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Wal-Mart Merger
If you were to pick one company for Wal-Mart to merge with, what would it be? Explain your choice with respect to possible benefits of this merger and why you would choose this company over any other choice for a potential.
The primary candidate for Wal-Mart to acquire would be United Parcel Service (UPS). UPS is known for having the best IT systems and logistics processes of any of the global third party logistics providers (Alghalith, 2005). It is also very well-known for being a company culture that relies heavily on standard metrics of performance including performance dashboards to provide real-time visibility of each shipment, no matter how large or small (Ragu, 2009). UPS would complement the extensive supply chain expertise of Wal-Mart and would also add significant depth of global operations that the company has struggled to get in place over the last decade (Sodhi, Son, 2009).
The benefits of this merger include the expertise UPS has in global supply chain and logistics operations, their extensive IT investments and ability to provide logistics...
UPS is also known for having redefined advanced logistics processes including Vendor Managed Inventory (VM) and the definition of Earned Value Management (EVM) throughout supply chain operations (Cohan, 2008). Due to all of these factors, UPS would complement and provide Wal-Mart with the potential to expand globally at a much faster pace than they have been able to in the past. The lessons learned from UPS in 3rd party logistics will also give Wal-Mart insights into how they can better manage their supply chains as well (Gereffi, Christian, 2009). Wal-Mart would gain a strong foundation for global growth and also be able to monetize their existing strengths in supply chain operations as well. Most importantly, Wal-Mart would have an excellent foundation on which to base their global launch efforts, into countries they had been limited to being able to quickly set up operations in due to the constraints of their supply chain (Hansen, 2009). The IT strengths…
References
Nabil Alghalith (2005). Competing with IT: The UPS Case. Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 7(2), 7-15.
Cohan, P.. (2008). Riding the value cycle. Business Strategy Review, 19(2), 36-41.
Gereffi, G., & Christian, M.. (2009). The Impacts of Wal-Mart: The Rise and Consequences of the World's Dominant Retailer. Annual Review of Sociology, 35, 573.
Jared M. Hansen. (2009). The evolution of buyer-supplier relationships: an historical industry approach. The Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 24(3/4), 227-236.
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