Wal-Mart Assessing External and Internal

Wal-Mart

Assessing External and Internal Factors

And the Use of Delegation in the Wal-Mart Corporation

Assessing External and Internal Factors at Wal-Mart

Technology and Innovation

The four strategic roles of management that encompass planning, organizing, leading and controlling are the framework that Wal-Mart Corporation uses to ensure agility and profitability in the turbulent global retailing industry. Wal-Mart engages in a continual cycle of planning, often using analytics and measures of performance of their supply chain partners (Blanchard, Comm, Mathaisel, 2008) to get feedback on how well their entire operation is performing. The use of advanced technologies including Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) (Krotov, Junglas, 2008) first in piloted programs and today across all distribution centers and stores gives Wal-Mart exceptional organizing and control ability of their inventories. RFID is also used for controlling the mix of products on their shelves and send to their SuperCenters. In effect, RFID has become a critical link to the continual cycle of planning, organizing, leading and controlling occurring in the company continually. Wal-Mart is a corporate culture that thrives on measurements, benchmarks and balanced scorecards to ascertain just how well each department and division is performing the planning, organizing, leading and controlling functions (Appelbaum, Lichtenstein, 2006). Wal-Mart relies on RFID as a basis for also managing technology innovation and also defining which areas of their supply chain, retailing, pricing or service areas can be delegated further down the organizational structure to give employees greater ownership of their jobs.

Globalization

Wal-Mart has succeeded in countries whose cultures most resemble the United States, yet has struggled and at times failed in those cultures that are significantly different (Pioch, Gerhard, Fernie, Arnold, 2009). The framework of planning, organizing, leading and controlling Wal-Mart relies on assumes a highly transactional nature to their supplier relationships and at times with customers as well (Appelbaum, Lichtenstein, 2006). As a result, the leading and controlling aspects of their management framework at times can clash with the cultural values of foreign nations, most notably in Germany and South Korea (Pioch, Gerhard, Fernie, Arnold, 2009). Wal-Mart is a very data-driven organization and strongly believes in analytics to support the entire planning, organizing, leading and controlling framework and used the failures in these nations to invest in joint ventures to succeed in the Chinese market (Pioch, Gerhard, Fernie, Arnold, 2009). Wal-Mart is also a highly delegative culture in terms of its subsidiaries, with in-store managers in all regions they operate in responsible for performance. The Wal-Mart approach to delegation also requires in-store associates to assist with the unloading of trailers when they arrive with merchandise at Superstores as well. Wal-Mart strongly holds efficiency and delegation in the same context (Appelbaum, Lichtenstein, 2006).

Diversity and Ethics