T

Quang Pham

AARON WHIPPLE

LAURYN TRUETT

Palomar College

Professor Armistead

BMGT 101: Introduction to Management

May 10, 2016

THe management of WAlmart:

An American Multinational Retail Corporation

“SAve Money. Live better”

Many global citizens have heard of the phrase “your friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart” and think of a super-center that can meet all of their needs in one seemingly simple shopping trip. In 1979, after switching the store name from Ben Franklin Stores to the well-known Wal-Mart name there were 276 stores nationwide. This company experienced extreme growth, having more than ten times that amount: up to 2,943 stores seventeen years later in 1996, after going international. There are currently 11,527 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club locations inside and outside of the United States. The stores can be quite large, ranging from 15,000 square feet to 260,000 square foot superstores. Wal-Mart stores will consist of up to 13 different departments with many sub-departments and a great number of employees in the public eye as well as behind the scenes.

Sam Walton bought a branch of Ben Franklin Stores from the Butler Brothers in 1945. When the lease ran out after 5 years, he moved, and opened “Walton’s Five and Dime.” In 1969, the company was incorporated as Wal- Mart Store, Inc., and grew as a regional power. In 1990, it became the largest U.S. retailer by revenue and went multinational.

Walmart is well- planned. The corporation operates hypermarkets (Supercenters), discount department stores (Discount Stores), and grocery stores (Neighborhood Markets). In Escondido, there is a department store and Neighborhood Market, each with pharmacies. In San Marcos, there is a department store with a pharmacy and an optician shop. The slogan is- “Save money,

Headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas

Livebetter.” The store brands include GreatValue, Equate, and Sam’s Choice.

The store logo is:

The stores feature very low prices, good customer service, and self- checkouts. There are four divisions- Walmart U.S., Walmart International, Sam’s Club, and Global e- commerce. E- commerce workers can earn over $100,000 per year. There are several environmentally conscious initiatives which have been implemented: photovoltaic solar panels, wind turbines, biofuel- capable boilers, water- cooled refrigerators, and xeriscape gardens. Wi- Fi internet access is available at certain Walmarts. Compared with other stores, Target, K- Mart, Sears, J.C. Penney, 99c, Walmart is a good buy in relation to price and quality of goods.

Walmart is organized. There are 5 presidents, 30 vice- presidents, and a 15- member board of directors. There are 11,527 stores in 27 countries. Walmart owns Sam’s Club. Their stores can be found in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua), South America (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile), Africa (South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia), Asia (China, Japan, and India), and Europe (United Kingdom and Germany).

Blue areas show store locations

Distribution in the U.S.

Red areas show closed stores (Germany and S. Korea)

Distribution in the world

Work positions in Walmart include cashier, sales associate, stockers, greeters, and security.

Walmart has good leadership and leads in a number of ways. Walmart was founded by Sam Walton and is family- owned. His heirs own 50% of Walmart. Walmart is the world’s largest company by revenue (482 billion in 2015). Walmart is the biggest private employer in the world with 2.2 million employees.

There is control of Walmart activities. There is a high turnover rate with 70% of employees leaving within a year. In the film “The High Cost of Low Price”, Walmart is able to provide low prices because the workers are low paid, there are poor working conditions, and the health care is inadequate. Many of the workers are on public assistance and food stamps, and rely on government- assisted health care. Sam Walton died in 1992 and Don Soderquist, Chief Operation Officer and Senior Vice President became known as the “Keeper of the Culture.” Walmart is anti- union and pressured workers not to engage in strikes. Walmart employs more African- Americans than any other private employer in the U.S, though there have been gender discrimination lawsuits against Walmart. Sam Walton believed the company contributed to society because it operated efficiently and lowered the cost of living, and refused to give cash to philanthropic causes. However, after his death, Walmart donated to Hurricane Katrina relief and charitable donations approaching $1 billion each year. Walmart’s customer base is rather conservative and Christian and customers cite low prices as the most important reason for shopping there. In the 2004 Presidential Election, 76 percent voted for George W. Bush, while only 23 percent supported senator John Kerry.

