Walmart Corporate Strategy South Africa
Question One:
Identify an organisation of your choice and provide a brief description of the organisation in terms of issues such as history, industry, products and services.
Walmart was founded in 1962, with the opening of its first store in Rogers Arkansas. In 1969 the company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated. In 1970 the company was floated on the New York Stock exchange.
By 1980 the company had 276 stores in 11 states under the Wal-Mart banner. The first store that was opened outside of the USA was near Mexico City in 1991. This signalled the start of Wal-Mart being an international company. Currently Wal-Mart operates in 27 countries under 69 different banners. We recently saw the acquisition of Massmart in South Africa which incorporated the Game, Dion Wired, Makro and Builders Warehouse group of companies.
For the financial year 2011-2012 the Wal-Mart group turnover was approximately $444 Billion. Wal-Mart employs +- 2 million people worldwide at its stores. This makes it one of the largest companies in the world and the largest in the retail sector.
The industry that Wal-Mart trades in is retail direct to the public. Wal-Mart sells high end electronic goods as well as general consumer goods. Groceries are high on the list of products sold in Wal-Mart and constitute a large percentage of the turnover done by the company.
The greatest attribute to the success of the Wal-Mart group is their logistic knowledge. By shortening the link between the consumer and supplier Wal-Mart is able to deliver the same goods as other retail outlets but at a much lower cost to the consumer. This is a founding principle of the founder of the Wal-Mart group.
Mr. Sam Walton stated that “If we work together, well lower the cost of living to everyone, we will give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life”
Keeping his philosophy in mind, the entire Wal-Mart group operates under these principles. By increasing the
Identify an organisation of your choice and provide a brief description of the organisation in terms of issues such as history, industry, products and services.
Walmart was founded in 1962, with the opening of its first store in Rogers Arkansas. In 1969 the company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated. In 1970 the company was floated on the New York Stock exchange.
By 1980 the company had 276 stores in 11 states under the Wal-Mart banner. The first store that was opened outside of the USA was near Mexico City in 1991. This signalled the start of Wal-Mart being an international company. Currently Wal-Mart operates in 27 countries under 69 different banners. We recently saw the acquisition of Massmart in South Africa which incorporated the Game, Dion Wired, Makro and Builders Warehouse group of companies.
For the financial year 2011-2012 the Wal-Mart group turnover was approximately $444 Billion. Wal-Mart employs +- 2 million people worldwide at its stores. This makes it one of the largest companies in the world and the largest in the retail sector.
The industry that Wal-Mart trades in is retail direct to the public. Wal-Mart sells high end electronic goods as well as general consumer goods. Groceries are high on the list of products sold in Wal-Mart and constitute a large percentage of the turnover done by the company.
The greatest attribute to the success of the Wal-Mart group is their logistic knowledge. By shortening the link between the consumer and supplier Wal-Mart is able to deliver the same goods as other retail outlets but at a much lower cost to the consumer. This is a founding principle of the founder of the Wal-Mart group.
Mr. Sam Walton stated that “If we work together, well lower the cost of living to everyone, we will give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life”
Keeping his philosophy in mind, the entire Wal-Mart group operates under these principles. By increasing the