Supply Chain Management of Woolworths and Wal-Mart Corporation

This report discusses the supply chain management of Woolworths and Wal-Mart Corporation, highlighting their similarities and differences. It also provides recommendations for improving their supply chain management.

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Executive summary
Supply chain is considered significant for the organization to gain the competitive advantage; the
companies use several strategies to manage the supply chain efficiently. In this report two
organization that is Woolworths and Wal-Mart Corporation is selected as well as various articles
are reviewed. The purpose of the report is to find out the existing supply chain o Woolworths and
Wal-Mart as well as provide recommendations for improvement. From the analysis it finds that
several models adopted by both organization and still finds problem in the supply chain
management. However, for this organization can raise the transparency of supply chain and also
focus on segmenting the products, suppliers etc.

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Table of Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................3
Woolworths Supermarket................................................................................................................3
WalMart...........................................................................................................................................4
Similarities and differences in supply chain and logistic goals.......................................................4
Similarities...................................................................................................................................4
Differences...................................................................................................................................4
Literature review..............................................................................................................................5
Supply chain of Woolworths...........................................................................................................6
Recommendations........................................................................................................................8
Supply chain of WalMart.................................................................................................................8
Recommendations......................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

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Part-A
Introduction
A supply chain is the network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities and
technology involved in the creation and sale of a product, from the delivery of source materials
from the supplier to the manufacturer, through to its eventual delivery to the end user
(Christopher, 2016). In this report, the supply chain of Woolworth’s supermarket and Wal-Mart
is discussed, the similarities and differences between the supply chains of both the organization
is also discussed. In this, the recommendations are also provided for improving the supply chain
in both organizations.
Woolworths Supermarket
Woolworths Supermarkets is an Australian supermarket/grocery store chain owned
by Woolworths Group. The company was founded in the year 1924; the specialization of the
company is in offering the groceries such as meat, fruit. The segmentation of the company
expanded in seven areas that are Woolworths clothing as well as general merchandise such as
clothing, house ware and beauty as well as various products of lifestyle. The company has
subsidiary of Woolworths food, logistics, it also contain Witchery group for the departmental
stores of clothes retailer (Nursey-Bray et al., 2016). Woolworths targeted mainly to the high
income consumer type and the living standard measure group eight to ten. In the year 2016, the
top suppliers of Woolworths were Teys Australia, supply chain solution contributor and the red
meat. However, for the effective implementation of supply chain, the company deploys their
business 2 business platform of integration; this is done to offer real time addition to their
systems of suppliers (Xu et al., 2017). This platform controls the AS2 protocol designed for
business to business communications; this is designed for the fulfillment of automated order
among businesses through the usage of internet. The company chooses the SPS commerce, for
the condition of business 2 business integrating with the community of their supplier. However,
the company used the centralized model of distribution for the supply chain.

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Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation; the company was founded in the
year 1962. In the year 2019, the company has 11,389 stores which are functioning with the
differences in their names. The company is in the retail industry, the company offers the products
like electronics, clothing, grocery as well as home and furniture. In the year 2019, the company
earns the revenue up to $14.405 billion (Latimer et al., 2019). Wal-Mart operations are structured
in the 3 business segments that are Wal-Mart International, Sam’s Club as well as Wal-Mart US.
The company provides the products through the several retail systems which includes
restaurants, hypermarkets, supercenter etc. The business model of company works by applying
various strategies lead on prices, becoming competitive on group, delivering the better
experience. The company has all types of customers such as youngster’s, older people etc. In
2018, the main supplier of the company is Funai Electric Company, Green Dot Corporation, and
CCA Industries (Li & Liu, 2018). Earlier Wal-Mart, works directly with the producer, this help
them in decreasing the cost, but now various strategies adopted by the company in
implementation of supply chain that are strategic vendor partnership, cross-docking.
Similarities and differences in supply chain and logistic goals
Similarities
The operations of Woolworths are segmented in Woolworths clothing, Woolworth’s food and
Witchery group that is company offer clothes, food, beauty products etc. However, same as
Woolworths, Wal-Mart operations are segmented in Wal-Mart International, Sam’s Club which
also offers food, beauty products, grocery etc (Latimer et al., 2019).
The objective of logistics is same in both the organization that is to provide good quality,
valuable product in timely manner to their consumers. The same issues faced by both the
organization that is bulkiness in order for delivering the goods, lack of storing space for some of
the products, unsuitable system of tracking for getting as well as ordering the products (Kshetri
& Loukoianova, 2019).
Differences
The practices of supply chain in Wal-Mart is done by reducing the cost price, it is the competitive
strategy of Wal-Mart. The company does this by avoiding the middlemen unnecessary as well as

