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

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

 

 

TOMS Shoes and Sustainability

It is hard to find people who willingly want to make the world better. It is an even harder find to separate social entrepreneurs who are willing to do good but also make a profit on the side. Social entrepreneurs have the task of dealing with a lot of work related stress and all at a cost of nothing. Yet, in the end, the task of giving back free of charge is something to be proud of. One person who knows what exactly will come out of making the world a better place is entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie.

TOMS Shoes has been built up into this remarkably strong brand that is known to be associated to social good. However Blake did not start off with an incredibly good company. As any entrepreneur will tell you starting your own company takes some time and according to Blake it took him four start-up companies and one trip to Argentina to realize his calling. As a volunteer at a shoe drive he had this idea of selling comfortable shoes and implementing this “buy-one-get-one” sale. This type of marketing and sales plan boosted TOMS shoes sales up 10,000 units in its first year and by 2010 they reached as much as 1,000,000 donated shoes.

Of course all of Blake’s success came with some issues of social responsibility, management in global environment, and sustainability. There are a set of forces and conditions outside an organization’s boundary that affect the way TOMS shoes operates and shape its behavior. These forces such as change over time and Blake is faced with opportunities and threats. These threats can come from other companies that thrive in the shoe industry such as Nike. Another task that Blake has to deal with is finding oversea suppliers that offer the lowest-priced and highest-quality products. Once Blake faces this important task the whole global outsourcing concept is easy to manage and will result in maximum profit.

To conclude, TOMS shoes does not have an issue in terms of sustainability and that is simply because their customer base is committed and more than pleased with the company image and brand. TOMS goods and services have proven that in a world where many business elites are concerned with making a profit there are those who are still willing to better the world. In Blake Mycoskie’s terms it is one shoe at a time that will make the world a better place.

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