Wal-Mart- an Introduction

Prepare a report that Critically evaluates the utility of theoretical models of change for executives who are looking to transform ways of working within their Multinational Firms.

In the initial stage of strategic history of the company Wal-Mart that it always had an unchanged vision to offer low prices for the consumers. In fact, in 1990s the company also announced to go international. The company started looking for the global markets for many reasons discussed as following: –

1. The company faced a very strong competition in US like Target or K mart. These two companies were very aggressive in expansion of the business and had also initiated the market share of Wal-Mart (ten Have et al., 2016).
2. The market of US is a saturated market and it was also becoming challenging for the company to continue with its present development rate. The population of US is based on just 4% of the population of the world and if the company wants to expand the international market, the country like China has the potential and huge development because of the huge population of over one billion of people (ten Have et al., 2016).
3. The concept of globalization has opened up different and diverse market in China which has also developed number of options for discount stores like Wal-Mart.

Company like Wal-Mart is utilizing the present strategy that can also cooperated with domestic suppliers to buy the products, even thought the culture of the organization can be standardized with the home country.  This strategy is not just to utilize to purchasing products since they also adapted the domestic cultures and the decoration of the stores and designs are also transformed to meet the domestic taste worldwide (Fawcett et al., 2013).

As mentioned, the company discussed here is Wal-Mart Inc. which is not just a retail giant however it is also considered as largest chain of grocery worldwide. The company was founded in the year 1962. The company was founded by Samuel Walton along with his brother J.L Walton established there first Wal-Mart discount store in Arkansas. The common mission of the company is saving the money of people so that they can live in a better manner. The main competition like Target and K-Mart the sales were up by fifty more since the giant size as well as purchasing power (Helms and Oliver, 2015). The company has the capacity to buy its products at less prices where exchange is based on high purchases volumes for comparatively less cost where saving is passed to the consumers. The company presently has over eight thousands stores worldwide with three distinct business sections associated with retail stores which also include Sam’s Club, Wal-Mart Store and International chain of Wal-Mart. All the stores provides so many kinds of merchandises which also include the section of electronic appliances, furniture’s, apparels and groceries and many more. The organization usually aims on providing the low price to gain the customers.

The concept of globalization has transformed forever in the form as well as with different substance of the present business. It is important to understand here that it is not sufficient to develop in an organic manner or expand on a local level. The options lie in addition and with competitiveness on a global scale that needs new skill set and it should also be in tune all across the world. The issues are important where managing the overall risk in global market is based on the development of the market and the overall entry with growth strategies and building an agile form of international teams and also overcoming the physical as well as all kinds of cultural barriers to gain some kind of success (Helms and Oliver, 2015). The volume of global business has also overtaken the local business and this is why it is important to gain some clarity on how critical global business is for the survival and the overall success of MNC. The culture, political systems, socio-economic characteristics, geographic boundaries and language impacts the business practices of an organization. Research the businesses when one wish to do the business which consist of the business practices with right culture and tradition which is crucial for the success of the business in the international market. This is why, for any kind of global business and its success, these are the key issues in marketplaces including different trade agreements, degradation of environment, supply chain management and barriers in cultural boundaries (Helms and Oliver, 2015). 

Change Management in Multi-National Firm

Wal-Mart and all related actors that function in large macro environment of forces that can shape options and also pose different kinds of threats for the organization. Following are six important forces: –

Economic environment: the present environment of Wal-Mart is some of those characteristic that can impact the purchasing power of consumer and expenditure patterns.

Demographic Environment: the concept of demography is actually a study of the populations which is in term of density, location, size, age and many other similar statistics. It is an important interest for the marketer since it consist of people and make up market of people with demographic trend which is changing continuously (Frynas and Mellahi, 2015).

Natural environment: the present natural environment consist of different natural base of resources that are required as some inputs by the marketing manager or people that are impacted by different marketing activities. In last twenty years, environment is related to steady development. There are some important analysis of trends which are labeled the particular concern which are discussed in detail below: –

Shortage in raw material: factors like air, wood products and water that have been damaging the non-renewable products like oil, various minerals and coals that have been depleted in a serious manner and it also impacts the industrial expansion.

Rise in pollution all across the world issues and industrial level damage for the environment is a serious matter.

The intervention from the government is related to management of natural resources that has caused a lot of concerns of environment and it is important to be more practical and important in business as well as industry. The concept of leadership is not about punishing especially for sustaining or attaining long term outcomes (Frynas and Mellahi, 2015). Despite of so many opposing rules as well as regulations, the marketers must also provide some help in providing outcomes for the material and all the energy related issues faces by the world.

Political: the political surrounding consist of laws, pressure groups and government agencies that impacts and also restricts many companies and people in the present society. There are many kind of legislation which properly regulates the business.

Technological: the technological surrounding consists of forces that can develop new kind of technologies, developing new base for products and market options.

Marketing strategy the market strategy of the company primarily based two important goals that have worked as guidelines for the firm through their developing years. The consumers here are characterized in first goal which says that customers will be given what they need, when they need it and all of it with a value. The team spirit of the company is mainly focused on the second set of goals where the importance of equal treatment is emphasized. The goal of the customer consists of providing the consumer with what can be reasonable and with right values. The second goal is actually the foundation of the organization and its members (Johnston and Marshall, 2016). The workforce of any company is basis for the success of the company and it drives the routine functions. The employees of the company are the associate partners which provide them a feeling based on empowering them with pride that literally drive the culture of the company. The company has launched successful marketing strategies that are based on factors associated with environment and social issues.

