Strategic Plan Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Plan - Research Paper Example As the consumer demands are ever changing, this industry has also constantly evolved over the years. Emergence of new entrants and constant innovation by the existing firms in this industry has induced tough competition. Companies are now planning strategies to increase the sustainability of their organization’s growth. The present report aims to identify the business drivers of Wal-Mart retailer and prepare an effective strategic plan for future growth and development. Company description Wal-Mart is the largest corporation in the world. It is also the biggest private employer in the United States of America (Yoffie & Wang, 2002). However, the company was first established as a self-service discount store by Sam Walton, in the year 1962. At the end of 1993, Wal-Mart was one of the top discount departmental stores in the world. The company is headquartered at Bentonville, Arkansas, United States. The company has established more than 8500 stores across the globe. Product portf olio of the company includes, apparel, warehouse club, footwear specialty, cash & carry, supercenter, superstore, discount store, hypermarket, supermarket. Wal-Mart resource and capabilities The brand name of Wal-Mart has become synonymous to value for money over the course of time. Wal-Mart follows a low cost and leadership strategy (Johnson & Scholes, 1999). Macroscopic view of Wal-Mart’s competitive strategy shows that the company uses resource based model in order to develop a value chain proposition which cannot be matched by competitors. Though Wal-Mart shows little adaptability to its formats in overseas expansions, most of its store operations are leaders in their local areas (Colla & Dupuis, 2002). The fundamental principles followed by the company are providing everyday low prices, commit to customer service and maintain technological superiority and establishing loyalty among suppliers and associates. Supermarkets of Wal-Mart in international location have less fin ancial risk due to bulk sales. About 10 billion dollars are saved by the American customers by shopping at Wal-Mart (Buffet, 2003). Competitive advantage for Wal-Mart lies in its ability of cost differentiation and strong distribution channel across the globe (Van Weele, 2009). Current direction Global economy is decelerating due to various reasons such as Euro zone crisis and economic recession which started in the year 2008. Retailers such as Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl and others are struggling to maintain sales growth while other retail players such as Nordstrom, Saks and Neiman Marcus have recorded same store sales growth of 12% last year (Arnold, 2002). Global retailers are facing following trends to change the dynamics of business operation. This has compelled organizations like Wal-Mart to make strategic plan in order to remain profitable and competitive in this dynamic market (Simon et al., 2011). The objective of the current strategic direction will be to evaluate the resources and capabilities of the retail gain and make appropriate recommendations for future planning. SWOT Analysis In order to understand the internal and external strengths and weaknesses, a SWOT analysis of Wal-Mart has been done. Strengths With revenue of more than 400 million dollars, Wal-Mart is undoubtedly one of the largest retailers in the world. As a result of large operational scale, the company can exercises strong power on suppliers in order to