1 Company Overview Walmart Inc is an American multinational retail company. It has its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company has 11,510 stores and clubs in 27 countries. According to the fortune 500 lists, Walmart is the largest company in terms of revenue and the largest private employer globally. Walmart's objective is to provide safe, affordable food and other products to people worldwide (Ellickson, 2016). It aims at achieving the objective in a way that fosters environmental and social sustainability, economic opportunity, and creating value for the community. Walmart Inc provides retail services as its primary product. The company also offers private-label brands, on-demand digital streaming services as well as house brands. Some of the products that are sold in its retail business include foodstuffs, mobile phones, electronics, beauty products, household items, among others. Although the company's international sales dropped in 2020, they accounted for almost 25% of its revenue. The company had net sales of $120.1 billion internationally in 2020. That represents the sales that were made in its operations outside the US. That was a slight drop from 2019 that can be attributed to the world's economic condition in 2020 (Walmart Inc, 2020). The company has some strengths. One of its main strengths is its immense size, which leads to economies of scale. The company can also access a lot of funds, thus growing at a faster rate. The company also has an efficient supply chain enhanced by technological advancement. That ensures that Walmart evades the market risks such as disruption of the supply chain, thus giving the company a competitive advantage. 2 The company also has some weaknesses. The company uses a cost leadership strategy, which is easy to imitate. Additionally, the company earns very thin profits from the products that it sells. The company also lacks other specific competitive differentiators apart from its organizational size and low prices. Thus, it cannot compete with retailers that promote the quality of their goods and services. The company has various opportunities for growth and improvement. It has the opportunity of expanding to developing countries. That is because the cheaper goods have a higher demand in developing countries. The company also can improve its human resource practices by employing highly qualified employees and training the existing employees. Lastly, the company faces some threats. People are turning into healthy lifestyles, and most of Walmart's foods are categorized as unhealthy. The company also faces a threat of competition from both big and small retailers. Competitive Analysis One of the main competitors of Walmart in the global market is Carrefour. In this section, the comparison of the two companies will be analyzed. Both companies are retailers. Therefore, they sell a variety of goods in their retail ...

1. 1
Company Overview
Walmart Inc is an American multinational retail company. It has
its headquarters
in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company has 11,510 stores and
clubs in 27 countries.
According to the fortune 500 lists, Walmart is the largest
company in terms of revenue
and the largest private employer globally. Walmart's objective
is to provide safe,
affordable food and other products to people worldwide
(Ellickson, 2016). It aims at
achieving the objective in a way that fosters environmental and
social sustainability,
economic opportunity, and creating value for the community.
Walmart Inc provides retail services as its primary product. The
company also
offers private-label brands, on-demand digital streaming
services as well as house
brands. Some of the products that are sold in its retail business
include foodstuffs,

2. mobile phones, electronics, beauty products, household items,
among others.
Although the company's international sales dropped in 2020,
they accounted for
almost 25% of its revenue. The company had net sales of $120.1
billion
internationally in 2020. That represents the sales that were
made in its operations
outside the US. That was a slight drop from 2019 that can be
attributed to the world's
economic condition in 2020 (Walmart Inc, 2020).
The company has some strengths. One of its main strengths is
its immense size,
which leads to economies of scale. The company can also access
a lot of funds, thus
growing at a faster rate. The company also has an efficient
supply chain enhanced by
technological advancement. That ensures that Walmart evades
the market risks such
as disruption of the supply chain, thus giving the company a
competitive advantage.
2

3. The company also has some weaknesses. The company uses a
cost leadership
strategy, which is easy to imitate. Additionally, the company
earns very thin profits
from the products that it sells. The company also lacks other
specific competitive
differentiators apart from its organizational size and low prices.
Thus, it cannot
compete with retailers that promote the quality of their goods
and services.
The company has various opportunities for growth and
improvement. It has the
opportunity of expanding to developing countries. That is
because the cheaper goods
have a higher demand in developing countries. The company
also can improve its
human resource practices by employing highly qualified
employees and training the
existing employees.
Lastly, the company faces some threats. People are turning into
healthy
lifestyles, and most of Walmart's foods are categorized as
unhealthy. The company

