Strategic Management: Walmart Case Study

This report examines the concept of strategic management through a case study of Walmart. It covers the company's profile, market positioning, STP, SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, and Porter's Five Forces model. The report also discusses areas such as innovation, strategic innovation, corporate social responsibility, and governance and ethics.

Strategic management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.......................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES.....................................................................................................................................8
Books & Journal:.............................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business sector is becoming wider and broader which leads to increase of competition in
market. Strategic management is defined as process or approach of planning, analysing, monitoring
all the necessary functions as well as operations which is carried out to meet organisational goals.
(Schilling, 2019). Main aim of this report is to examine the concept of strategic management which
is adopted by enterprises. Walmart, which is an American multinational firm headquartered in U.S.
This report comprise of company's profile structure, background of enterprise, competitors,
innovation and strategic innovation, CSR, governance and ethics.
MAIN BODY
Company profile & background
Walmart is an multinational corporation headquartered in U.S which was founded in 2 July,
1962 by Sam Walton. Firm is to known as largest retailer in world and has acquired many other e-
commerce company's like Jet.com, Flipkart etc. With development of business in every grocery,
hypermarket, supermarket they expand their operations at global level.
Market positioning- The market positioning of company is being focused towards price
positioning. They have established themselves globally in market which also rises their brand
positioning at higher scale.
Moreover to analyse market positioning SWOT Analysis has been discussed. Strength-
Walmart is located globally which makes their customer strong. Then, As they deal in
hypermarkets, supermarkets, retails and many other categories it is easy for them to generate
revenue for business (Rothaermel, 2016). With its access of globalisation, they have been able to
hire expertise for their functions at both global as well as national level. Weakness - With its global
based business, they have a large number of suppliers and intermediaries. This makes supply chain
more complex which results in increase of problems. It is still difficult for them to enter into few
countries like in India they cannot open new single store of Walmart. Opportunity- With merging
up with local retailers, it will be easier for them to access knowledge of local market which is
beneficial for business. Threats- Because of its global presence, they have competition is big threat
which is faced by them like, Tesco, Sainsbury's, etc. are some of its competitors which dominate the
market opportunities.
STP- It is a tool which is used by entity to analyse market and access strategy for
development. Main aim of this approach is to analyse market strategy to examine marketing mix of
firm. It also assist in examining of brand position through accessing tactics or research. With help of
this approach market positioning can also be determined through examining below explained
components-Segmentation- It refers to process of dividing of market in basis of various variables

like demographic, psycho graphic, geographic, etc. In relevance with undertaken entity, they
segment their market on basis of demographic segmentation. Targetting- It refers to selecting or
targeting of a market or breaking it into smaller segments and then focusing on most potential one.
In context with selected firm, they targets mostly family dollar customers market. Positioning - It
refers to developing or creating a image in mind of customers as well as market. It is necessary to
build a position because customers often gets attracted towards brand position. In relation with
undertaken entity they have considered themselves as consumer centric brand. With help of their
band position, it become easy for organisation to attract or target end users. This process of
marketing help in analysing deep research analysis of market. Moreover decision making process
assist in use of resources in most efficient manner. Country market size and scope- Walmart
market size is being the largest corporation in retailing sector. With its development of global
business it has increased its market share at global level. It operates in 27 countries with large
portfolio, ample number of stores at different locations (Lu, 2019. It offers diversified products with
low prices. The size as well as scope of chosen company is wider with its employees size of 2.2
million worldwide.
PESTEL Analysis- It is a tool which is used by many entities to examine the impact of
external factors which affects business activities. Through this, issues related to company is also
being determined. It is most effective tool which is used mostly but requires a deep level of market
research & is time consumption. It is further explained - Political factor- It is a factor in which
various types of issues are faced by company like policies, rules and regulations of business etc.
This factor comprises of environmental law, tax policy etc. In relevance undertaken firm, they face
problems in many country because of improper stability of government.)(Harrison, 2019).
Economic- This includes inflation, deflation rate, interests rates, government policy etc. In
relevance with chosen organisation they provide low prices of products and goods all over the
stores located globally. So, if economic goes down in some countries then they will be unable to
compete with their competitors. Social- Further comes social in which it includes community,
social beliefs, attitude etc. In relevance with chosen entity, they faces major problem in this factor
as because they have global market and it is difficult to access local market & meet customers
expectations. For example- in Germany they failed and bear a loss of 1 billion because of unable to
provide customers preferences of products. Technological- In this element it involves advance use
of software, hardware, etc. In reference with undertaken entity, they have adopted automation as
well as robotics which help in stem line production, fulfilment of orders etc. Due to this, there cost
of production has also increased. It is essential to use technology in such a way that overall
production of company do not increases. Environmental- It is one of the most faced problem by
Walmart. Because use of packaging, fertilizers affects environment at deeper level. They were

