Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 2009 Case Study

Executive Summary

No word better describes Wal-Mart than growth. From being Ben Franklin franchisees in Newport, Arkansas, to the numerous company-owned stores—now called Wal-Mart—the company indeed knows how to survive the times. From one discount department store opened in 1962, it now has 4,528 stores in the U.S. alone, and 3,615 stores internationally in Central and South American countries, as well as developed Asian countries namely China and Japan.

Wal-Mart has been fairly doing well in its financial position, with stable amounts and trends. However, some external and internal factors aside from financials test the company. External factors such as strengths and weaknesses of the discount store industry, the needs of customers, regulations of the countries they operate in, their competitors, and union issues were considered. External factors analysis reveals that Wal-Mart has been able to successfully obtain opportunities to lessen the impact of threats. As for internal issues, employment good and bad practices, its customer-oriented approach, philanthropy and community involvement, technology, rural town issues and management practices were considered. All in all, Wal-Mart has been able to take advantage of strengths to overcome its weaknesses. Different strategies could be arrived at using an analysis of the internal and external factor evaluations. Furthermore, matrices show that Wal-Mart should pursue market penetration, market development, product development, backward integration, forward integration, and horizontal integration. The group has selected three alternatives, which are: expansion into Asian countries, investment in Research and Development, and offering more services inside the store aside from 1-hour photo-processing and music downloads. Overall, expansion into Asian countries has been considered the best alternative and will involve further development in Japan and China, and opening new stores or acquiring stores in...