Marketing Environment of Wal-Mart

The company has enjoyed the success by agreeing to three important principles since its inception. The first or basic principle is based on the concept of providing right value along with services to the customer by providing the high quality merchandise at low prices each day. The company has built the association with the customer on this basis and there is a belief it is base reason for the quick development of the company’s success and development. The second principle followed by the company is based on dedication to partnership that exists between the associates of the company along with management and ownership. The basic concept is further extended to the company’s vendors who have expanded the business as the company is growing. The basic principle is based on commitment by the company to US and the communities where the stores as well as distribution centers on different location (Johnston and Marshall, 2016). The company also strives to conduct the business in a manner which shows these three basic principles and the outcomes fundamental values. Every vendor partners containing the varied Vendor Partners which is external of US and are expected to conform to those approaches and values to make sure that there is compliance in all base for contracting and other associations.

The process of change is very complicated by nature and is also consist with anxiety based on time and there is an uncertainty for the employees. Company also needs to understand as well as articulate the advantages of changes and a clear process for accomplishing the change when they are winning the overall commitment (Surmann et al., 2016).

The concept of business process modeling is based on the technology aiming at modeling the processes of business and also evaluating them with the goal of utilizing the analysis in order to drive the process based transformations. The concept of business process modeling is actually a tool that has some important capabilities like simulating the help of business analysts to gain clarity and also quantifying the present impact of different kind of process of KPIs which is also known as Key Performance Indicators. Business model process modeling can be use widely with the right analytic capacities like stimulating the less degree since development and functioning on the simulation models and also interpreting the current outcomes which can be seen as a complex process by so many business analysts. Business process changes or the transformational model is the base of rethinking as well as radical amount of redesign of the present business processes to accomplish dramatically improving in a critical manner with contemporary measures based on performance like cost, service and quality (Surmann et al., 2016). The model is actually top-down approach and it was never about the projects which were carried from isolation to evaluate a specific function. Business process model of transformation is all about looking for the complete processes rather than a particular function. It also requires to be customer based or centric approach and look at the chain of functions which lead by the consumer results. The mission of the company is to increase as well as integrating the supplier based diversity programs into every of our procurement activities and it is based on advocating for minor as well as a business owned by women (Benn et al., 2014).

Change Management for Wal-Mart

The 7-S model is also known as McKinsey 7-S model because the two individuals who progressed this model, Robert Waterman and Tom Peters.

Following is the detail discussion of 7-S model for Wal-Mart: –

1. Strategy: there are activities with a plan of a company which is actually in response to with an interference of transformation in it external environment of the company. Wal-Mart has always responded and formed strategies as per the change in the market condition and diverse market.
2. Structure: on the basis of the present specialization as well as co-ordination that was primarily impact by the strategy and the size of the company and its diversity. There are number formal system along with informal process that provides support the structure and strategy. Wal-Mart follows a basic structure however, the company adapts with the change in the market as well as the localities (Benn et al., 2014).
3. Style: the culture of the company like Wal-Mart consists of two elements. These elements are organizational culture which is related to dominant set of values along with beliefs as well as norms are developed over a period of time. It is further becoming relative with endured characteristics of the organization.
4. Staff: the human resource management follows a process which is mainly used to develop the socialization procedure with number of different skilled managers and it also consist of methods to shape the base values for the management and ways to introduce the new recruits to the company and many more (Benn et al., 2014).
5. Skills: this consists of unique or different set of competences where the company is able to perform in best manner and with varied ways to expand or move competences.
6. Super ordinate objectives: these shows as the aspiration of the company like Wal-Mart has the right beliefs, principles and has an aim which must take the company towards the success. Wal-Mart has the shared views and is based on strong competitive benefits for a huge company like this to grow and develop (Hallinger et al., 2017).

Conclusion

The most challenging issue for Wal-Mart involves the resentment from the public. The company in addition to it has completely wiped so many establishments in retail industry. This far the big box competitors have completely stopped the company from particular expansion since the company is tried to fight back. As per the point of view of the company, it is important to focus on expansion on international platform. If a particular areas are completely against the company that can pass different laws in order to stop the company from manufacturing in the present area. It is important that the company understand this and consider staying away. For instance, the company will have bad time that expanded in places like Oakland. It is important base this assumption on the laws that were executed and have a great deal of bad publicity (Sullivan and Gouldson, 2016).  The company is primarily aiming to expand on global platform. Another important issue which Wal-Mart is facing is the federal lawsuit associated with discrimination. As per the number quoted in different studies, the company is facing discrimination charges against females. These charges came as a shock but the company is trying to fix it and the company is very detailed in their strategy and the company also requires being more detailed and it is as per the compensation and many additional incentives policies. The company also needs to stop the discrimination charges. This is why, it is important to ignore the discrimination while supervising the wages as well as salaries set up by the company. This is specifically right for the managers and top level recruitment where female employees are not provided with many opportunities (Sullivan and Gouldson, 2016).

References

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Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E., 2017. Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. John Wiley & Sons.

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Frynas, J.G. and Mellahi, K., 2015. Global strategic management. Oxford University Press, USA.

Hallinger, P., Shaobing, T. and Jiafang, L., 2017. Learning to make change happen in Chinese schools: adapting a problem-based computer simulation for developing school leaders. School Leadership & Management, 37(1-2), pp.162-187.

Helms, W.S. and Oliver, C., 2015. Radical settlements to conflict: Conflict management and its implications for institutional change. Journal of Management & Organization, 21(4), pp.471-494.

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Surmann, M., Surmann, M., Brunauer, W.A., Brunauer, W.A., Bienert, S. and Bienert, S., 2016. The energy efficiency of corporate real estate assets: The role of energy management for corporate environmental performance. Journal of Corporate Real Estate, 18(2), pp.68-101.

ten Have, S., ten Have, W., Huijsmans, A.B. and Otto, M., 2016. Reconsidering change management: Applying evidence-based insights in change management practice (Vol. 16). Routledge