Walmart Case Study

Wal-Mart, although one to the largest and most productive organizations in the world, faces many threats and challenges. Critics and groups everywhere are lining up to take shots at this global giant and destroy its image. Some of Wal-Mart’s current challenges can be seen in daily operations, its internal and external environment, product sourcing, healthcare, wages, communities, diversity, employee benefits, and social challenges. Though these challenges or weaknesses pose a very large threat to the organization, they also pose great opportunities to turn them into strengths. If these challenges are met correctly, Wal-Mart stands to gain a great amount of profit and respect among its critics.
Priorities for the 21st Century
In Lee Scott’s “Wal-Mart: Twenty-First Century Leadership” address he discussed several priorities he felt Wal-Mart must improve upon. These priorities established through the use of strategic management included the environment, product sourcing, healthcare, wages, communities, and diversity. In Scott’s address he insisted upon staying true to founder Sam Walton’s vision statement; to help people all over by doing what was right for the country while recognizing the opportunity for better business.
With the vision statement always in mind, Wal-Mart has still received continuous criticism. The criticism mostly comes from customers, associates, citizen groups, government leaders, non-profit and non-government organizations, and other concerned individuals. In order to better understand the source of the criticism and the impact Wal-Mart has on the world and society, Scott, along with several other executives spent a year meeting and listening to their critics. By consistently LISTENING Scott and his team discovered their critics don’t want Wal-Mart to stop conducting business, but they believed business practices needed to be changed. This meeting to understand the critics’ opinions became very informal and important because