Label Slp 1 Opm 500 for Session

label slp 1 OPM 500 for session long project, analyze OM perspectives organization. You choose list: 1. Walmart Costco 2. McDonald's 3. Amazon. 4. Dell 5. United Parcel Services For SLP paper, identify introduction, discussion, conclusion section: 1) The organization's main line business, 2) How inventory managed organization, 3) How inventory management practices improve customer satisfaction / reduce costs.

SLP 1 OPM 500

Wal-Mart is the greatest retailer in the United States and it has managed to gain and consolidate its strong competitive position as a result of a well developed and implemented strategic endeavor. Nevertheless, its business model has not always been successful and the economic agent has been faced with tremendous criticism. The organization has for instance been accused of exploiting its staff members, paying minimum wages and asking them to put in long hours. Also, the company was accused of sacrificing quality and responsibility in the name of the lowest price (Greenwald, 2005).

More recently, Wal-Mart has intensified its efforts to reposition itself as a socially responsible member of the communities in which it operates. In spite of the accusations to which it has been subjected, the retailer is a model of business success and this status has been attained through the development and implementation of a successful business model. One specific component of this business model was the management of the inventory.

2. Discussion

At a general level, inventory management is understood as "the branch of business management concerned with planning and controlling inventories. The role of inventory management is to maintain a desired stock level of specific products or items" (Toomey, 2000). At Wal-Mart, the management of the inventory is an extremely complex process which has to focus on both product features, as well as customer demands. The complexity of inventory management at Wal-Mart is given by elements such as the perishable nature of some products, the stern nature of other items, the changing consumer demands or the origin of the products retailed by the company.

In a context in which the competing retailers require up to a week to restack their shelves, Wal-Mart ensures that their shelves are continually filled with all necessary products. Therefore, the Wal-Mart customers are constantly able to find the desired items on the store's shelves. This creates high levels of satisfaction as the clients can continually rely on Wal-Mart as their source of the necessary commodities.

The mechanism which allows the company to generate customer satisfaction is constructed on the premises of three day cycles of inventory management in order to ensure that the products quickly reach the shelves. And the three days indicate not only the time in which the product reaches the shelves from the Wal-Mart warehouses, but from the very manufacturer.

Information plays a crucial role in the inventory management at the largest American retailer. The first step is that of notifying the warehouse of the product sales, and then also notifying the manufacturer of the product sales. This ensures that the warehouse and the manufacturer are continually able to restack the inventory. Anthony Fisher and Tony Fisher (2009) point out:

"The key to Wal-Mart's success is in the quality and management of their supply chain data. Within 14 seconds of the purchase of a product at Wal-Mart, the Wal-Mart central warehouse is notified of the change in inventory. In addition, manufacturers of the product are made aware of the sale so that as inventory moves from the warehouse to the store, the products in the warehouse will be replenished by the manufacturer. Even the raw material suppliers that the manufacturer needs are alerted, so that they can supply the manufacturer the necessary raw materials. And this process is repeated throughout the supply chain" (Fisher and Fisher, 2009).

Aside from generating customer satisfaction, the inventory management system at Wal-Mart also supports organizational success through the generation of cost savings. The organizational expenditures are decreased primarily at two levels. The first refers to the means in which inventory management supports organizational efficiency, which in turn ensures the adequate use of resources and the generation of affordable costs.

The second means is that of creating customer satisfaction. In this order of ideas, through the creation of customer satisfaction, the company generates savings on marketing activities. This is best visible at the level of the existent customers, who are satisfied and who create word of mouth publicity for the retailer. Additionally, the satisfied customers are loyal customers who generate sustainable revenues. Also, from a marketing costs standpoint, it is easier and more cost effective to retain loyal customers than to attract new customers (Kumar, 2006).

3. Conclusions

Modern day economic agents have to devise a wide array of strategic efforts in order to increase and consolidate their competitive positions. Wal-Mart has managed to consolidate its position as the number one retailer in the United States of America through the development and implementation of various strategic efforts, which have stirred both criticism, as well as praises.