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seeks to buy the products through the manufacturer directly. However, in the supply chain of
Woolworths the various middleman as well as stages involved to provide the product to the
company that is supplier, distributor, manufacturer, warehousing (Yun et al., 2019).
The majority of the suppliers for Wal-Mart are in United Kingdom, Hong Kong etc. However,
main suppliers are in US as well as in Japan whereas Woolworth’s main suppliers are in Australia,
New Zealand, and South Africa (Kshetri & Loukoianova, 2019).
Literature review
Behzadi, O’Sullivan, Olsen, Scrimgeour and Zhang conducted the study to know the
distributions in the supply chain as well as strategies for managing the supply chain in Canada
(Behzadi et al., 2017). The data was collected by reviewing various articles, from the analysis;
the researcher finds that unsuitable tracking method, difficulty in finding the space for the
appropriate product. The analysis also shows that business can use the combination of robust as
well as reliance strategies for managing the supply chain and supplier excellence program which
provide efficient distribution of the product. According to Choi and Chiu theory of mean-
variance is considered the better approach for performing the risk analysis in the supply chain
(Chiu & Choi, 2016). In this article secondary approach is taken by categorizing the articles in
recognizing the supply chain problems. The researcher suggests that to solve the issue, it is
important to know the problem in advance, this is done by adopting mean-variance model.
Kamalahmadi and Mellat-Parast conducted the study to examine the optimal allotment of
suppliers so that supply will be done in efficient manner (Kamalahmadi & Mellat-Parast, 2016).
The data collection is done by reviewing the various articles which is related to managing the
supply chain from the companies in Australia. From the data collection the researcher finds that
there are problem regarding the selection of transportation, suppliers. The researcher finds that
companies use the model of two-stage mixed integer programming and transport management
system, Electronic data interchange for the effective transportation and for selection of efficient
supplier.
Schildbach and Morari aim of the study to manage the issue regarding the controlling as well as
managing the goods in the warehouses (Schildbach & Morari, 2016). The researcher use the
secondary sources for collecting the information in-depth regarding the model which company

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used for managing the supply chain. The researcher finds that mostly the companies adopt the
model which is based on the scheme as well as scenario. Ivanov aim of the study is to know the
effects of ripple which is faced by the companies, this result in disruption in the distribution
network as well as be shortage of storing space (Ivanov, 2017). The data collection was done by
analysis of the literature, through analysis the researcher finds that model which is based on
simulation ripple effect is effective in managing the issues regarding the transportation and
storing space. According to Saberi et al Globalization leads difficulty in managing and
controlling the supply chain. It is because of issues in traceability, security, transparency, quality
meeting the sustainability goals of different countries which are US, Australia. The researcher
collects the data from the companies of different countries, however, through analysis the
researcher finds that to overcome these barriers and for effective management of supply chain
GFSI certificate, Electronic data interchange and Blockchain technology is considered better
model.
Part-B
Supply chain of Woolworths
Woolworths Supply chain operates on the standard of safety as well as higher standards in
various procedure of the company. It leads in describing the safety, quality as well as regulatory
norms for the provider of services and all the business partners (Nakandala et al., 2017).

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SOURCE: (Nakandala et al., 2017)
Supplier
The suppliers of the company inspect against the program of Woolworths service provider
excellence as well as holding certificate of Global Food Safety Initiative. The supplier provide
the goods to the distributors for offering the quality product to the final consumer, the top
suppliers of the company are Teys Australia, A Red Meat as well as supply chain
solutions provider (Rajabian et al., 2016).
Distributor
The distributors of the company adopt the Loscam and VPS equipment transfer for the efficient
distribution of the goods to the manufacturer. This equipment helps the company in providing
the information about the order numbers, details of contract (Nursey-Bray et al., 2016).
Manufacturer
The manufacturer does the activity of manufacturing the goods; in this the compulsory
packaging as well as requirements of barcode is demonstrated in the packaging of Woolworths
and the document of Barcode specifications. The manufacturer uses the quality assurance
standard to manufacture quality products for the customers.
Retailer
The manufacturer delivers the product to the retailers, so that the objective of the supply chain
can be achieved. However, retailers of Woolworths offered the quality product to the final
customers according to their needs and requirements (Xu et al., 2017).
Logistics
The Company uses the model of supplier excellence program which leads in decreasing the
complexity which is related to the Transportation, for the international logistics company use the
Woolworths Quality Assurance standard which includes both food as well as consumer goods
which are supplied through the local as well as international trading associates. The company

