Running Head: Draft: Wal-Mart 1 11 Draft: Wal-Mart General Education Capstone Crystal Sims February 9, 2016 Introduction Wal-Mart has been one of the organizations in the forefront of initiating partnerships with the community in its operations (Fishman, 2012). As a result, the organization has initiated programs to reinforce the commitments of stimulating economic development, expanding access to the affordable groceries and creating quality jobs within the city. It is among the biggest corporations not only in America but across the globe with more than 1 million employees and with revenue that exceeds $250 billion (Berg & Roberts, 2012). It is a corporation experiencing a steady growth which has been attributed to the innovative and the revolutionary business strategies emphasizing complicated chain management and cutting on the overall operational costs. It has adopted business models that have transformed patterns used in the retail and wholesale trade. This is in addition to the adoption of the latest logistics strategies involving the transportation and the distribution of the commodities (Brunn, 2014). Wal-Mart has been offering a wide variety of products at relatively lower prices than most of its competitors. Moreover, the company adopts most of the intelligent people as its employees, and this makes it generate a considerable amount of sales as well as property tax for the locally residing communities (Berg & Roberts, 2012). Wal-Mart historical background Wal-Mart evolved from the Walton’s zeal for value and great customer service and opened Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas in 9162 (Ferguson, 2015). Many of the competitors thought offering great discount for customers would never work. Much to the surprise among the competitors the idea even went beyond Sam’s expectations. Wal-Mart became public in 1970 and proceedings greatly financed the business expansion (Wal-Mart, 2015) .Sam credited the expansion of the business not only in the low prices offered but also to the business associates. This is because, he depended on them to give a great experience to the customers that would continuously enable them to always come back. Sam made his vision become known among his associates in ways which were almost unheard within the industry. He partnered with the associates to enhance the success of the organization.as the stores began to grow, so did his aspirations (Wal-Mart, 2015). He began experimenting with new stores, bringing new approaches and best retail technologies. His fearlessness in setting the prices below the market standard created more value in the customers which has enabled it to be one of the largest retail chains in the world. After receiving a Medal of Freedom, he died in 1992 although his left a continuous legacy (Vance, Scott, & Perkins, 2014). Research methodology The research involved a review of the corporation.

1. Running Head: Draft: Wal-Mart
1
11
Draft: Wal-Mart
General Education Capstone
Crystal Sims
February 9, 2016
Introduction
Wal-Mart has been one of the organizations in the forefront of
initiating partnerships with the community in its operations
(Fishman, 2012). As a result, the organization has initiated
programs to reinforce the commitments of stimulating economic
development, expanding access to the affordable groceries and
creating quality jobs within the city. It is among the biggest
corporations not only in America but across the globe with more
than 1 million employees and with revenue that exceeds $250
billion (Berg & Roberts, 2012). It is a corporation experiencing
a steady growth which has been attributed to the innovative and
the revolutionary business strategies emphasizing complicated
chain management and cutting on the overall operational costs.

2. It has adopted business models that have transformed patterns
used in the retail and wholesale trade. This is in addition to the
adoption of the latest logistics strategies involving the
transportation and the distribution of the commodities (Brunn,
2014). Wal-Mart has been offering a wide variety of products at
relatively lower prices than most of its competitors. Moreover,
the company adopts most of the intelligent people as its
employees, and this makes it generate a considerable amount of
sales as well as property tax for the locally residing
communities (Berg & Roberts, 2012).
Wal-Mart historical background
Wal-Mart evolved from the Walton’s zeal for value and great
customer service and opened Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas in
9162 (Ferguson, 2015). Many of the competitors thought
offering great discount for customers would never work. Much
to the surprise among the competitors the idea even went
beyond Sam’s expectations. Wal-Mart became public in 1970
and proceedings greatly financed the business expansion (Wal-
Mart, 2015) .Sam credited the expansion of the business not
only in the low prices offered but also to the business
associates. This is because, he depended on them to give a great
experience to the customers that would continuously enable
them to always come back. Sam made his vision become known
among his associates in ways which were almost unheard within
the industry. He partnered with the associates to enhance the
success of the organization.as the stores began to grow, so did
his aspirations (Wal-Mart, 2015). He began experimenting with
new stores, bringing new approaches and best retail
technologies. His fearlessness in setting the prices below the
market standard created more value in the customers which has
enabled it to be one of the largest retail chains in the world.
After receiving a Medal of Freedom, he died in 1992 although
his left a continuous legacy (Vance, Scott, & Perkins, 2014).
Research methodology
The research involved a review of the corporation’s website and
the database of the online journals which would have prior

