Walmart’s Business Plan

This report analyzes Walmart's business plan, including its mission, vision, culture, and company description. Learn how Walmart has maintained its low prices and quality products.

Running head: WALMART’S BUSINESS PLAN
Walmart’s Business Plan
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1WALMART’S BUSINESS PLAN
Executive Summary:
From their initial business plan in 1999, Honest Tea Company has been continuously
focusing on many key aspects that builds the identity of the company as a whole. This report
identifies the company’s mission statement, what their culture has been and how they have
been able to maintain the same standard in their products for so long. The report then
analyses how the company had started and what motivated the founders to create such a drink
and maintain the quality over all these years. Then some background on the ownership
change of the company is briefly highlighted to show how the change has not been able to
affect the growth and the culture of the company.

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Table of Contents
1. Objective:............................................................................................................................3
2. Mission, Vision and Culture...............................................................................................3
2.1 Mission........................................................................................................................3
2.2 Vision..........................................................................................................................3
2.3 Culture.........................................................................................................................4
3. Company Description:........................................................................................................4
3.1 Start-up Summary:.......................................................................................................4
3.2 Company Ownership:..................................................................................................5
4. References:..........................................................................................................................6

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1. Objective:
The objective of this report is to analyse the business plan developed by the Sam Welton
when he first started Walmart Inc. What follows in the rest of the report is a breakdown under
various headings that will explain the business plan and what the purpose of company is
based on, from the findings.
2. Mission, Vision and Culture
2.1 Mission
Walmart’s Inc. has maintained their corporate mission, which is to help their consumers
save money and allow them to live better (Walmart, 2018). The company still makes strategic
decisions mainly based on this statement, they use the price of products as their selling point
to attract their target consumer market – they involve their low prices as a great business
strategy.
2.2 Vision
The corporate vision of Walmart Inc. is that they should be the ultimate destination for
people who want to save money for anything they want to buy, not just a specific range of
products. While the low prices are a big selling point for the company, they also maintain
quality of products and the service that the consumers get inside the store (Pope & Pope,
2015). These two latter points have had a big impact in shaping the work culture of the
company. While providing quality goods at low prices, their vision also extends to
maintaining responsible manufacturing of their products so, they are able to maintain the
increase in growth and reputation.

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2.3 Culture
The leaders of the Walmart believe that all their associates contribute greatly to the
growth of the business so their voice needs to be heard. Important initiative made by the
company that have helped it to reduce overall waste produced and the maximization of the
energy efficiency were ideas that were shared by the company’s associates (Elder &
Dauvergne, 2015). Walmart executives know that for them to make their corporate strategy a
reality, they need to give their associates more freedom to express their ideas. This strategy
comes from the company’s slogan of “our values in action”. Every Walmart employee is
encouraged to practice the behaviours that are consistent with the brand’s strategies –
“service to the customer, respect for the individual, strive for excellence and act with
integrity” (Walmart, 2018).
3. Company Description:
3.1 Start-up Summary:
Sam Welton, a former J. C. Penney employee, had bought a brand of Ben Franklin stores
from the Butler Brothers in 1945 (Gopalkrishna, Subramanian & Fleischmann, 2016). Welton
bought this store with the aim that he was going to be selling products at low prices so that he
can earn a higher volume of sales while maintaining a lower profit margin. Initially, Welton
faced various setbacks because the of the price of rent of the branch, however once he was
able to associate with lower-cost suppliers, other than the ones that are already being used by
other stores. Welton’s strategy of growing a successful business around offering lower prices
while maintaining good quality to its consumers was not well appreciated by his competitors,
as they did not think that he would be able to make it work.
However, with this strategy, Welton was able to increase his sales by almost 45% in his
first year. Less than 20 years later, Welton opened the first Walmart. The company has now

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spread across the world with around 11,300 stores functioning presently in the U.S and also
internationally.
3.2 Company Ownership:
Walmart quickly earned the title of being the most profitable retailer in the US and also
became the largest in terms of revenue. This allows the company to manifest a significant
hold over its suppliers. Walmart is a family owned business which is publicly traded - they
were listed on the NYSE in 1972. Many of the shares that have invested in the company is
owned by the Walton family, and various other institutions and private investors.
Doug McMilon became the CEO of Walmart in 2014, after working as the head of Sam’s
Club and of Walmart International. In 2015, Walmart was able to report a net income of
almost US$17 billion and almost $500 billion in revenue. According to Forbes, Walmart has
now been ranked #18 in the list of public corporations. Every year, the shareholders of the
company decide the members of the twelve-member board of directors. Tom Coughlin was
appointed the position of vice chairperson of Walmart but he was later denounced since he
was convicted of wire fraud and tax evasion due to theft of thousands of dollars from the
company’s funds (Nassauer, 2016).

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4. References:
Pope, D. G., & Pope, J. C. (2015). When Walmart comes to town: Always low housing prices?
Always?. Journal of Urban Economics, 87, 1-13.
Elder, S. D., & Dauvergne, P. (2015). Farming for Walmart: the politics of corporate control and
responsibility in the global South. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 42(5), 1029-1046.
Gopalakrishna, P., Subramanian, R., & Fleischmann, D. (2016). Walmart in India. Journal of the
International Academy for Case Studies, 22(3), 99.
Our History. (2018). Retrieved from https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-history
Nassauer, S. (2016). Former Wal-Mart Executive Tom Coughlin Was Sam Walton Protégé: 1949-
2016. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-wal-mart-
executive-tom-coughlin-was-sam-walton-protege-1949-2016-1459718218
Schuetz, J. (2015). Why are Walmart and Target next-door neighbors?. Regional Science and Urban
Economics, 54, 38-48.