Wal-Mart stores serve millions of customers globally each day – and they do their best to make certain that the products on their shelves are a sign of the diverse needs and wants of their customers. Wal-Mart states they are focused on four strategies and the top one is becoming truly global. (Wal-Mart Stores Factsheets). In 2010, Wal-Mart reduced the plastic bag waste across their global operations by 47.95 million pounds, or approximately 3.5 billion bags. This represents a 21 percent reduction from our 2007 baseline. In Chine in 2010 reduced the waste by 84percent using 2007 as a baseline. Wal-Mart wants to stay on top globally where economics is concerned as well as employment, zero waste, lowest prices and the list goes on. Wal-Mart so far has stayed on top as having the lowest prices and having the highest profit by working with and training local people to work while helping to improve the lives of the local people. Wal-Mart has three basic beliefs within their company: Respect for the individual, Service to their customers and Striving for Excellence. In October 2010 Wal-Mart announced an acceleration of their global commitment to sustainable agriculture. By doing this they are matching farmers with markets, reducing food waste while motivating farmers to supply their chain. Through another program they work directly with the farmers to encourage safe cultivation of seasonal vegetables in an effort to reduce waste and improve the quality.…
With stores located in 27 countries, globalization has had a profound effect on all four functions of management within Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart created plans to meet the environmental goals of being completely supplied by renewable energy, creating zero waste, and selling products that sustain the environment. Wal-Mart’s management has exhibited the ability to organize, diversify, and expand their supply chain resulting in the expansion of their brand to other countries. As Wal-Mart seeks to build their financial, physical, and human resources in other countries; they become reliant on local workers to operate and manage the stores. Local workers also assist the organizations ability to connect with potential customers. Every organization requires good leadership and Wal-Mart ensures its leaders drive the company toward its goals of protecting the environment. Wal-Mart leadership actively mobilizes workers and meets goals. The leadership helps to ensure that Wal-Mart remains one of…
Industry and Company Background Kroger is the largest grocery store chain in the United States with 2424 supermarkets located in 31 states. It focuses on high quality products and has a wide range of selection. Each supermarket carries almost 50,000 items to satisfy its ever growing diversified customer base. Safeway is the second largest superstore chain in the country. It operates 1641 stores across western and central region of North America. Safeway emphasizes customer shopping experience and superior customer service. Both companies are in the retail industry and compete heavily across several states in the country. In addition to competing with a number of other grocery chains, Wal-Mart is identified as a major competitor for both firms. (Exhibit 1-1) Besides competition, Kroger and Safeway are concerned with key macroeconomic and internal factors. GDP is highly correlated with sales in the retail industry hence personal disposable income is the most critical macroeconomic factor for retail firms’ operating performance. When individuals have more disposable income, they spend more money in the retail industry. As for internal factors, critical success factors for both Safeway and Kroger include focusing on profitability via cost control and focusing on value creation due to the competitiveness of the industry, customer’s budget concerns, and low switching cost. Kroger is able to offer competitive costs for its private label products by backwards integrating and manufacturing 40% of its corporate brand product. Additionally, Kroger is aiming to reduce the costs of energy by pursuing green initiatives. This program includes the installation of wind turbines for the Turkey Hill Dairy that has allowed Kroger to save over 25% on its electricity bill over the last two years. (Smith and Sweet, 2013) As a result, the energy saving initiative adds up to cost savings of $160 million a year on electricity alone. Safeway, on the other…
The dollar general co. takes a pro-action approach toward social responsibility, they have taken steps to better the community and environment. In 2008 the corporation implemented and enforced green policies in all of their stores, offices and distribution centers, such as reuseable shopping bags and a recycling program. The dollar general seems to be ahead of the game when it comes to “green” marketing.…
In Organization Theory and Design, Richard Daft defines Benchmarking as, “…the process of persistently measuring products, services, and practices against tough competitors for other organizations recognize as industry leaders” (2013). Even though Walmart is, in essence, a benchmark in their respective industry, benchmarking itself against other retail giants would benefit the company especially in areas such as technology so as to continue to challenge the company to grow and outperform their competition. Mike Duke, CEO of Walmart Stores Inc, stated that, “Technology will drive all sorts of changes, especially in our industry. And our competitors will be even more nimble and innovative” (Duke, 2010).…
Wal-Mart is a giant of the retailing industry yet is not immune to the pressures of globalized trade, supply, and competition. Wal-Mart’s profit sustainability is always ‘in doubt’ unless it continues to fight off various competitive conglomerates or large size retailers such as Amazon and Target. Mergers on the scale of Wal-Mart are rare yet the marketplace shifts based on the continued expansion of physical and online retailers like Amazon and Amazon’s many partner/provider organizations. To stay ahead of the various operational and governmental threats, Wal-Mart’s focus is on maintaining their low cost…
Green designs and environmentally friendly strategies are also adopted in the supply chain. Within warehouses and distribution centers, energy conservation strategies to help targets reducing energy consumption. Low voltage lighting, and conduct regular facility inspections to indentify environmental gaps, optimizing routes to reduce loads and fewer trips would also contribute towards a greener supply chain. Greener transportation could use opportunities to reduce carbon emission with less fuel consumption and transportation idle time. Launching green initiatives to reduce…
