Wal-Mart’s Core Competencies Wal-Mart is a company that has taken its core competencies, which are the capabilities the firm emphasizes and performs especially well while pursuing its vision (Ireland, Hoskisson, Hitt, 2008), and turned them into competitive advantages. Core competencies must satisfy four characteristics in order to be a competitive advantage. These advantages, according to our text, include: *valuable, *rare, *difficult to imitate,*nonsubstitutable.

Wal-Mart’s Core Competencies:

1. Culture- One core competency Wal-Mart has is its culture. Wal-Mart’s employees are hardworking, efficient, and process oriented. In the video “The Age of Wal-Mart” it pointed out that Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, called …show more content…
In the video you could see the flags of different countries being waved. This kind of international growth is a definite competitive advantage for Wal-Mart. The video pointed out several other beliefs and ideas that Wal-Mart finds important that gives them a leading edge. These include the following:
*Don’t be ordinary- be special.
*Be obsessed with improvement.
*Focus on lowering the cost of living for everyone.
*Find the lowest cost producers.
*Make price is the driving object.
*Focus on how to treat people.
*Be willing to embrace change.

All of the competencies listed above are why Wal-Mart is the low cost leader among their competitors. Wal-Mart has built enough influence with suppliers that they can manage the prices and change suppliers manufacturing processes in order to wring out more savings for the consumer. Like the video pointed out, everything that Wal-Mart does is to save the customer money; even doubling up executives in hotel rooms. Hopefully, Wal-Mart can continue and build on this strategy in the future.

Works Cited

Clifford, Stephanie, and Stephanie Rosenbloom. "With Backdrop of Glamour, Wal-Mart Stresses Global Growth." New York Times. 04 June 2010: n. page. Web. 2 Oct. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/05/business/05walmart.html>.
Gogoi, Pallavi. "Wal-Mart goes abroad for growth ." Bloomberg Businessweek. 22