discusses Walmart's sustained dominance despite limited online presence, and explores Apple's growth trajectory under Tim Cook's leadership. The analysis also includes a SWOT assessment for both companies.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
Question 2
According to the Fortune 500 list of 2010, the top 10 companies are as follows:
1. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
2. Exxon Mobil Corporation
3. Chevron Corporation
4. General Electric Company
5. Bank of America
6. ConocoPhillips
7. AT & T Inc.
8. Ford Motor Company
9. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
10. Hewlett-Packard Company (Fortune.com 2017)
According to the Fortune 500 list of 2017, the top 10 companies are as follows:
1. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
2. Berkshire Hathaway
3. Apple
4. Exxon Mobil Corporation
5. McKesson
6. United Health Group
7. CVS Health
8. General Motors
9. AT & T Inc.
10. Ford Motor Company (Fortune.com 2017)

2STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
According to the Fortune 500 list of top companies there are many changes in the
position of the companies and the entry of new companies as well. Apple has entered the list
at the third position and Hewlett-Packard has left the list. However, Walmart has maintained
its position at the top rank over the period of seven years. The company has been maintaining
the top position since the last five years. In spite of having only physical presence the
company has been the topmost retailer of the world. The revenue of the company has been as
high as 485.8 billion dollars. Though the company has seen a drop in the sales in the year
2015, they have recovered from the drop and maintained their top position (Peppard and
Ward 2016). Apple was not present in the top 30 companies in the year 2010, whereas
Hewlett-Packard is not present in the top 30 companies list of the 2017.
Apple
Apple has shown immense growth from the year 2010 till the recent times. The
company has shown steady from the year 2010. After the death of Steve Jobs, the company
was led was Tim Cook and this led to a huge change in the management of the company
resulted in the growth. The core competencies of Apple relate to the products and the brand
image created by the company, which cannot be imitated easily. This feature gives the
company an edge over the other mobile companies (Khan, Alam and Alam 2015). The
customer base of the company is also different from the other companies and the products of
the company are innovative in nature.
SWOT Analysis

3STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard or HP is a company that was founded in the year 1930. The
company has been showing huge growth since its inception. However, HP had taken a wrong
decision in the year 2010 by investing in the mobile business and the failure of which led to
the shutdown of the business in 2011. Following this debacle many other wrong decisions
were taken by the company which has contributed to its fall in the recent years. The company
has been facing problems in the management level from the year 2010. The company
manufactured mainly printers and PCs. In the year 2011 the business had split and the PCs
and printers are now different businesses (Bertoni, Chirumalla and Johansson 2012). This
will have an impact on the future prospects of the company and its growth.
Strengths
The company is a leader in many services and
products, it has a strong image of the brand, the
company is strong in financial ways. The
products of the company are innovative in
nature. The company has high margins of
profit.
Weaknesses
The products of the company are not priced
in a competitive manner. The range of the
products is not diverse. The compatibilty of
the products is low.
Opportunities
The increasing demand for mobiles and
electronic gadgets is an opportunity for the
company. The company can increase the
diversification of the products and make their
products more compatible.
Threats
The competition of the company is rising and
the manufacturing costs are also rising.
SWOT

4STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
The brand is well-known in the market. The
debt of the company in the market is low and
the range of products is diverse. The company
manufactures its own software and hardware.
Weaknesses
The management of the company is lacking
and the company does not invest in research
and development.
Opportunities
The company can expand the number of retail
stores for the convinience of the customers.
The company can participate in the joint
ventures.
Threats
The technology of the competitors of the
company and their pricing is a threat for the
company. The compatibility of the products is
low. The company has many substitutes
available in the market.
SWOT

5STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF COMPANIES
References
Bertoni, M., Chirumalla, K. and Johansson, C., 2012, January. Social technologies for cross-
functional product development: SWOT analysis and implications. In System Science
(HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 3918-3927). IEEE.
Fortune.com (2017). Fortune 500 Companies 2017: Who Made the List. [online] Fortune.
Available at: http://fortune.com/fortune500/list/ [Accessed 20 Nov. 2017].
Khan, U.A., Alam, M.N. and Alam, S., 2015. A Critical Analysis of Internal and External
Environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and
Management, 3(6), pp.955-961.
Peppard, J. and Ward, J., 2016. The strategic management of information systems: Building a
digital strategy. John Wiley & Sons.