4. also faces a threat of competition from both big and small
retailers.
Competitive Analysis
One of the main competitors of Walmart in the global market is
Carrefour. In this
section, the comparison of the two companies will be analyzed.
Both companies are
retailers. Therefore, they sell a variety of goods in their retail
outlets. They include
foodstuffs, electronics, clothes, mobile phones, household
items, and beauty products.
Both Carrefour and Walmart use cost leadership strategies as
they offer discounted
prices for their products. Carrefour used supermarkets,
hypermarkets, and discount
stores to reach its customers. On the other hand, Walmart uses
an intensive
distribution strategy. It offers its products in physical stores and
on its e-commerce
platform. Walmart provides discounts for its product and runs
frequent promotions.
On the other hand, Carrefour uses the penetration pricing
strategy, which involves

5. 3
charging low prices.
Collaborator Analysis
Walmart has a successful supply chain. It has reliable suppliers
who supply
products to them. The reliability of the suppliers ensures that
the company does not
experience stock-outs. Walmart has also introduced an e-
commerce marketplace. The
company partners with third-party sellers who sell on their e-
commerce platform. The
company may experience some challenges in the partnerships,
especially with third-
party sellers. That is, if such sellers sell low -quality products, it
will have a negative
implication on Walmart's brand.
PEST Analysis
The PEST analysis indicates the external environment factors
that affect a
company. In this case, the PEST analysis of Walmart will be
explained. It will indicate
the political, economic, social, and technological factors that

6. affect Walmart's
international operations. The political and regulatory factors
may affect Walmart
either negatively or positively. Walmart operates in countries
with high political
stability. That is an opportunity for the business to thrive
(Nguyen, 2017). The
company is affected positively by the political support for
globalization. However, the
company is affected negatively by the political pressure to
increase the minimum
wage. Walmart is under pressure for economic changes. One of
the external economic
factors that affect Walmart is the stability of major economies.
That creates an
opportunity for the company. Another economic factor is the
continuous growth of
developing countries, thus creating another opportunity. It is
also affected by the
changes in interest rates and inflation.
Walmart influences consumer perception and preferences. One
of the social

7. 4
factors that affect Walmart includes the retail market's health
lifestyle trend. That is an
opportunity that can be harnessed. It is also affected by urban
migration and cultural
diversity trends. Walmart should address the technological
trends. That will increase
the company's opportunities and thus make it more competitive
n the market. Some of
the technological factors that affect the company include
increased business
automation, increased mobile device usage among consumers,
and business analytics.
Recommendations
To meet its objectives, the company should come up with
various strategies. In
this section, some recommendations will be given to ensure that
the company
becomes more competitive. One of the strategies that may be
used is to verify the
quality of the products sold by third-party sellers. That will
ensure that they sell goods
with high quality. Secondly, the company should foster the
quality of its products.

8. That will increase its competitive advantage in the market as it
will be known for
high-quality affordable products. The company should also
promote its e-commerce
platform. Currently, Walmart's e-commerce platform is not
well-known. Thus, by
promoting it, the company will ensure its e-commerce
platform's growth.
5
References
Ellickson, P. B. (2016). The evolution of the supermarket
industry: from A & P to
Walmart. In Handbook on the Economics of Retailing and
Distribution. Edward
Elgar Publishing.
Nguyen, T. T. H. (2017). Wal-Mart’s successfully integrated
supply chain and the
necessity of establishing the Triple-A supply chain in the 21st
century. Journal of
Economics & Management, 29, 102-117.
Walmart Inc. (2020). 2020 Annual Report. Corporate.Walmart.

9. https://
corporate.walmart.com/media-library/document/2020-walmart-
annual-report/
_proxyDocument?id=00000171-a3ea-dfc0-af71-
b3fea8490000#:~:text=Walmart%20International%20had%20net
%20sales
MKT 322 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric
Overview
The final project for this course is a paper that will provide a
detailed situational analysis of an international or global retail
company. The project is comprised of
a topic proposal, rough draft, the final paper, and participation
in the final project discussion topic.
Main Elements
To complete your project, you will chose a multinational
retailer from the list below and write a situational analysis on
the international retail operations of the
company. A situational analysis is part of a marketing plan and
includes information about the company, competitors, and
collaborators. As part of the
assignment, you will also complete SWOT and PEST analyses
on the company you choose to focus on.

