Walmart - Conducting a Business Analysis

Abstract

In 1962 Sam Walton expanded his retail career by opening the first Wal-Mart Discount City Store in Arkansas. Walton continued the growth of this well-known chain at an accelerated pace and soon expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas, reaching 12.6 million in sales. Wal-Mart at this time was on the rise. It began trading stocks as a publicly held company on October 1, 1972 and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Deciding whether or not to invest in this company will take time and extraneous research. As a mutual fund manager making this decision, a SWOT analysis will be conducting as well as looking into other stakeholders needs and wants and the success of Wal-Mart meeting these needs and wants.

Conducting a Business Analysis on Wal-Mart

Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart in 1962. Overtime it has emerged as one of the largest retail stores in the United States. Wal-Mart is ranked number one on the top 10 fortune 500 companies. Stores began trading over-the-counter markets in 1970 and were listed on the New York Stock Exchange two years later (Wal-Mart, 2011). This company is well-known for saving their customers money, by producing quality products at discounted prices. To help with the decision to invest in Wal-Mart a SWOT analysis will be conducted. This analysis will look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company. Other factors that will be considered in this business decision will be the identification of the needs and wants of their internal and external stakeholders and whether or not their issues were successfully met. If not what steps is Wal-Mart contemplating on taking to ensure they are.

While completing this SWOT analysis it was not hard to identify the factors that contributed to this company's success. A strength uncovered was the very low prices Wal-Mart offers their customers. People look for better deals with most products; this is something Wal-Mart excels in. The next strength would be their exceptional customer service. Wal-Mart has three pillars their employees must follow; the Sundown Rule, Ten- Foot Attitude, and Exceeding Customers Expectations. The Sundown Rule means Wal-Mart Strives answer requests by sundown on the day it receives them. The Ten-Foot attitude promises that if an employee comes within ten feet of a customer, the employee must look at the customer in the eye, and ask if the person wants to be helped. Exceeding Customer Expectation comes when customers have been known to send letters to individual associates for giving exceptional service (Wal-Mart: Always the Low Price, 2011). Another strength Wal-Mart has is that the company is made up of five retail divisions. Wal-Mart also has the advantage of being very oriented in supporting