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Example research essay topic: Wal Mart Amp Amp - 1,109 words

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Question # 1 In Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines, Treacy and Wiersema highlight three distinct "paths" or strategies to market leadership. They include operational excellence, customer intimacy, and product leadership. This paper will highlight how Wal-Mart has successfully implemented the operational excellence strategy, as well as consider future initiatives within this strategy that Wal-Mart can still incorporate. The discussion will than focus on the customer intimacy strategy and explain how Wal-mart has also incorporated this strategy in a variety of its operations. The product leadership strategy will also be briefly discussed, however, due to its limited scope in this particular environment, it will not be emphasized. Wal-Mart has effectively implemented an operational excellence strategy in its quest to continually lower costs and deliver products and services with minimal difficulty or inconvenience.

Whether it be through reducing costs, through its various relationships and practices with suppliers or controlling energy consumption by monitoring and controlling lights, heat, A/C, etc from their head office or even managing inventory efficiently, Wal-Mart has effectively minimized both variable and fixed costs while also ensuring stock outs are minimized. Wal-Mart has also effectively eliminated (non-value) added production steps as it successfully re-defined the integrated retailers relationships with its manufacturers. Wal-Mart has also been successful in implementing a variety of IT systems that have also facilitated this strategy. Whether it's through their own private satellite networks, or their EDI systems with suppliers or even the implementation of UPC scanners at the registers, Wal-Mart has been an industry leader in using technology to facilitate this strategy. Wal-Mart has also successfully incorporated convenience in their strategy, as some stores are open 24 - 7, and if one was to look at the multiple services offered, whether it be the automotive garage, pharmacy, restaurant, photo lab, they are effectively becoming a one stop shop. (A friend has even joked, that in the future, they will have a day surgery department. ) Has Wal-Mart reached the limits of lowering costs? Absolutely not.

As indicated, they have a variety of initiatives that are being examined. The first initiative involves using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) with their top 100 suppliers. This will further improve their distribution efficiency, as it will reduce the need for unloading to check products, as well as, serve as an internal control function in dealing with shrinkage. It's been estimated that such technology could unlock supply chain cost savings of 6 %. The second initiative, involves improving its efficiency with customers. By using RFID tags in stores to further reduce check out labor requirements, as well as shrinkage, Wal-Mart would again be lowering operational costs due to improved efficiencies.

It's important to note, that with technology, its inevitable that new products and procedures will always be emerging that will continue to enhance and facilitate this strategy. Wal-Mart's current practices are also undoubtedly not 100 % effective and efficient, thus, it is reasonable to expect Wal-Mart to continue to make advances in the practices currently in place and become even more cost efficient and profitable within an operational excellence strategy. Although on examining Wal-Mart's practices, the focus is on operational excellence, if one was to look at a variety of the practices currently being used by Wal-Mart in its ability to market its merchandise in unique targeted ways, it becomes clear that Wal-Mart is also following a customer intimacy strategy. Customer Intimacy, as defined by Treacy and Wiersema means segmenting and targeting the markets precisely and then tailoring offerings to match exactly the demands of those niches. One would only have to look at Wal-Mart's Modular Category Assortment Planning System (MCAPS) to see this strategy in use. The MCAPS system examines store traits and historical selling data to establish store specific modular's, which essentially plan the layout of products to best, suit a particular market.

There are literally thousands of specific layouts, all of which can alter the size and merchandise mix for the target market. This data is collected, integrated and analyzed in the various information systems, which serve both as great supply chain management tool and a way to establish purchasing patterns of target costumers. Another example of this segmentation is evident in Wal-Mart having 3 distinct store formats, which are also segmented to particular target markets. Wal-Mart is also using this strategy in its practices of empowering store managers with the autonomy of sourcing locally and running particular promotions in which they feel target their specific market. By continuing to train and even cross train employees it will also facilitate this strategy, as associates will be more knowledgeable and helpful to customers. The product leadership strategy of offering customers leading edge products and services that consistently enhance customer's use or application of the product has not been a strategy that Wal-Mart has actively employed.

You could certainly present Wal-Mart as the industry leader in driving a variety of the innovations that have been implemented in this industry, however, as far as offering customer's leading edge products and services has not been its strategy. Question # 2 In analyzing the various store formats and target markets within each format, it is first important to highlight, why Wal-Mart expanded its operations than examine each expansion in some detail to highlight how Wal-Mart targets distinct markets. Further growth opportunities will than be evaluated, as well as the potential for the cannibalization of sales within Wal-Mart's expansion objectives. The driving force behind every Wal-Mart initiative was and is the continued growth and profitability of its operations. Quite simply as Wal-Mart developed over the decades, it continually sought ways to become more efficient and for new avenues in which to pursue profitable growth. Although Wal-Mart started off with the regular Discount Stores, in 1988, "it intended to drive increased traffic to the general merchandise departments through the food offering. " However, what Wal-Mart's discovered is that with its operating efficiencies the food business was deemed profitable in and of itself.

As such Wal-Mart focused on this expansion and the following four retail formats were developed to target specific markets: Discount Stores - 1568 Stores (40 departments & amp; limited grocery) -company's leading retail format by number of stores (trend of converting to Supercenters) -potential customer base of at least 150, 000 people -remained concentrated in small towns and rural areas - less competition -consumer target by income ($ 60, 000 to less than $ 25, 000) Supercenters - 1258 Stores (40 departments & amp; full line grocery) -larger format that added a full-line grocery store to a Discount Store with ancillary or specialty departments -larger more focused on food (45 % sales) -more ancillary businesses and services than direct competitors -po...


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