Costco Case Study

Within business, performing environmental scans involving the comparison and measurement of external and internal business is extremely important as it helps in the strategy development process which has a direct influence on business success.
Environmental Scan Value creation and building is an essential part of any strategy directed at obtaining and sustaining competitive advantages against any company’s rivals. Strategic business planning must focus upon financial record keeping and the modifications required managing the process, also being aware of the actions and status of external sources is imperative. Keep in mind that the attainment of external business intelligence must adhere to ethical practices and procedures, failing to do
Costco has developed a brand named Kirkland. The Kirkland brand has the Costco expectation to be equivalent or better than national brands. A continual product improvement is the exact objective for the maximum competing goal. Product quality and price comparison is continuously revisited by the internal Costco research team. Sam’s club is a division from the Wal-Mart Corporation. Although Sam’s and Costco have a close race, there is an outstanding difference when considering the research that goes into product expectations and supplier preference. Costco is very similar to Sam’s but in resent comparison Costco has beat out many companies in the same bulk market. Costco and Sam’s have excellent programs for their employees and team effort climate has both companies at an outstanding stance to overall organizational
As of 2005 research demonstrates that Wal-Mart was unstoppable and created strife for small local businesses and destroyed many small businesses. Wal-Mart is an unstoppable force and revenues of $247 billion with a growth of 15% a year. Wal-Mart is known to drive companies like Kmart to bankruptcy. Enter Costco that is the competitor that has shaken Wal-Mart’s reigning posture and caused a stir in businesses processes. Costco’s is approximately 30% the size of Wal-Mart and Costco competes against Sam’s approach to bulk sales. Sam’s has had quit the strife among battling for a top position. During the past 20 years Sam’s has had more than 5 CEO’s and has incorporated many strategies in order to try to gain control of top business command. All these ploys have been smothered by Costco’s array of visual space and prestigious options. Consider some figures. Sam's Club has 71% more U.S. stores than Costco (532 to 312), yet for the year ended Aug. 31, Costco had 5% more sales ($34.4 billion vs. an estimated $32.9 billion). The average Costco store generates nearly double the revenue of a Sam's Club ($112 million vs. $63 million), (Helyar,