SWOT analysis

“Wal-Mart… do they like make walls there?” – Paris Hilton

Posted on by f1232adurakovic

Contrary to celebrity Paris Hilton’s beliefs, as a leading distributor in the retail industry, Walmart has established a firm market position and great understanding of what consumers today look for in a shopping experience. Their position would not be possible without a very important function in management. Walmart is currently using the function of management known as leading which articulates a clear vision.

 

This consists of energizing and enabling organizational leader that understand the part they play in attaining Walmart’s organizational goals. This type of motivation and coordination further expands Walmart’s leadership image as they express power, personality, influence persuasion, and communication skills that keep their activates in harmony.

 

Recent challenges, though, have veered Walmart’s success into a critical state. Multiple lawsuits have damaged the company image such as the “sexism” case that was presented before Supreme Court. One of the six women, Christine Kwapnowski, named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit says she was pulled ahead of pay and promotion in favor of male colleagues.

 

“For Wal-Mart, the lawsuit represents an unwelcome return to the spotlight. A drawn-out class-action lawsuit would make it the poster company for gender equity issues. For much of the past decade, Wal-Mart was seen as responsible for all sorts of societal woes….the exporting of the nation’s manufacturing capabilities to China, and the decline in companies providing health insurance” (Gross, Daniel, Women vs Walmart: Supreme Court Hears Argument in Sexual Discrimination Suit).

 

 

Walmart should be noticed for their strengths in the retail industry rather than the current challenges they face with publicity. They have grown significantly over the years and have even considered expanding globally with their recent purchase of ASDA retailers located in the United Kingdom. Their greatest strength is the focused strategy human resources management and development. Here, Walmart invests time and money in training employees and updating I.T. support on its international logistics system which helps track products domestically and internationally.

 

On the other hand, Walmart’s large size in inventory could leave the company weak as control becomes more complex despite its technological innovation of tracking individual products. Also, because customers are so intuitive, Walmart’s low prices have them questioning the quality of the goods. Despite these weaknesses, Walmart has had some external factors or opportunities that contribute to its success. Expansion into other countries is the largest of these opportunities as well as home delivery order for the immobile or “lazy” consumer. Lastly, in the times of recession, customers are always looking to save money which is something Walmart mainly advocates.

 

Lastly, there are threats that can challenge Walmart’s booming access. Local competitors such as mom-and-pop and small business stores dislike the arrival of Walmart so they might encourage banning or defacing the company in anyway possible. Also, the current economy plays a threat as the per capita increases, the less customers are concerned about saving. Tariff taxes, employee unions as well as warehouse retailers like Costco may also be threats to the company.

 

So what do you think are Walmart’s strengths and weaknesses? Do they have any other opportunities or threats? If so, could these attributes better or worsen the company?

 

 

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Sources

http://marketingmixx.com/marketing-basics/swot-analysis-marketing-basics/156-wal-mart-swot-analysis.html” http://marketingmixx.com/marketing-basics/swot-analysis-marketing-basics/156-wal-mart-swot-analysis.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/women-vs-walmart-supreme-court-hears-argument-sexual-20110329-042243-410.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/opinion/22Lichtenstein.html

 

 

Changes for the Better

Posted on by dounyah301s12

I currently work at one of the top leading financial institutions of the world. It can be compared to a Walgreens, due to how many locations we have.   Recently in class, we discussed what is known as the SWOT analysis. Majority of companies create their own SWOT analysis to determine where they stand amongst competitors.

Three months ago, my financial institution has changed its focus from selling aggressively to the customer to primarily focusing on improving our customer service skills. Our district manager informed us that our bank has undergone some changes due to the fact that we are on the same level as our competitors, rather than surpassing them. As a branch, we disussed our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of our team.

We concluded that our strengths were the products we sold and how each of them varied to fit the customers needs. We also had another strength which was brand recognition. Customers already knew of our company and what products and services it had to offer, without the need of advertising it so much. When it came to discussing our weaknesses, opportunities and threats, the three coincided with one another. We realized in order to stand out from the rest of the other financial institutions, we had to change our attitude. Meaning we had to become more personable with our customers. We needed to become more open and more friendlier than before. Our bank was so focused on making profit that we forgot about how we should treat our customers.  Our branch manager guided us by giving us tips on how to offer the best customer service. As the months passed by, we have received many letters and emails sent to our manager telling him how amazing our staff is. With this, came an increase in referrals. Since our customer service was booming, customers came back more and more, and in return they opened more accounts and referred family and friends.

Overall, I believe that if a company were to create their own SWOT analysis, they can benefit greatly. They can improve tremendously just by tweaking with a few things. All in all, customers  should be the main focus at all times. A pleased customer equals a great sale in the long run. A company should always find ways to outshine its competitors, and the SWOT analysis is a great tool to use and it benefited our company positively!

 

Do you believe that in order for a company to be successful, management should include all the staff members in discussions on how to improve the company overall, rather than just have the upper management brainstorm?