caught in using of hazardous fertilizers. Such types of activities affected their goodwill in market.
Also, to deal with this problem, entity have made promises to government for protecting
environment in most efficient manner. Legal factors- In this, company has also faced issues like
Walmart promised to pay 65 million to current & past employees who claimed that entity didn't
provide them with seating accommodation (Strzelczyk, 2019). So, selected firm has failed to
maintain rules/ regulation in data protection laws, health & safety laws etc. Legal factors are
necessary to be focused so that process or functions of enterprise are carried out effectively.
Porter Five Forces model- It is a tool in which it is used by organisations to determine
competitive environment in market. It includes several forces which analyses level of competition
on different factors. This includes various forces which are explained as follows- Threat of new
entrants- It is force in which new entry of company enters into market with aim of gaining profit
by providing same products with different specification. In this, threat is high when there is no
government regulation in country, customers does not find reliable products in existing companies
etc. In reference with chosen entity, this threat is moderate in sector area because many small &
new local retailers enter with low prices (Lin, 2019). Then, further force is competition rivalry
which specifies that there are many competitors in business. In context with selected enterprise,
they also get affected by this force as there are large number of firm ion retail market with larger
variety. In bargaining power of buyers intensity is weak because of large population of
consumers in low quantity, small size of individual purchases is also small. This weakens the
bargaining power of customers. Moreover, in bargaining power of suppliers intensity level is
weak as because there are ample number of vendors in retail sectors which increases level of
competition at higher scale. It is seen that individual retailers have larger impact on large entity like
Walmart as compared to group of same retailers. Threat of substitutes is force in which states that
chosen corporation offers large variety of products & many of them have less substitutes. So,
intensity of threat is moderate because of less availability of substitutes. Also, it is analysed that
due to this, they are able to run their business in most effective way.
After analysing above stated matter, it is seen that through this model firm competition
intensity is analysed. It results in understanding the level of competition in industry.
Areas in which Walmart has engaged with are specified - Innovation & strategic innovation-
In business sector, it is essential to focus on innovation for higher development as well as
growth. Innovation is defined as process of making new ideas or strategies to produce goods or
services. In context of selected entity, they have been adopted innovation after their acquisition of
Jet.com. Moreover, they use robots to for restocking shelves, finding & returning of misplaced
products, production, etc. With changing period of time, they have changed overall structure of

corporation to adjust according to their phase of innovation. The strategic innovation of business
play crucial role in accomplishing goals & objectives. With this process, they are transforming their
in store user experiences to provide better experience to customers. To do this, In store
Walmart.com Kiosks makes hopping more convenient to customers through their experience level
also increased. Through this, they are properly following strategy innovation which assist them
higher development enterprise. These two areas have been focused & selected corporation has
successfully engaged these areas. Moreover, with more new ideas, thoughts, tactics help them to
produce more new innovative goods and services.
Then, further area is Corporate Social Responsibility which refers to type of regulation
which is adopted by entity and they integrate both social as well as environmental elements with
stakeholders (Kukuh, 2019). It is important area which is needed to be analysed by company's so
that they are able to get themselves recognized within market/ in eye of people. In context with
selected firm, they also follows CSR in most efficient way. Like they have declared that they are
responsible towards fulfilling social needs by producing safe or health products. Moreover, entity is
merging up with NGO'S, suppliers, experts to identify risks associated with their business that can
harm environment, society, etc. Therefore, by this they have been able to placed themselves in
market by properly following corporate social responsibility. Further arises the governance and
ethics in which they also have successfully been engaged. Ethics are most important for business
because they depicts goodwill of company. This has examined that selected entity is properly
follows their code of ethics which is to work with integrity, lead with integrity, and act with same.
It makes & increases corporation image in mind of employees at depth. Governance refers to
process through which they are able to encompass systems of business, functions, operations & set
of relationships between a firm shareholder's, Stakeholders and board (Puurunen, 2020)
(Wuryandani, 2018)(Huang, 2019) In this area also entity have gained achievement as associate of
company entitled to follow high ethical standards at work place. Furthermore they have their own
Walmart Global Governance who are responsible for managing cultivation a culture of integrity.

CONCLUSION
After a brief analysis of above report, it has been concluded that strategic management is
wider and broad concept which require deep level of understanding. Discussions have been made
about company's profile, market positioning, STP, SWOT analysis, PESTEL, Porter Five Forces
Model. Then also, it is seen that with proper market research firm is able to successfully engaged
with specified area. Therefore, with help of appropriate strategic management decision making
regarding business is carried out effectively.

REFERENCES
Books & Journal:
Schilling, 2019.Strategic management of technological innovation. McGraw-Hill Education.
Rothaermel, 2016.Strategic management: concepts(Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education.
Lu, 2019. Evaluation of Financial Situation of Walmart Company.
Harrison, 2019. Legitimizing private legal systems through CSR communication: a Walmart case
study.Corporate Communications: An International Journal.
Lin, 2019. PESTEL Analysis of Smart Tourism Public Service Informatization in Chengdu.Journal
of Hebei Tourism Vocational College, (3), p.2.
Strzelczyk, 2019. Use of pestel analysis for assessing the situation of polish transport enterprises
(part II).Organizacja i Zarządzanie: kwartalnik naukowy.
Kukuh, 2019. Navy ability development strategy using SWOT analysis-interpretative structural
modeling (ISM).Strategic Management,24(1), pp.30-40.
Puurunen, 2020. A hybrid SWOT analysis of the neuromodulation process for chronic pain.British
Journal of Neuroscience Nursing,16(2), pp.76-85.
Ge, 2019, April. Analysis of competitive Power of Chinese Sports Apparel Brand based on Porter's
five Force Model. In Proceedings of the 2019 3rd International Conference on Information
System and Data Mining (pp. 54-58).
Wuryandani, 2018. STP analysis in marketing pigmented rice as functional food.KnE Life Sciences,
pp.128-135.
Huang, 2019, December. Strategic Environment Analysis of Logistics Enterprise based on SWOT-
PEST-Michael Porter's Five Forces Model--Taking SF Express as an Example. In2nd
International Symposium on Social Science and Management Innovation (SSMI 2019).
Atlantis Press.