Quang had an interview with workers who are neighbors and friends. Hala is a cashier/ sales associate, and works 9 hours a week (Saturday and Sunday) mostly in the toys department, and gets the minimum wage ($10/ hr.). She had received a bonus and a $.20 raise. At work, she wears a uniform and a name badge. She attends Escondido Palomar College and is computer literate. Sammy, Hala’s husband, is a security guard for Walmart and his wife and he came to the U.S. from Syria 3 years ago.

We’ve covered Wal-Mart at a face value, and it can already be seen that at the local store level, there is a very different perspective of management and leadership. In the following sections, let’s discuss other issues that spring up involving Wal-Mart and its interests. Wal-Mart being in league with the Department of Homeland Security (Ministry of Homeland Insecurity for the Orwell readers), the company’s participation in a massive military “training” operation known as “Jade Helm 15: Mastering the Human Domain,” and foreign manufacturing of the products they sell in Asian sweatshops.

On December 7, 2010, MSNBC reported that within twenty-four hours of that date, at least 200 Wal-Marts, equipped with TV screens at select checkout lanes, will be playing a safety message from the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Janet Napolitano. This message would briefly explain the new alliance between Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the United States, and the DHS, for a new public safety initiative along the lines of the “See Something, Say Something” campaign, already in effect since 2002, in New York subways. Where this becomes dark and questionable relates to the very creation of the DHS, and a “analyzation” with subsequent message from DHS Secretary Napolitano on April 19, 2009, regarding and connected to H.R. 1955, The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007. Between the H.R. 1955 bill and the DHS/FBI analysis, the greatest potentially radical groups are “Judeo-Christians, veterans and active duty returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, gun owners, and other right-wing minded people.” Since the closures in April 2015, the initial five stores reportedly reopened in October 2015. Those five stores are located in Pico Rivera, CA; Tulsa, OK; Midland, TX; Livingston, TX, and Braden, FL.

Thus, Walmart is a very successful retail corporation. Its management is good in that there is good planning, good organization, good leadership, and good control. There are negative reviews of the stores, but there are also positive reviews of the stores. Quang likes shopping at Walmart because they have low prices, wide selection, foodstuffs, medicines, accept EBT, and are located nearby. His neighbors work at Walmart and are able to make a living. Through this essay it has been made apparent that Wal-Mart is a humongous conglomerate and one of the largest worldwide retailers. It has also been shown that even though a corporation has a big name or large presence in the community, it still may be doing some things they want to keep out of the public eye.

Managers at the local Walmarts &

Items from VietNam

Sunday Walmart Advertisements in Englishand in Spanish(April 30, 2016

REFERENCES

  1. Wikipedia (2016)
  2. Forbes (2016)
  3. WorldTruth.tv (2015)- JADE Helm First Strike: Walmart Stores from Texas to Florida Close Today for 6 Months without Notice.
  4. MSN News (2016)- Why is Wal- Mart adding store greeters? Shoplifting.
  5. Walmart websites
  1. Commercial website-
  2. Corporate website-
  1. Scott, Lee and Hunter, Don. Greenwald documentary (2005)- The High Cost of Low Price.
  2. Rebuttal to Greenwald documentary (2005)- Why Wal- Mart Works and Why This Drives Some People C-R-A-Z-Y.
  3. Walmart. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2016, from
  4. Harkinson, J. (2012, July 18). Chart: 6 Walmart Heirs Hold More Wealth Than 42% of Americans Combined. Retrieved May 10, 2016, from
  5. Ausick, P. (2014, March 22). Walmart Now Has Six Types ofStores. Retrieved May 10, 2016, from
  6. Interview with neighbor Hala. (2016, May 7).[Interview].(n.d.).
  7. Walmart circulars from Union- Tribune San Diego and Hoy. (2016, April 30).

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