Wal-Mart Case Study

Wal-Mart

Webster University

Wal-Mart

Introduction

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company was the world's largest public corporation in 2010 by revenue. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. Wal-Mart is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, and it is the largest majority private employer. Walmart is also the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, Walmart generated 51% of its US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from grocery business. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America.

Walmart has 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names. The company operates under its own name in the United States, including the 50 states. It also operates under its own name in Puerto Rico. It operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, in Japan as Seiyu, and in India as Best Price. It has wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. Walmart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in the United Kingdom, South America and China are highly successful, while it was forced to pull out of Germany and South Korea when ventures there were unsuccessful.

Current Threats and Challenges

According to Alvarez and Moser (2010), “On April 26, 2010, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in large part a district court’s certification of an employment discrimination class action involving at least 500,000 (and potentially 1.5 million) female Wal-Mart employees alleging gender bias in pay and promotions in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The class encompasses both salaried and hourly employees in positions ranging from a...