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Supply Chain Management
Wal-Mart is a retailer with a focus on being a low cost competitor. Supply chain management is a critical component of this, and has long been the primary focus on Wal-Mart's competitive advantage. In response to a website mocking Wal-Mart customers, one executive famously noted that Wal-Mart sells to everybody, and there are 476 billion reasons to believe that Wal-Mart's target market really is everybody (MSN Moneycentral, 2014). The company knows that it if perceived to have the lowest prices on a wide range of everyday goods, it will win a considerable amount of business. But delivering the lowest prices consistently is not easy, and this is where the supply chain comes into it.
An above-the-line initiative is basically mass media, while below the line consists of other promotional methods (Manral, 2011). In either case, Wal-Mart has a consistent message about low prices, and the supply chain system serves to back up the low price mantra. First, there is Wal-Mart's famous bargaining power. With its large sales volumes, Wal-Mart is a price-setter, and it likes to set...
The company also seeks to lower costs throughout its supply chain, and has become an innovation leader in logistics in order to do this. The company has a highly-efficient supply chain that is linked in real time to stores for ordering, that minimizes waiting times at warehouses and working with its suppliers to do the same (Traub, 2012). As a result of these initiatives, Wal-Mart's distribution costs are 1.7% of cost of sales, compared with 3.5% for K-Mart (Ibid). The company's high sales volumes facilitate a massive fleet of trucks, warehouses closely spaced together, and the utilization of something very close to a just-in-time system throughout its entire supply chain.
It is kind of funny to think about offering tips to Wal-Mart as to how to improve its bargaining power. PhD's study these guys. To reduce buyer power, Wal-Mart crafts a brand image of being the lowest cost. This is a marketing mantra and is backed up by high profile…
References
Manral, K. (2011). Difference between above the line and below the line advertising. The Advertising Club. Retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://theadvertisingclub.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3256:difference-between-above-the-line-and-below-the-line-advertising&Itemid=175
MSN Moneycentral: Wal-Mart. (2014). Retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://investing.money.msn.com/investments/stock-price?symbol=wmt&ocid=qbeb
Traub, T. (2012). Wal-Mart used technology to become supply chain leader. Arkansas Business. Retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/85508/wal-mart-used-technology-to-become-supply-chain-leader?page=all
Supply Chain Ann Supply Chain Management Annotated Bibliography Chopra, S., & Meindl, P. (2010). Supply chain management: Strategy, planning and operation (4th ed.).Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall The text by Chopra & Meindl (2010) is an excellent starting point for this discussion, primarily because it serves as a rather exhaustive introductory reading on the subject. Providing academic explanation of the basic premise of supply chain management and an extensive investigation of the
Supply Chain Integration Defining Integrated Supply Chains in the 21st Century Collaboration and the ability to orchestrate complex purchasing, procurement, quality management and fulfillment strategies typify integrated supply chains today. These lessons learned and more are found in the article, Integrated Supply Chains to be Explored (Johnson, 2007). Also alluded to in the article is the concept of having a 360 degree view of global supply chains, with the added benefit of
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Supply Chain Wal-Mart drives profits through its supply chain management program. The company competes as a low cost provider, and the supply chain is critical to delivering the lowest prices to the customer. Wal-Mart not only leverages its considerable bargaining power to drive down the prices it pays, but it also makes extensive use of information systems to make its supply chain management system efficient. This efficiency comes from having goods
supply chain challenges facing the company which the chosen application addresses. 4(b) Explain how the chosen application addresses these supply chain challenges 8Q2"IT should be considered as an integral part of the supply chain re-engineering process." Discuss this statement using appropriate references from the course module. Case studies or other source material. (a) The major supply chain challenges facing the company which the chosen application addresses. The Levi Strauss e-business and supply chain
Improvement at Wal-Mart Stores How can the logistics processes be improved in your organization? The logistic process of Wal-Mart provides results that have propelled the retail giant to the top income earning company in 2007. They are the first store to assume the first place in sales in the Fortune 500 magazine, exceeding giants in the energy sector: Chevron and Exxon Mobil; and manufacturer: General Motors. Wal-Mart's growth is based on