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adopts the Freight Transport management system, which is used by stakeholders of the company
regionally various activities takes place in this system which are vendor tracking number,
searching through the PO number (Singh et al., 2018).
Recommendations
Woolworths finds difficulty in reducing the cost because system and method used by
Woolworth’s deals in increasing the cost of the company this result in decreasing the expenditure
on other activities like innovation, promotion of the product etc. However, it is the main concern
for the company to adopt the strategy through which the cost of the company reduces as well as
supply chain management is done in effective manner. For this company can adopt the software
of automatic purchasing, this helps the company in placing the order in automatic manner when
the levels of inventory reduces and also leads in reduction of the cost (Mishra & Singh, 2018).
The company can also increase the internal supply chain management transparency, this help the
company in declining the inventory which are unexplained and also reduce the financial loss.
Supply chain of WalMart
The company use the strategy of enterprise resource planning, it is the important integrated
system which is based on the computer and is used to control the internal as well as extrnal
resources so that management of supply chain is done in effective manner. The ERP helps in
reducing the inaccuracies in the supply chain and helps in co-ordination as well as itegration of
resources (LeBaron et al., 2017).

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SOURCE: (LeBaron et al., 2017)
Supplier
The suppliers of WalMart are certified and most of the suppliers is in the US, there are top five
supplier of the company some of them are Plug Power, Funai ElectricCo., Primowater
corporation, Green Dot corporation and CCA Industries. The company use the technique of
opportunistics Cross Docking to obtain the product in same quatity wich is given by the suppiers
of company (Kshetri, 2018).
Distribution
The company adopt the system of Hub and Spoke, however WalMart is the first in the retail
industry which adopts this system to distrbute the resources to the manufacture in effetive
manner. The company also installed the integrated secondary route network model of design in
the system of hub as well as spoke, in which hubs connect with th initial nodes as well as center
connects with the secondary nodes (Latimer et al., 2019).
Manufacturer

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In this manufacturer produces the product, in this the innovative packaging of the product is
done, to attract the customers as well as to assure the quality, the company adopts the standards
and develop the accordingly. The manufacturer ue the technique of pre-allocated cross docking
for labelling and packaging of the product (Li & Liu, 2018).
Logistics
Wal-Mart procures the product from the manufacturer directly, this is done to decrease the cost
and provide optimum price to the consumers. However, the representative of the company meets
with the retailer of the company to find the structure of the cost. The company use the Electronic
data interchange to procure the product, however for the transportation Wal-Mart owns 3,500
trucks, this leads effective management of logistics (Hackius & Petersen, 2017).
Retailer
The product is delivered to the retailer in the same manner, same quality and quantity, so that it
can offer to the customers at appropriate prices which satisfy the needs of the consumers (Li &
Liu, 2018).
Recommendations
Wal-Mart finds difficulty in supplying the product globally, however after adopting various
strategies there is issues in delivering the product internationally in the supermarkets,
hypermarkets. It is due to the reason because Wal-Mart offers various products to the customer
that is the company is in the several product lines. To overcome this difficulty company can
adopt the strategy of Multi-distribution center network, through this the product are delivered
directly to the retailers so that they can sell the product in timely manner and also reduces the
cost of company (Johnson et al., 2018). The company should also focus on the segmentation by
segmenting the products, suppliers and the modes of transportation.
Conclusion
From the above it is conclude that supply chain is considered the network in which various
activities takes place to deliver the product to the final consumer. In this report the various
articles are reviewed and several model are identified which is used by the company for the

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effective management of supply chain which includes Block chain technology, Cross Docking
etc. From the above it also conclude that both Woolworths and WalMart takes various initatives
to manage the supply chain in effective manner but still finds some issues such as increase in the
cost and supplying internationally. However, for this company can adopt the strategy of
automatic purchasing software, network of multi-distribution center.

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References
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Chiu, C.-H. & Choi, T.-M., 2016. Supply chain risk analysis with mean-variance models: A
technical review. Annals of Operations Research, 240(2), pp.489-507.
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & Supply Chain Management. London: Pearson UK.
Hackius, N. & Petersen, M., 2017. Blockchain in logistics and supply chain: trick or treat? In
Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), pp.3-18.
Ivanov, D., 2017. Simulation-based ripple effect modelling in the supply chain. International
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Johnson, J.L., Dooley, K.J., Hyatt, D.G. & Hutson, A.M., 2018. Emerging discourse incubator:
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Kamalahmadi, M. & Mellat-Parast, M., 2016. Developing a resilient supply chain through
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Kshetri, N., 2018. Blockchain’s roles in meeting key supply chain management objectives.
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LeBaron, G., Lister, J. & Dauvergne, P., 2017. Governing global supply chain sustainability
through the ethical audit regime. Globalizations, 14(6), pp.958-75.

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from four protests against Walmart. ILR Review , 71(5), pp.1078-105.
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