Sustainability has become a great topic of interest in many arenas. Particularly, leading organizations are recognizing sustainability needs to be an essential aspect of their long term strategies. With this recognition, better business practices are being sought by investors as well as sustainability is becoming a driving force for better efficiencies and innovation. Two organizations, Wal-Mart and Starbucks, have both took on sustainability as long term initiatives to address their customer needs and affect how their suppliers operate.…
I decided to research the competing stores of Walmart and Target. Sam Walton opened his first store in Arkansas in 1962. His visions included helping customers and communities save money and live better. Walmart was considered the nation’s top retailer by the 90’s and enjoyed its first $100 billion sales year by 1997. In the New Millennium, “Walmart made a major commitment to environmental sustainability, announcing goals to create zero waste, use only renewable energy and sell products that sustain people and the environment. (www.walmart.com)” “ In 2010, Walmart launched a global commitment to sustainable agriculture, aiming to strengthen local farmers and economies, while providing customers access to affordable, high-quality food. (www.walmart.com)” Walmart celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2012 and currently employs over 2.2 million associates worldwide and serves 200 million customers each week at more than 10,000 stores in 27 countries. According to the Walmart website, their core beliefs are service to our customers, respect for the individual, and strive for excellence and to act with integrity. After some research, it appears that the organizational culture of Walmart is still subject to an authoritarian culture. Authoritarian means favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom. The culture is viewed this way after multiple lawsuits against Walmart from their employees regarding wages, work hours, and advancement opportunities. There are many female employees of Walmart that would like to be eligible for promotions to management, however Walmart has made it difficult for women to take those positions. They have created the management structure in a way that most women are simply unable to accept. They do this by making relocation a fixed policy for management positions.…
At the start of the video it talks about the transportation revolution that took place between 1815 and 1860. The outbreak of the civil war is what actually leads to the revolution coming to an end. In the video, the author compares the lives of two artists while in America and significant differences are noted in the kinds of lives they both led. There were several innovations that took place during this era that led to mega changes in this field of transportation. The video outline the various difficulties encountered by early travelers. In this article we take time to engage the video on various aspects.…
Nowadays, customers are concerned with “going green”. Many small and large companies such as Wal-Mart are jumping on the bandwagon for coming up with a “green marketing”. Investors are now making decisions not only based on financial data but also what are the environmental consequences an activity organized by the company will contribute to. Being that Wal-Mart is a known company, their main objective is to build on the company image. They have vowed to reduce its greenhouse emissions from the products it sells to the trucks that deliver them (Friedman, 2007).…
* PwC states in their brochure page 4“..providing a uniquely informed perspective on how sustainability drives decision-making for suppliers, customers and end users”…
Denend, L. (2010, June 12). Walmart 's sustainability strategy (C): Inventory management in the sea-food supplu chain. Retrieved March 26, 2012, from www.gsb.stanford.edu: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/scforum/login/documents/OIT71.pdf…
Today, as we invest in the future of our business, we are committed to building on our proud legacy of responsible corporate citizenship by advancing social, environmental and ethical standards across our operations. At J. C. Penney Co., we are working to integrate sustainability into everything we do, from our global supply chain to the environmental impact of our stores. J. C. Penney Co. has a clear focus on operational efficiency, utilizing programs to manage energy consumption, reduce waste and encourage recycling across all approximately 1,100 stores and 14 logistics facilities. Through the Company's energy conservation efforts, J. C. Penney Co. has received ENERGY STAR certification in over 500 locations and earned the ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award for five consecutive years" (J. C. Penney Company, Inc.,…
One physical trait that i share with my family is that we all have nice eyebrows. For me specially my eyebrows look nice only when i get a haircut. For my family having nice eyebrows is important because thats what were known for to have nice looking eyebrows. My little has nice eyebrows actually both of my little brothers do. My mom has amazing looking eyebrows, my father doesnt. My moms side of the family has nice eyebrows they all have very nice eyebrows. There is not a single person on my moms side of the family that doesnt have nice eyebrows and if they dont then something must be wrong with them or maybe they didnt have time to do them. Looking good is one thing that this family takes very serious not only with what we wear but also our facial hair. My eyebrows look ugly now because i havent gotten a haircut but when i do imma make sure that my eyebrows look super nice just so i can keep the family eyebrow tradition going and i will keep it for my kids and hopefully my kids will do the same with there kids. Getting my eyebrows done might seem weird but its not i mean celebraties do it all the time i dont see why i cant do it. Eyebrows must always look nice or else i will be forever mad at the world. My little brother has thin eyebrows he gets it from my mother i have thick eyebrows but i get it from my father. Hopefully my kids will always have nice looking eyebrows no matter what and also will my little brothers…