Management Evaluation Paper

Walmart Review

How well does Walmart live up to the claims it makes about itself? In my opinion, not very well. Walmart’s mission statement is “We save people money so they can live better.” In addition to the mission statement, the company looks to its founder, Sam Walton, for a purpose: “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone…we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” This is a great idea and would work out perfectly if they would have good management and organizational skills. Walmart has a lot of great ideas on their website. They have a value of the day and specials like free shipping for college students, or on some products, you can order online and pick them up in the store for free. This would ensure that they would have what you needed in stock. They’ve also got a section called “Trending Now” which includes best rated, just reviewed, just sold, and top searched products. The only thing I really didn’t like about their website is that they don’t have a lot of the products online that you can get in the store. Walmart offers an Ad Match Guarantee. This makes it possible for you to get the lowest prices going to their stores without having to shop around. This gives them a sustainable competitive advantage. Their Ad Match Guarantee states that you do not need to have the ad with you to get this deal. From my experience, it is better to print their policy out and bring it with you. Some workers do not want to honor this policy without it. You would have to wonder if this would really help the company or hurt it. Yes, it would bring in customers who would buy that one product and continue shopping there for the rest of what they need, but with newer companies like Aldi and Ruler Foods coming to the area it could really hurt. They have such good deals on things like their milk, it seems they would lose more than they would make. Aldi and Ruler Foods are able to keep their prices so low because they save money by not advertising as much and not bagging people’s groceries.
Walmart could also do a situational analysis. This would help determine the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Companies’ competitive advantages can erode over time if internal strengths become weaknesses. I went to Walmart last week to do my review of the store and did not like what I seen. They had a nice curb appeal, as long as you didn’t look in the parking lot. There were carts everywhere. I proceeded into the store and was even more dissatisfied. The shelves were not stocked and there were long lines. They only had a few lines open. It had an all in all “dirty” look. How could this be when their three basic beliefs are: respect for the individual, service to our customers, and striving for excellence? I think Walmart should try empowering some of their workers. Empowerment would give workers a sense of pride in