Wal-Mart Case Study

21 Pages 5230 Words

I. Introduction
Wal-Mart is the world’s largest retailer, operating more than 2,600 discount stores, 888 supercenters (including sizable grocery departments), 475 Sam’s Clubs, and 19 Neighborhood Markets in the U.S., plus 1072 foreign stores in Latin America, Europe, Canada, and Asia as of 1/31/01. Sam’s Clubs are membership-only operations in about 475 sites and Mexico and Puerto Rico, averaging about 121,200 sq. ft. Merchandise includes bulk displays of name brand hard goods, some soft goods and institutional size grocery items. Each Sam’s club also carries products such as sporting goods, toys and books; most clubs have fresh food departments
II. Beginning and Early Years
Sam Walton began his retail career as a J.C Penney management trainee and later leased a Ben Franklin-franchised dime store in Newport, Arkansas, in 1945. In 1950 he relocated to Bentonville, Arkansas, and opened a Walton 5. By 1962 Walton owned 15 Ben Franklin stores under the Walton 5 name.
After Ben Franklin management rejected his suggestion to open discount stores in small towns, Walton, with his brother James “Bud” Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. Growth was slow at first, when Wal Stores went public in 1970 with 18 stores sales reached $44 million. It took them until 1980 to reach $1 billion in sales, and then only 16 years later they hit $100 billion in sales.
Sam Walton, a leader with an innovative vision, started his own company and made it into the leader in discount retailing that it is today. Through his savvy, and sometimes unusual, business practices, he and his associates led the company forward for thirty years. Today, nine years after his death, the company is still growing steadily. Wal-Mart executives continue to rely on many of the traditional goals and philosophies that Sam’s legacy left behind, while simultaneously keeping one step ahead of the ever-changing technology ...