External and Internal Environments Involved in Walmart Management

External and Internal Environments
Name
Institution
External and Internal Environments
Introduction
Walmart is a famous American corporate known for its premium services in its stalls. Sam Walton and his brother James Walton began the Walmart Company in 1962. From that period, the company grew and became a public corporate 1970 with 18 stores with an average sales revenue of forty-four dollars. Walmart targeted small and mid-size towns as an attempt to elude high competition in the city. The company’s development was drastic, as it showed continuous growth from its operations. By 1980, Walmart had 276 stores with an increased revenue of 1.2 billion dollars. The secret based on its outstanding success is the first strategy to reduce inventories to its operations. Substantial strategies such as effective leadership, ability to coexist positively with the external and internal environments, good managerial capabilities, strong customer relations and application of future improvement strategies have been the foundation framework in the company’s success.
Question 1
There are two segments of the general environment, which can be ranked the highest in influencing Walmart. The segments include demographic and technological. The segments are vital in offering premium services in the business. The demographic segment plays an important role in almost every business. Salespersons may use the variables that constitute demographics to make a demographic profile that provides them with the necessary information to a mental picture of the type of consumers they are to face. Once marketers create these patterns, they can be able to generate a marketing plan and strategy. In the demographic segment, organizations focus on age, gender, income level, race, and ethnicity for their promotion.
As a human, we are always faced with different needs and want that demand to be satisfied. The needs may be basic or just luxurious. When people face such options, the only thing that they think of is satisfying these requirements. At these times, they are likely to turn to the stores such as Walmart to purchase the goods they require. However, while they are in the stores just to get what they need, the stores have much more products to offer. They have merchandise can be of use to every type of demographics, from that may suit different ages, products for each gender, inexpensive brands of goods for their less fortunate consumers and much more.
The technological segment is significant in the operation of the business. The company owns technology of ICT infrastructure that promotes efficient and effective communication across the stores (Morillo et al., 2015). The company uses computer-based communication to conduct meetings between virtual teams. The company also encourages the use of face-to-face communication to communicate company policies and decisions. Walmart arranges weekly meetings together with frequent phone calls, emails, memos, and circulars for convenience (Nandagopal et al., 2009). The company uses its technology to help in marketing, the gathering of information, delivery of its products, communication and perming its operation.
Question 2
Both the intensity of the rivals and bargaining power of suppliers are the most significant forces of competition in Walmart. The retail industry has many companies, with Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid being one of the great competitors. These are some of the competitors; there are also other, smaller competitors such as Target and other grocery store chains. Pharmaceuticals are a high demand business, with excellent margins. The margins are declining and as a result, forcing the competition to adapt to the fluctuating approaches consistently (Morillo et al., 2015). Because of the changing technological development, many competitors now are handling customer interaction online. Many consumers are now placing their orders through emails and calls and then going to the actual store. However, mail orders may delay and as a result, forcing the customer to deal with real stores. At Walmart, the management has established call centers with mail departments and active agents who receive customers’ orders. The call centers help numerous customers and as a result, being able to overcome competition for consumers by the rival firms.
The second force that is vital for Walmart is bargaining power of suppliers. Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson describe ‘bargaining power of vendors’ as the capacity of vendors raise input prices, or improve the costs of the business in other ways. The general market has a lot more bargaining power. If a generic producer resolves not to sell to an individual vendor, then the stores may quickly shift to another generic supplier. Generic drugs have less exceptionality than prescriptions, and as a result, providers must give in to the chains’ demand. There numerous medication that a consumer needs order, like over the counter drugs, which in turn hurts the costs for generic medicines. Walmart and other stores have established ways in which consumers may save money on medications by giving prescriptions saving cards for individuals that lack insurance.
Question 3
In t...