Case Study Walmart
Case Study Wk3 Wal Mart 1. Due to the rapid growth within the U.S. Wal-Mart became the dominant firm in retail industry. Because of that, the company reached a point where continued growth in the United States was limited and they knew they weren’t done growing yet. The company had reached its limit within the U.S. and needed to look internationally in order to expand their corporation. The company wanted to be the top retailer in the world and maintain their position on the Fortune 500 list and the opportunity to continue to maintain that may have been lost if they had just stayed a national organization. Wal-Mart started out as a store set to provide goods to those in rural areas who did not readily have access to household items. As they grew, the stores expanded into more urban areas they continued to grow. Once they were securely imbedded in the community, the company decided it needed to branch out more as they looked to the future. This is when they decided to create a “superstore” that would provide one stop shopping for consumers. No longer was it necessary to go get groceries at one location and go somewhere else for the household goods, everything could be purchased in the same place. The establishing of the grocery market was what prompted the desire to grow internationally. Many foreign countries did not have a standard grocery store prior to the growth of Wal-Mart, many just had local markets that they purchased product from but with Wal-Mart expanding there is now a more generalized location for these communities to get all the necessary products in the same location. The company is also working directly with suppliers to ensure delivery of fresh products and continue the domestication of the foreign countries. 2. To achieve success in the foreign countries they attempted several different ways to approach the markets, learning from each new location. They looked towards areas initially that were growing countries rather than large