Walmart Swot Analysis
SWOT ANALYSIS OF WALMART The ‘Fortune 500’ is a list of top 500 companies, with the highest gross revenue in the United States. The list is complied and published on an annual basis by the Fortune magazine, and it includes both publicly and privately held companies arranged in decreasing order of their gross revenue adjusted for excise taxes. The Fortune 500 list was first was published in 1955, and originally included only manufacturing, mining, and energy industries, but now it has been extended to include service companies as well such as life insurance companies, commercial banks, retailers, transportation etc. One company that has been a consistent topper in the list of Fortune 500 is Wal-Mart. It was the largest company in 2007 and 2008, and again in 2010, 2011 and 2013. (Fortune 500) The slogan of the company has been ‘Saving people money so they can live better’. The company believes that the strategy of “Every Day Low Cost” helps the people to save money, and enables them to enjoy a better standard of living. This in turn helps in conserving the environment, reducing hunger and poverty, empowering women and providing access to affordable food. The first Wal-Mart store was opened in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, by Sam Walton at only 44 years old. Mr. Sam, as he was popularly called, was born in 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He initially opened a dime store in 1950. The immediate success of the store inspired Sam to give greater opportunities and values to the customers, by opening the first store of Wal-Mart in 1962. At that time every one believed that the idea of offering excellent service combined with lower prices would not be successful and that a business could not be set up on this model. However, to everyone’s surprise, the company 's immediate success exceeded even Sam 's own expectations. The company therefore went public in 1970. The proceeds from the sale of shares were then used to finance a steady expansion of the business.
Cited: Fortune 500. (n.d.). Retrieved 06 12, 2013, from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/index.html
Walmart Our Story. (n.d.). Retrieved 06 12, 2013, from Walmart: http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/