O.D. Professional: How Virtual is Wal-Mart? Research

Case Study and Report
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Case Study and Report
This paper seeks to find out whether Wal-Mart retail chain should move more in the direction of being an international or virtual organization or both. In order to determine this, the paper describes the organization and its current situation with respect to globalization and technology use. A report will then be compiled showing the findings and recommendations for actions that Wal-Mart ought to take.
Globalization of Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 with a strong belief that a retailer chain could help customers save money and live better to a great extent. Since then this has been the purpose of that company and it is incorporated in all aspects of its operations. Wal-Mart is an American international retail corporation, which started with the first store in Rogers, Arkansas. The company currently operates a number of stores where more than 260 million customers are served weekly by more than 2.3 million employees. The company boasts of operating more than 11,500 retail stores across 28 countries, which are under its 63 banners (Wal-Mart, 2016). The scale of its operations has enabled the company to have lower unit costs, which is an advantage because it facilitates low prices of merchandise. The company’s strategy is to be the retailer of choice to its customers and employees.
How Virtual is Wal-Mart?
In the current technological era, the access to the Internet has become widespread for both companies and customers worldwide where the network is used as a major tool for marketing and shopping. This has led to the rise of e-commerce, which Wal-Mart has adopted to satisfy its customers worldwide. The company has been striving to create a continuous experience to its customers whereby they can shop wherever it is convenient, anytime through Walmart.com, in one of its Mobile Apps, or in physical stores. Therefore, customers can get what they want, when they want it. Wal-Mart Global e-Commerce, which is based in California’s Silicon Valley, has operations in Bangalore in India and Sao Paulo in Brazil provides solutions to all online and mobile innovation. The company’s largest e-commerce platform is the website, Walmart.com that has about 45 million visits in a month and is continuously increasing annually. Wal-Mart operates e-commerce websites in ten countries; the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan, China, Mexico, South Africa and the U.K. Shopping experience from online and physical stores is brought together by use of Mobile Apps and shipping alternatives such as Home Free, Site to Store, Pick up Today, Ship from Store and Same Day Delivery. Though Wal-Mart has a physical presence is relatively small worldwide web, e-commerce has seen the company penetrate all countries across the globe.
Recommendation and Rationale for the Extent of Globalization and Technology Use
Wal-Mart is the number one retailer in the US in terms of physical presence, and it has an opportunity to become the world’s leading retailer by going global to take over the markets that its competitors have dominated. There is no doubt that this is possible since the company has the greatest competitive advantage of its scale, which enables it to offer low price for high-quality merchandise. However, even if the physical presence in countries outside the US is relatively small, there are even more opportunities in e-commerce.
Both e-commerce and physical stores have benefits and shortcomings to the business and customers, which cannot be ignored. For instance, physical stores offer the benefits of after sale service and face-to-face interactions while the e-commerce enables time saving, convenience, and a wide variety of merchandise. E-commerce has major shortcomings of face-to-face interaction and prompt delivery, which are areas where physical stores have strength. Although online customers enjoy a variety of products and are willing to shop online, waiting for delivery is a major hurdle for them. Therefore, a balance has to be struck so that customers are satisfied. Comparing the two business channels shows that neither is perfect and so having a multi-channel retail store is the best for the future of Wal-Mart. Therefore integrating both approaches would be the best option so that the best of each side can be enjoyed and what is not appealing from each side can be countered by the other.
Interface between Social and Organizational Cultures
In order for businesses to interface two cultures, it is important to embrace more flexible and adaptive cultures. Innovations must be adopted instead of sticking to rigid ways of working. The success of the business highly depends on how well a company can bring old and new ideas together so that the best of each idea can be maximized and compliment the other. In the case of Wal-Mart, collaboration is necessary across cultural boundaries
According to Needle (2004), organizational culture involves shared values, which govern the operations of an organization. Some of the values involve how information flows, organizational relationships and formal structures. Aswathappa (2008) argues that culture is an important aspect of business because it determines the success or failure of a business. When the company goes virtual, the relationship between its stakeholders usually becomes complicated. It is necessary to learn why different people do things the way they do so that the impact they may have on the business can be assessed. Differences and similarities between the social and organizational cultures should be examined so that they are not viewed as threats but as opportunities for more innovations. With the right strategy, it is very easy to cope with cultural relationships.
Leadership Considerations that Wal-Mart should keep in Mind
An innovative leadership strategy is what Wal-Mart should keep in mind to survive in the competitive business arena and in order to compete successfully. The strategy must be specific, measurable, attainable and timely. Wal-Mart’s strategy is specific because the company ventures into a market and it establishes its customer base, which enables it to compete effectively. This cannot be achieved if the targets are not measurable and it is important so that the progress can be assessed easily and the necessary action taken. Targets that are attain...