3. research reports concerning the operation of the corporation. In
addition, the research also involved an analysis of the various
organizations within the same industries to compare the
operational strategies which have placed the organization in the
global leadership. A review of the surrounding communities was
also done to get some responses on the benefits and partnerships
of the corporations. Due to the aspect of distance and costs,
most of the interviews were done via internet or phone calls.
The project concentrated on the qualitative research
methodology.This is because; qualitative research is best used
to uncover opinions and thoughts and hence enabling to dive
deeper into the research problems. In addition, qualitative
research extends to the ultimate beliefs of the interactive
archetype and employs symbolic discourse consisting of
conversations and texts and hence helping to get the best
opinions for the research.
Results and discussions
Partnerships
The organization has partnered with the community and other
charitable organizations whose profound performances have
changed the lives of the community. In November 2010, Wal-
Mart made an announcement to offer greater job options,
shopping experience, and food choices to the residents of
Washington DC in an effort of expanding the opportunities and
access to the underserved residents in the city (Vedder & Cox,
2012).This was an initiative of increasing community
partnerships between the organization and the community. The
program was launched after listening to the community to
understand better the unique challenges. While Wal-Mart
leverages the scale and size for the purpose of influencing
positive changes in a variety of ways, risks can never be solved
by the company alone. Therefore, partnerships become a crucial
aspect in a way of addressing some common issues which may
finally be of great benefit to both the organization and the
community at large (Vedder & Cox, 2012).Wall-mart is an
alliance of a group of retailers and brands which seek to offer

4. safe working conditions and improving the cooperation and
condition of the surrounding communities.
The Wal-Mart Foundation has been supporting healthy eating,
under relief, career opportunity, environmental sustainability as
well as economic empowerment of the women (Fishman, 2012).
This is in accordance with the belief of making a difference
through cases that are crucial to the both the customers and
neighborhood. The organization has been strengthening the
system of the workforce by helping workers develop skills for
new jobs for the rapidly changing economy. For example, in
2014, Wal-Mart Foundation committed more than $100 million
in a way of helping to boost the economic mobility of workers
entry in the adjacent sectors of the retail industry. Through the
initiative, the organization funded programs aimed to provide
training in the retail industry for more than 30,000 workers and
helped most of them to move to middle skills jobs from entry
levels (Loveless, 2011). This made the organization earn a very
strong repute for the efforts.
Humanitarian considerations
It has also upheld the ethical standards in the community to
make sure that everyone has been incorporated in the operations
(Fishman, 2013). For example, Wal-Mart takes a direct and
strong stance on many issues related to its sales .This has been
portrayed in most of the items that they sell whereby they refuse
to sell items such as games and music with explicit content,
adult magazines and morning after pills. This shows a great
sense of ethics in its operations due to the fact that they forgo
some of the most profitable things so that they can enforce
values that they believe are acceptable within the society
Cross cultural challenges
The culture of wall mart organization has been a great
hindrance to its expansions .Considering the fact that the
organization operates cross-culturally in different countries;
some of the practices have become a challenge within some
countries. For instance, in Germany, the expatriate managers
underwent some cultural clashes when they refused to learn the

