WALMART-international corporation Research Paper

WALMART-international corporation - Research Paper Example The company has worked very hard to get into this position by pursuing right strategies in both national and international regions. The organization thrives as an efficient merchandiser with effective processes and systems. These strategies have contributed to the overall buying power, superior growth and leadership in various systems such as logistics and supply chain. The company is headquartered at Bentonville, Arkansas, United States. The company has established more than eighty-five thousands stores across the globe. Product portfolio of the company includes, apparel, footwear specialty, supercenter, discount store, warehouse club, cash & carry, superstore, hypermarket and supermarket. The strategies of corporate management include selling products of high quality and high brand name and it lowest prices (David 293-298). The low prices are kept by reducing the overall operational costs through the use of advanced and unique electronic technology and unmatched warehousing. Mercha ndising deals are negotiated directly from the manufacturers which eliminate the work of middle men and save a lot of costs. The community outreach of Wal-Mart is focused on various goals such as involvement with local community services, customer satisfaction, providing scholarships for higher studies etc. The major emphasis of the company is on environmental and child issues. Mission and Goals Mission and goals are the building blocks of an organization. They guide the actions of an organization and define the goals and objectives. Whether an organization is big or small, to have a mission is the first step for setting up a business. The mission and purpose of Wal-Mart is to save the money of its customers so that they can have a better life. Apart from that, the purpose of the company is derived from the philosophy of the company’s founder. The motto of the retail giant is to work together and lower the living cost for everyone (Ahmed 23-30). This will provide an opportuni ty for the world in terms of saving money and enjoying a better life. Core Competencies Competitive advantage for Wal-Mart lies in its ability of cost differentiation and strong distribution channel across the globe. Cost leadership and distribution strategy of Wal-Mart has created barrier for competitors to copy the strategy of Wal-Mart (Gagnon 130-135).Expanded distribution channel of the company has helped them to sell products to large base of customers and increase market saturation for competitors. Wal-Mart follows a low cost leadership strategy. Macroscopic view of Wal-Mart’s competitive strategy shows that the company uses a resource based model in order to develop a value chain proposition which can’t be matched by competitors. With the help of the resource based view (RBV) model, it can be summarized that Wal-Mart has three major resources which are tangible, intangible and human resources, in order to create and maintain strategic capabilities. Resource capa bilities of Wal-Mart can be explained in the following manner. Access to both tangible and intangible resources has helped Wal-Mart to achieve the capabilities which has established the departmental chain as a global market leader.