Founded by Sam Walton, Wal-Mart is a chain of large discount department stores and a chain of warehouse stores. Wal-Mart’s winning strategy in the U.S. was based on selling branded products at low cost. Wal-Mart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,650 retail units. The company employees more than 2 million associates worldwide. The SWOT analysis of Wal-Mart is given below.
Strengths
- Wal-Mart has strong financial position. According to the Forbes, Wal-Mart is the world’s biggest public corporation by sales in 2010.
- Wal-Mart is the biggest majority private employer and the biggest grocery retailer in the US. In 2009, Wal-Mart generated 51% of revenue from grocery business in the US.
- Wal-Mart has 8500 stores in 15 countries, with 55 different names. The corporation functions beneath its own name in the US, including the 50 states.
- Wal-Mart has highly successful operations in the South America, UK, and China.
- They are providing wide range of services and products under one roof with guaranteed satisfaction.
- Wal-Mart is the number one retail-variety hoard in the world.
Weaknesses
- Wal-Mart had some unsuccessful ventures in few countries; it was forced to pull out of the South Korea and Germany.
- Wal-Mart does not have formal mission statement; the mission statement does not clearly states the type of business Wal-Mart is in.
- There are various criticisms about the issues with the company’s labor relations.
- Wal-Mart does not have any unions; this gives a perception that the organization is treating its employees poorly.
- Wal-Mart’s top management is dominated by few females and minority employed.
- They do not have any research and development facility to open any store.
- Earnings per share, average collection period, and fixed turnover ratios are not good.
- Wal-Mart has the slowing speed of the depart lines due to frequent number of consumer. This may result in the switch of consumers to other stores.
Opportunities
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