10. Choose one of the following companies for your term-long
project: Wal-Mart, Tesco, Audi, Brooks Brothers, Dunkin’
Donuts, Versace, H&M, Zara, Carrefour, or
McDonald’s.
The final paper should include the following elements:
information about the objectives or goals of the company’s
international retail division, a
description of the product lines sold through the international
retail division, and a description of how the company is
performing overall and in the
international retail division. It should also include the SWOT
analysis completed in Milestone One.
the company’s closest competitors in the international retail
division and create an
assessment of how your company compares to these competitors
when it comes to product lines, distribution channels, pricing
strategies, and
marketing approaches.
-party
vendors or partners the company uses. These could include raw
materials suppliers or
inventory distributors. Describe the types of collaborators the
company uses and identify potential challenges the company
may encounter when
working with international collaborators.

11. tion, discuss the international retail
environment as it pertains to your company. This should include
information on the
political and regulatory environment, the economic
environment, the social/cultural environment, and the
technological environment.
completed, make three to five marketing recommendations that
your company should take under
consideration in order to best meet the company’s objectives or
goals identified in the company overview section.
Milestone One: Topic Proposal
Format
Your topic proposal should include a brief overview of the
company chosen and specific insights into its international
retail business. It should include a detailed
SWOT analysis of your company, including the company’s
strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities.
Milestone Two: Rough Draft of Final Paper
Milestone Three: Final Paper
This should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of

12. the main elements of the final project. It should reflect the
incorporation of feedback gained
throughout the course. This milestone will be graded using the
Final Product Rubric.
Milestone Four: Final Project Discussion Topic Presentation
Share your final project in the discussion topic, following the
same participation rules as all discussion topics, and give
students meaningful feedback on their
presentations. Please refer to the project description and scoring
guide to review the guidelines for this part of your Final
Project.
Deliverable Milestones
Milestone Deliverables Module Due Grading
1 Topic Proposal Three Graded separately; Final Project Rubric
2 Rough Draft of Final Paper Five Graded separately; Final
Project Rubric
3 Final Draft of Final Paper Seven Graded separately; Final
Project Rubric
4 Discussion Topic Presentation Eight Graded separately;
Discussion Topic Rubric
Rubric

13. Guidelines for Submission: Submit assignment as a Word
document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman
font, and one-inch margins.
Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs
Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value
Main Elements Includes almost all of the main
elements and requirements
and cites multiple examples to
illustrate each element
Includes most of the main
elements and requirements and
cites many examples to illustrate
each element
Includes some of the main
elements and requirements
Does not include any of the
main elements and
requirements
25
Inquiry and Analysis Explores multiple issues
through extensive collection
and in-depth analysis of
evidence to make informed
conclusions
Explores some issues through
collection and in-depth analysis
of evidence to make informed

14. conclusions
Explores minimal issues
through collection and
analysis of evidence to make
informed conclusions
Does not explore issues
through collection and
analysis of evidence and does
not make informed
conclusions
20
Integration and
Application
All of the course concepts are
correctly applied
Most of the course concepts are
correctly applied
Some of the course concepts
are correctly applied
Does not correctly apply any
of the course concepts
10
Critical Thinking Demonstrates comprehensive
exploration of issues and ideas
before accepting or forming an
opinion or conclusion

15. Demonstrates moderate
exploration of issues and ideas
before accepting or forming an
opinion or conclusion
Demonstrates minimal
exploration of issues and
ideas before accepting or
forming an opinion or
conclusion
Does not demonstrate
exploration of issues and
ideas before accepting or
forming an opinion or
conclusion
20
Research Incorporates many scholarly
resources effectively that
reflect depth and breadth of
research
Incorporates some scholarly
resources effectively that reflect
depth and breadth of research
Incorporates very few
scholarly resources that
reflect depth and breadth of
research
Does not incorporate
scholarly resources that

16. reflect depth and breadth of
research
15
Writing
(Mechanics/Citations)
No errors related to
organization, grammar and
style, and citations
Minor errors related to
organization, grammar and style,
and citations
Some errors related to
organization, grammar and
style, and citations
Major errors related to
organization, grammar and
style, and citations
10
Total 100%