Walmart Case Study
[WLO: 3] [CLOs: 2, 3, 5]
Prior to this assignment, review Chapter 12: Global MarketingChannels and Physical Distribution and analyze Case 12-2: Can WalmartCrack the Retail Code in India? carefully. Review the Intro and CompanyProfile sections in the Walmart Case Study(Links to an external site.) interactive.
Your assignment has two parts. Part A will be based on a case inChapter 12, and Part B will be built upon your Final Paper (attached below labeled Walmart Analysis) about Walmartfrom your BUS621: Leadership and Teamwork course. In fact, the purposeis for you to analyzed Walmart from different angles: leadership style,marketing strategies and tactics, HR, Financial aspects, etc. so by theend of your MBA program you have completed Walmart’s big-picture puzzle.
Introduction
Walmart today is a global retail giant. According to Carbonara (2018) in the recommended resource Walmart, Amazon Top World’s Largest Retail Companies(Links to an external site.)article, Walmart is the world’s largest retail company with continuedplans for global growth. There are many competitors, one of which isAmazon. How will Walmart continue to be a global giant in the years tocome? To maintain the market leader position Walmart will be required tocontinually look for ways to outgrow its global competitors (Carbonara,2018).
To understand Walmart and where it is today and what tomorrow holds,it is important to understand the company’s foundation. “Sam Waltonopened his first five-and-dime in 1950. His vision was to keep prices aslow as possible” (Wilbert, 2018, para. 1). Walton opened the firstWalmart in the early 1960s in Rogers, AR (Wilbert, 2018, para. 2). Onething that has and will always remain a key component for all Walmartstores is to keep expenses low. There has always been a mentality behindthe vision of Walton to demand that employees always keep costs to abare minimum (Wilbert, 2018, para. 3). On average, “Walmart saves atypical American family of four about $2500 a year. That’s about what afamily of four gets from the government in food stamps. That makesWalmart a major antipoverty force in the United States” (Kestenbaum,2017, para. 3). Another factor to consider when thinking about Walmartis that “since 1990, the global rate of poverty has been cut bytwo-thirds. That’s the sharpest decline in human poverty in all ofhistory, more than one billion people have been lifted out of povertyduring that period and Walmart is a major force in that effect”(Kestenbaum, 2017, para. 3).
Today, Walmart has grown considerably and continues to expand. Justto get an idea of how large this retail giant is, consider thefollowing:

Walmart employs 1.6 million people.
Walmart has 6,200 retail outlets. In contrast, Home Depot has 2,040. (Wilbert, 2018, para. 4)

One might question, “What does Walmart do to continue to besuccessful and keep costs to a minimum?” There are several things thatthis retail giant has incorporated into the operations. First, “Walmartbecame the first major retailer to demand manufacturers use radiofrequency identification technology (RFID). The technology uses radiofrequencies to transmit data stored on small tags attached to pallets orindividual products. As explained in the recommended resource How Wal-Mart Works(Links to an external site.),RFID tags hold significantly more data than bar codes” (Wilbert, 2018,para. 6). For information on how RFIDs and radio waves work, you maylike to review the articles How RFID Works(Links to an external site.) and How Radio Works(Links to an external site.). You may also be interested in reviewing theIs Walmart Good or Bad for America? The Question May Be Outdated(Links to an external site.)article which explains another interesting fact, which is that “Walmartis the single most important pipeline distributing wealth from richcountries to poor countries” (Kestenbaum, 2017, para. 3).
One concern pertaining to Walmart is how employees are treated. It iswell known that Walmart not only pays low wages, but their practiceshave impacted how their suppliers manage production costs whilesacrificing the safety of their labor force (Kestenbaum, 2017). Walmarttends to hire mostly part-time workers (Kestenbaum, 2017). Some may evensay that Walmart “pays their workers poverty wages” (Kestenbaum, 2017,para. 4). There have long been ethical concerns about how Walmartoperates and manages its employees.
Case Study Assignment
Throughout your MBA programyou will cover various subjects as they relate to business. You willinitially have an opportunity in BUS621 Leadership and Teamwork tocreate and build your own Walmart in a new global location. Your choicesfor location include Peru, New Zealand, Philippines, Egypt, CzechRepublic, and United Arab Emirates. As you progress through each coursein the program you will build upon your case study of Walmart.
The purpose of this Walmart Case Study is to give you an opportunityto apply the subject matter from each course in the MBA program to anongoing strategic development. The knowledge gained from the case studyin each course will be cumulative. The knowledge will assist you indemonstrating your ability to conduct critical analysis and decisionmaking across a wide range of subjects throughout the MBA program.
Methodology
The case study is based upon past andcurrent information about Walmart and the country of destination. Youwill select a country to develop your case and will use the same countryin each course of the MBA program.
You will be responsible for gathering as much information as neededthat will help you with determining the course of action that Walmartshould pursue in the company’s quest to growth and to meeting the needsof international markets.
Part A: Read Case 12.1: Can Walmart Crack the Retail Code in India? and answer the following questions:

Summarize some of the elements in India’s political, economic, and cultural environments that can impact the market opportunity.
Explain some of the obstacles facing Walmart and other foreign retailers in India.
Review Figure 12-4 (Global Marketing). Explain which quadrant of thematrix applies most directly to India. Provide your rationale.

Part B: In your BUS621: Leadership and Teamworkcourse, you selected a country for Walmart to expand to, and you alsoanalyzed the nine dimensions of the culture and the leadership modelsand skills that would apply to your selected country (Use only the country in the paper attached below). In thisassignment, you will work and build on your previous Walmart work, anddevelop some place strategies as Walmart expands on its global marketingactivities to the country of your choice. Address the following pointsfor the country (Use only the country in the paper attached below):

Summarize some of the elements in your selected country’s political,economic, and cultural environments that can impact the marketopportunity for Walmart expansion.
Based on your environmental review and referring to Figure 12-4,discuss what market expansion strategy you would suggest for Walmart inyour selected country.
You learned that channels create utility for customers (placeutility, form utility, time utility, and information utility) that canbe leverages as a source of competitive advantage. Analyze each of theseutilities that Walmart may be creating in the country of your choice,and explain which one can potentially work as a competitive advantagefor Walmart considering its target market and their needs, wants, andpreferences in your selected country.
Considering the growth of global online retailers like Amazon.com,Aliexpress.com, Target.com, and eBay.com as competitors of Walmart.com,and based on the factors you evaluated in Part A (Attached below labeled Global Marketing Plan 2), formulate a SWOTanalysis for Walmart.com in your selected country. *** You must use the one in the paper****

The Walmart Case Study paper

Must be three to five double-spaced pages in length (not includingtitle and references pages and formatted according to APA style.
Must include a separate title page with the following:

Title of paper (The Walmart Case Study Paper)
Student’s name (Markis’ Edwards)
Course name and number (BUS 622)
Instructor’s name(Dr. Lorraine Cigainero)
Date submitted (March 29, 2021)

Must use at least two scholarly sources for each environment topic in addition to the course text. This is a total of three sources. Course text:Keegan, W. J., & Green, M. C. (2020). Global marketing (10th ed.). Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com
Must document any information used from sources in APA format.
Must include a separate references page that is formatted accordingto APA style.