Strategic Planning For Wal-Mart

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Strategic Planning For Wal-Mart

Introduction

An outstanding strategy at macro level of a company includes a system being made of interlined components precisely (William 2006). The progressive integration of the world economy and the associated increase in the complexity of the task accomplishment pose significant challenges to the management of modern enterprises. The key drivers of this process are political-administrative (successive liberalization, deregulation and privatization) and specialized divisions (improved transport, information and communication technologies). Steadily rising international commodity, financial and investment support in this global economic development and accelerate at the same time increases the international competition in the market. This increases the importance of marketing planning for the company, because without a well defined and effective marketing plan a company will not survive in the present day competitive environment.

In this paper, we have selected Wal-Mart for our analysis and we will assess company objectives and growth strategies. Furthermore the organizations current and future strategies would be discussed in detail in order to get the strategies firstly we need to look at their score card as well, in which strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats will be discussed.

History of Wal-Mart

In January 2011, Seiyu announced plans to expand its online supermarket service to 125 stores by the end of 2011, and to 350 stores by the end of 2013. Seiyu aims to increase the number of online supermarket members by 10-fold and their sales by 20-fold during 2011-15. In the same month, Wal-Mart Canada announced plans to open 40 supercentres in FY2012. The project includes construction of new stores, and expanding, remodeling or relocating existing stores (Bernstein 2000). While the switch away from lower-priced Wal-Mart to other retailers may please manufacturers which have had to face up to the associated issues of the company's move towards cutting brands and raising the profile of its private label products, many will be wondering whether this is a trend or a blip in Wal-Mart's sales development. Wal-Mart's sales downturn is set against the backdrop of better-than-expected sales for department stores, with the two points together suggesting that fears that consumers had permanently changed their buying habits may have been overblown (Nelson 2006). While Wal-Mart highlighted issues that it had faced in the fourth quarter, it did admit that it had experienced “a slight decrease in traffic”, suggesting that consumers were switching purchases previously made at Wal-Mart to other brands' stores (Berman et al. 2004).

Marketing Goals and Objectives of Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart has stated that it intends to adhere to its long-term formulated strategy over the forecast period, which falls into five categories. Wal-Mart aims to strive through its strategy to broaden the scope of its business to guarantee strong and sustainable growth in increasingly diverse areas. The global expansion of Wal-Mart along with U.S this expansion entails a focus on financial services, telecommunications and non-food products.

The company has committed itself to a greener strategy in the future (Meyers, Gerstman, 2001). This involves commitments such as making the business carbon neutral by 2050, and ...