5. language. In South Korea, the operation culture involved
centers and departments far from city centers and most of the
Koreans disliked its merchandise as well as the prices and this
led to an immediate closure.
Demonstrate how the organization uses volunteers and the
economic benefits associated with this
Many volunteers have come up to support Wal-Mart achieve its
charitable visions in the community .Of great significance is
the Office of the United Nations which have sent most
volunteers in some of the projects in an effort of building the
resilience of the community worldwide. Based on the statistics,
the foundation has provided more than $40 million in the past
ten years to various countries and regions which been
overburdened by disasters. Wall mart foundation has been
working with local facilities and associates to deliver some of
the benefits to the community (Loveless, 2011). The other
volunteers in most of the Wal-Mart’s community operations are
the Volunteerism Always Pays .Other associates include Facility
Giving and Associate Giving Program. According to the
foundation’s spokesperson, David Tovar, the foundation has not
only been helping the community but have also been benefiting
from such activities.Such activities have set it apart from
various competitions and have also found new ways of
communicating with the customers.Other forms of partnerships
which have been undertaken by the organization includes
donations grants, volunteering, sponsorships, expert advice and
mentoring.The organization has gained some points for its
community partnership and social responsibility. Partnerships
have worked to foster a viable and a healthy society which lead
to the reinvigoration of the local support for the communities
(Litfin, 2011).
Roadblocks
One of the main roadblocks facing the organization is the trend
of shopping habit. In 1990s the organization built a lot of super-
centres. However, due to the process of digitalization many of
the shoppers are using the physical stores as pick up points.

6. This is making the organization to incur extra costs of building
separate pick up points .The other roadblock is the upcoming
competition from different stores. This is because; since the
economic recovery, there are upcoming retailers such as TJ
Maxx, who are offering lower prices and this means that Wal-
Mart should continue lowering the prices which raises a threat
of decreased profits in future. Moreover, the company is facing
pressures of raising the wages of the workers which would also
comprise the profits of the company if they admit to the
demands of the workers.
Organization’s vision for the future
In June 2014, Doug McMillan, Wal-Mart’s CEO affirmed the
future vision of the company and outlined different ways in
which the company would use to serve its customers. The first
one was to be customer driven by making the customers as the
bosses of the company and making the best decisions based on
how to serve them to the best. The second one is to invest in the
people. This is because, based on the CEO, it is the associates
and the people who would make the difference of the
organization. The third one is to lead with urgency by investing
in the technology and innovation.
Areas for improvement
The executives of the organization should re-evaluate the layout
of the stores for easy navigation, from temperature and lighting
of the stores (Watrous, 2015). Moreover, instead of adding
separate pick up points for online shoppers, the company would
consider redesigning the supercentres to fit both the physical
shoppers and the online shoppers to save on costs. Moreover,
the organization should leverage the adjacencies of the
operations such as financial services, care clinics and gas, to
drive high a high traffic to the stores (Harris, 2014).
Furthermore, the organization should improve the assortment
across the merchandise, private label, grocery and fresh food.
Potential ways that I might contribute to the organization
Based on my skills, I would use the customer decision tree to
help the company to understand its customers and analyse its

7. market. This would reveal the role that would be played by the
private labels, which services are substitutable and which
products gain the loyalty of the customers. To reduce the
problem of piled up and expired inventories I would use the
strategy of lowering the prices of the products which are near
the expiry dates to increase the chances of their sales. This
would reduce some losses incurred when some of the expired
products are disposed off.
Conclusions
Wal-Mart is a worldwide corporation in the retail industry
which has been showing a significant growth in its operations.
Its operations are based on values and ethics which make most
of the stakeholders to have interests in its services. This
research is aimed at exploring the corporation to find its ways
of operation and how such operations have impacted the
community as well as the society. It will employ qualitative
research methodology to draw the various conclusions.
It is crucial for organizations to give something back, reconnect
and reinvest in the communities through partnerships. Wal-Mart
is one of the organizations which have given back to the
society.The partnership program has been a two-way
phenomenon in that as it benefits the society, it also enjoys
some positive effects.Some of the partnership initiatives include
sponsorships, training the society in the retail industry ,
donation, grants and many more.

8. Works Cited
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