Wal-mart Brazil

13 Pages 3331 Words

also to be a leading company for its low operational costs and logistics. Another concern was that the partnership with Lojas Americanas could leverage Wal-Mart businesses in Brazil. Lojas Americanas has been owned by Banco Garantia, an aggressive and very profitable investment bank, since 1989. Only after Banco Garantia assumed Lojas Americanas' management did it achieve the number one position in department store sales. Banco Garantia also has the control of Companhia Cervejaria Brahma, the leading brewer in Brazil and the fifth largest in the world.


Wal-Mart Operations

Sam Walton opened a small store in Newport, Arkansas, in 1945, as a franchisee of variety stores owned by Ben Franklin. Six years later, Walton decided to open his own stores with the name Walton's Five and Dime, referring in the name to the coins that could have value to the customers.

In 1962 the first Wal-Mart Discount Store was opened, but Sam Walton was already known as a very sensitive and clever retailing businessman. Wal-Mart expanded very rapidly. By 1970, when Walton decided to go public in order to accelerate the expansion, as many as 30 Wal-Mart stores had been spread out in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

The fast and consistent Wal-Mart expansion, which enabled the company to achieve the number one position in retailing by surpassing Sears, Roebuck, made his founder and main shareholder, Sam Walton, a legend in the industry. He was the ultimate practitioner of what is now called ñManagement By Walking Aroundî (MBWA), namely, to go to every store, observe the customers and talk to them to find out what they desired and what kind of complaint they might have.

Sam Walton's most famous paradigms, present in his biography ñMade in Americaî are:

Be different
Be close to the customer; be the first one to notice the changes in consumer habits
Simplicity reduces costs
Reinvest all the profits
If you want your staff to take c...