Case Study Analysis: Walmart and Amazon

The assignment involves analyzing a case study of Michael Lester at Lachlan Consulting, who is struggling to deliver results due to inadequate information from his colleague Nadine Roberts. The document requires identifying key issues, such as the importance of information sharing and communication in supply chain management, and applying relevant concepts, like resource-based theory and logistics and retail management principles. A meta title and description are also provided for SEO purposes.

Running head: WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Wal-Mart Case Study Analysis
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1WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Answer 1
Wal-Mart Inc, founded in the year 1962 by Sam Walton, is an “American
Multinational retail corporation” which conducts its business through a web of grocery stores,
hypermarkets and “discounted departmental stores” (Walmart.com. 2018). According to the
Forbes Magazine (2016), Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world in terms of annual
revenue (Forbes.com 2018). The annual revenue of the company for the year 2016 was $480
(Forbes.com. 2018). It is also one of the largest private employers of the world, employing
more than 2.3 million people from diverse parts of the world (Walmart.com. 2018). The
major part of operation of the company is based in the United States of America however the
company has its branches and franchise stores in various diverse parts of the world as well.
It is to be noted that the commercial rivalry between the retail giants Wal-Mart and
Kmart began in 1962, the year of foundation of both the companies. However, in the thirty
year following the foundation of Wal-Mart and the death of its founder, Walton had already
made Wal-Mart the retail giant of the United States (Walmart.com. 2018). The strategies used
by Walton were way head of his time and some of them even revolutionized the retail trade in
the United States of America (Fernie and Sparks 2014). Some of the strategies used by
Walton to capture the domestic market of the United States of America and also to out-rival
his competitors like Kmart and others are discounted pricing, providing the facilities of “low
prices always” on several brands commonly used by the American people, providing regular
as well as periodical sales to the customers wherein they can buy goods and services at very
attractive prices and others (Walmart.com. 2018). In addition to this, the “cheerleading
management style” adopted by Walton was lead to the rapid growth as well as the
development of the company (Walmart.com. 2018). The advanced as well as innovative
technology used by the company like its “sophisticated, companywide point-of-sale and

2WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
satellite-communications systems, and in service, symbolized by the “greeters” stationed at
the front doors of its stores” also contributed to the rise of the company as the premier
company of America (Barney 2012). Another competitive which Wal-Mart had over Kmart
was its focus on the operations section instead of promotion. Therefore, the company Wal-
Mart by focusing on its supplier as well as delivery systems, “companywide computer
system”, restocking policy for the products sold, cost control, opening of its branches in the
urban areas and various others was able to beat its competitors like Kmart (Chekwa, Martin
and Wells 2014).
It is to be noted that there were primary four sources for the competitive advantage of
Wal-Mart over its rivals like Kmart and others- its distribution capabilities, everyday low-
cost products (EDLP), its workforce culture and finally its use of the latest innovations and
technologies for the handling of its stores and data (Chekwa, Martin and Wells 2014). It is to
be noted that all these four factors contributed equally towards the growth as well as the
development of the company.
Answer 2
The “Buy it low, stack it high, sell it cheap” policy of Walton worked really well for
Wal-Mart and contributed greatly towards the overall growth as well as the development of
the company (Annual Reviews 2018). However, there were many potential threats which the
company faced in the 1990s. The primary threat which the company faced was obviously
from its rivals like Kmart, Target Cooperation and others which were threatening to break the
monopoly gained by Wal-Mart, which was in a precarious position especially after the death
of Sam Walton, the founder as well as the primary reason behind the rise of the company as
the major retail company not only of the United States of America but of the entire world
(Annual Reviews 2018). The rise of the “Big Box Phenomenon” posed a serious threat to the

3WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
company (Annual Reviews 2018). Another major Setback to the company was its average
performance in the countries of Mexico, China and various other countries (Barney 2012).
Another threat which the company faced in the 1990s were the various reports which alleged
that the company was hiring underage children to work in their retail stores as workers at a
relatively .lower salary (Annual Reviews 2018). The company also had to face some labor
disputes not only in far way countries like China, Mexico and others but in the United States
of America as well. It is at this point of time that the efficient supplier and delivery system of
China started to show signs of weaknesses. It is to be noted that at this point of time several
of the company’s women employees complained that the company had violated the
stipulations of the “1964 Civil Rights Act” according to which discrimination on the basis of
gender related to job promotion, salary, placement and others is a punishable offense (Annual
Reviews 2018). These in short were some of the potential threats which the company Wal-
Mart faced in the 1990s.
Answer 3
Kmart Corporation, started in the year 1962, is a “Big Box department store chain”
which is headquartered in the United States of America (Kmart.com. 2018). The companies
operates in most of the famous countries in world and back in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and
1990s it was considered to be a serious rival to Wal-Mart. It is to be noted that for the year
1987 the annual sale for Wal-Mart was $15.96 billion whereas the annual sale for Kmart was
$25.63 billion (Kmart.com. 2018). However, the company soon lost its track because of its
ineffective strategies, the monopolisation of the market by Wal-Mart and various other
factors. The company Kmart Corporation can imitate the strategies followed by the company
Wal-Mart. However, it is to be noted that the major reason behind the success achieved by
the company Wal-Mart was the effective as well as efficient leadership provided by its

4WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
founder, Sam Walton. He sought to speed up the growth through his cheerleading style of
management and visited almost all his retail stores on a regular basis in a bid to ensure that
the policies as well as strategies innovated by him are effectively and efficiently applied at all
his retail stores. It is to be noted that the company Kmart lacks such a leader who could lead
the company from the front.
Answer 4
Target Corporation, found by George Dayton, is the 2nd largest “retail discount store”
in the United States of America, the 1st largest being Wal-Mart (Target.com. 2018). The
company came into existence in the year 1902 however it had to wait till 1962 to open its first
store in Roseville, Minnesota (Target.com. 2018). The company presently owns around 1,834
stores in the United States of America as well as in the diverse parts of the world in total
(Target.com. 2018). The company focuses on "the needs of its younger, image-conscious
shoppers" in direct contradiction to the company Wal-Mart which follows the policy of
“always low prices” (Target.com. 2018). The company Target Corporation stands at the 449th
position in terms of the largest companies on the basis of the annual revenues generated by
them whereas on the same list Wal-Mart stands at the 17th position (Forbes.com. 2018). Some
of the financial statistics of the company Target Corporation are listed below-

5WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Figure 1: Financial Statistics of Target Corporation
Source: Factset, Bloomberg, S&P Cap IQ; Forbes.
Some of the financial details of the company Wal-Mart are listed below-
Figure 2: Financial Statistics of Wal-Mart
Source: Factset, Bloomberg, S&P Cap IQ; Forbes.
It is to be noted that both the companies Wal-Mart and Target Corporation belong to
the retail sector and provide more or less the same kind of services to the people. However,
the company Wal-Mart has a serious edge over Target Corporation not only in terms of the
revenue generated by it on an annual basis but in the kind of strategies which they follow and
also in the process of globalization followed by them. It is to be noted that the Canadian
expansion of the company Target Corporation was a complete failure and the company ended
up losing more than $2.1 billion (Target.com. 2018). Therefore, it can be said that although
the company Target Corporation is the 2nd largest retail company of the United States of
America it cannot be considered to be a serious rival of Wal-Mart.

6WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Answer 5
The company Amazon.com, Inc. or more simply Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos in
the year 1994, is an American based company which specializes in the sphere of electronic
commerce as well as cloud computing (Amazon Inc. 2018). The company operates in almost
all the nations of the world and is “the 4th most valuable public company in the world at the
moment” (Forbes.com. 2018). Amazon is also the “largest internet company in the world in
terms of revenue and the eight largest employer in the United States of America”
(Forbes.com. 2018). Some of the financial details of the company are listed below-
Figure 3: Financial Statistics of Amazon
Source: Factset, Bloomberg, S&P Cap IQ; Forbes.
The company Amazon though having a lower annual revenue generation than Wal-
Mart is a serious competitor to it. It is interesting to note that in the year 2017, the company
Whole Foods Market was purchased by Amazon (Amazon Inc. 2018). This purchase of the
retail company is seen as a direct challenge to the company Wal-Mart. It is to be noted that
the company provides online commerce facilities wherein they can get anything delivered at
their door steps without having manually to go to the retail stores and the prices which the

7WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
company charges its customers on par with the ones which the customers need to pay at the
retail stores and sometimes even lesser than that (Amazon Inc. 2018). They also provide
regular discounted sales to the customers wherein they can buy all kind of products of which
ever brand they want. It is true that the company Wal-Mart did revolutionize the retail
industry through its use of latest technologies as well as innovations back in the 1970s, 1980s
and 1990s (Fernie and Sparks 2014). However, since then the company has not much
upgraded the technologies used by it. Moreover, the people these days prefer to take the help
of the electronic commerce and it is precisely here that Amazon scores more than Wal-Mart
as it offers better electronic commerce options to the people.
Answer 6
It is to be noted that the present world of technological advancement and innovations
make it mandatory for all major business organizations as well as companies to develop
effective business strategies for the promotion of the goods as well as services offered by
them (Writers 2018). It is often seen that an effective digital market strategy helps in the
overall growth as well as the business organization or company concerned. For example, the
company Amazon follows a rigorous digital marketing strategy which helps to boost its
electronic commerce which it offers to the customers. In synchronization with this particular
view the company Wal-Mart should also develop an effective digital strategy in order to
regain the monopoly which it once used to enjoy. The company first of all should do an
extensive amount of promotion on the various social media channels and other digital
platform about the range of services which it offers. Another thing which the company can do
is to develop their own mobile phone “app” just the way other major electronic commerce
companies use like Amazon, e-bay and others. The company should launch various youth and
other social media campaigns which will increase its popularity among the youths. The

8WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
company can also enhance its reputation by doing collaborative works with the various social
events and award show organizers which will create a positive brand image of the company.
It is interesting to note that a recent article reveals that the annual sales of Wal-Mart is
expected to grow by 40% because of the new digital strategy implemented by them (Writers
2018).
Ramesh Patel at Aragon Entertainment Limited
The protagonist of this case study, Ramesh is obviously very unhappy with the not-so
prompt behavior of Gibson. He needs to make him understand the value that “Days of
Knights” holds not only for the company Aragon Entertainment Limited but for them as well
as the newly elected members of the NHB (Mayo 2018). He needs to deliver a clear message
to his friend that although he has more urgent or pressing tasks to complete but the “Days of
Knights” is more important not only from the company’s perspective but also from their own
personal one as well. It is noted that even after making him understand the behavior of
Gibson does not improves then Ramesh needs to report the behavior of Gibson to the other
members of the NHB.
Danielle Marcoux at AdNet2Win Technologies
Danielle Marcoux is the web designer at AdNet2Win Technologies which was
initially designed by Charles Davide (Mayo 2018). In the recent time, the company is facing
some problems due to the rise of the smart phones. However, when Marcoux tries to bring the
issues of the designs and also to make innovations in the design in the team meetings, Charles
changes the topic to some other irrelevant things (Mayo 2018). Therefore, Marcoux clearly
needs to tell Davide that the entire team needs to discuss the issue which they are facing in
the designing part and more specifically Davide. Davide is probably trying to leave in the

9WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
image of the past however, Marcoux needs to give him a reality check and confront him with
the problems with they are facing.
Mary Griffin at Derby Foods
In this particular case study Mary needs to deliver a message to Simon York, the
brand manager of the company, Derby Foods. It is noted that York noted an aberration in the
labeling of a product and went down to the manufacturing floor to vent out his anger (Mayo
2018). However, this behavior is very much resented by Shelburne, the director of production
(Mayo 2018). Mary needs to make York understand that although he wishes the very best for
the company yet he cannot interfere in the work of other departments. If he has noticed some
kind of aberration he should convey it to Shelburne who would then handle the issue in his
own manner. This kind of behavior is only going to weaken the unity of the management
team.
Michael Lester at Lachlan Consulting
In this particular case study, Michael Lester in a very stiff situation as needs to make a
presentation but has not been provided with adequate amount of information for the same by
his colleague Nadine Roberts, who keeps on derailing it and on top of that his boss Karissa
Gaffner is put pressure on him to deliver results (Mayo 2018). In this situation, he needs to
have a one-on-one conversation with Roberts and tell her the issue which he is facing and
clearly mention the importance of the information which she is delaying in providing and the
stiff situation which it is causing. He also needs to convey clearly and completely all the
activities of Roberts to his Gaffner.

10WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
References
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[Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
Annual Reviews 2018. Annual Reviews. [online] Available at:
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Mar. 2018].
Barney, J.B., 2012. Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive
advantage: The relevance of resource‐based theory. Journal of supply chain
management, 48(2), pp.3-6.
Chekwa, E., Martin, J. and Wells, K., 2014. Riding on the waves of sustained competitive
advantage: consumers’ perspectives on Walmart Corporation. International Journal of the
Academic Business World, 8(2), pp.13-25.
Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new
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11WAL-MART CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Forbes.com. 2018. Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at:
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