walmart-case-study-1208728572990997-9

7/27/2019 walmart-case-study-1208728572990997-9

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http://walmartstores.com/AboutUs/7603.aspx

Wal-Mart Case Study


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Introduction


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Wal-Marts Forty-six Year History

1960s:Sam Walton opens first discount store in Rogers, AK

24 stores in Arkansas with $24 million in sales

Two stores open outside of Arkansas in Missouri and Oklahoma

Wal-Mart is incorporated1970s:

Home office and Distribution Center opens

Company is listed on the Hew York Stock Exchange

Acquires 16 Mohr-Value stores and Hutcheson Shoe Company276 stores, 21,000 employees, and $1.248 billion in sales



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1980s:

Sam Club opens and Largest distribution center opens to-date

Acquires Kuhns Big K, Grand Central Shoes, and Woolco stores

Forbes magazine ranks Wal-Mart #1 retailer for eight years straight

882 stores, 104,000 employees, and $8.4 billion in sales

Wal-Mart Satellite Network (largest private satellite communication in U.S. linking all facets of companyoperations)

Celebrates 25th anniversary

1990s:

Opens stores in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Germanyand England

Acquires Western Merchandisers, Pace Warehouse Clubs, Woolco,Interspar, Wertkauf, and ASDA Group

1,995 stores, 1,140,000 employees, 239 super-centers, 433 Sams Club,276 international stores, and $105 billion in sales

Wal-Marts Forty-six Year History (cont.)



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Wal-Marts Forty-six Year History (cont.)

2000s:

Fortune magazine ranks Wal-Mart 5thGlobal Most Admired All-Stars

Hispanic Business magazine ranks Wal-Mart in Top 25 DiversityRecruitment Programs

Owns 95.1% share in Seiyu stores, Japan

6,200 facilities globally, 1.6 million employees, and $345 billion in sales

Joint-venture with Bharti Enterprises, India est. Bharti Wal-Mart PrivateLimited

Opens stores in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua,and South Korea

3,000th international stores opens in Sao Paulo, Brazil



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CIO Affecting Change

Wal-Marts Affect on the RetailIndustry


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CIO/Wal-Mart Affects Industry Change

Sam Walton distrusted information technology

Chief Information Officer: Rollin Ford who also serves as the Executive VicePresident of Logistics and Supply Chain, takes command in 2006

Implemented radio frequency identification (RFID) for all productsdistributed to Wal-Mart and Sams Club stores

Raised the standard for vendors and suppliers through global supply chaintransformation

Companies that do business with Wal-Mart must operate on the RFIDglobal supply chain concept of Wal-Mart

Rollins and Wal-Marts innovate use of information technology raise retail

industry standards for excellence and efficiency



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Wal-Mart Specific Questions


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Wal-Mart SoftwareDevelopment

Wal-Mart has a team of developers to

create most software needed by thecompany.

Before the development of everysoftware, the developers works on thefunctional areas that will be affected by it.


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Should Wal-Mart continue to rely ondeveloping its own software?

Big companies such as Wal-Mart need very specificsoftware which probably will not be available on the market.

The best way to develop a software that exactly meets the

company's requirements is to use in-house development. With in-house development, the maintenance will be easier

since the knowledge used to create the software is keptwithin the company.

Wal-Mart does not want to be help hostage by the software

vendor.

Adjustments on third party companies can be moreexpensive than in-house development for applications withthe complexity demanded by Wal-Mart.


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What are the benefits and costs to havingdevelopers work in a functional area before

creating its own software?

Most software developments are targeted to make user's lifeeasier or to speed up tasks.

The best way to develop a software is to understand theuser's need.

If the developer works in a functional area he will understandmost of the requirements of the software.

The additional days that the developers worked on thefunctional area will be compensated with the lesser need ofadjustments and maintenance in the future.


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Wal-Mart - Current and FutureTrends and Technology

Wal-Mart is known to be always on theleading edge of the technology


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Why are some people upset about RFIDtags? Are their fear justified?

The main issue raised about the RFID is privacy. Some people fearthat the RFID can be used to farther away than its intent.

RFID items can be read after the item leaves the store. Then, RFIDscanners could also be used to scan all items someone have at theirhome that uses the RFID technology.

Lewan describes in his article that Mark Rasch, former head of thecomputer-crime unit of the U.S. Justice Department, states that thereis a possibility of unauthorized people learning about who you are,what you have bought, how and where you have bought your items.

Mark Rasch adds that thieves can scan car trunks, garages andoffices from a distance.

In addition, he mentions that even third party companies and thegovernment can use to learn about you.

These statements strongly support any fear of the uncontrolled use ofthis technology.


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What does the UCCnet project do and whyit is so important to retailers?

UCCnet is a subsidiary of the Uniform Code Council thatprovide a way of companies to register item data and sharestandardized information between their vendors.

Companies, such as the Wal-Mart, have systems thatmaintain their inventory and connect with the productssuppliers alerting when a product needs to be shipped.

Most companies use different set of data for their products.The UCCnet provides an industry-wide standard for data,

making possible the integration of different systems. Without this synchronization, it would be extremely difficult to

connect two company's systems.


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Why did Wal-Mart stop selling sometransaction data and will it affect the

company in the future?

Wal-Mart sold its transaction data to companies, such asdrug manufacturers, in 2001.

Wal-Mart saw that the competitors were taking advantage of

this data. Since, this information was more valuable to competitors

than the price that Wal-Mart was charging, the Wal-Martdecided to stop this data.

This should not affect the Wal-Mart, since it is a very bigcompany and the money they made selling transaction datawas only a fraction of their income.


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What is the role of Wal-Mart's Web site? Isit a useful tool?

The role of Wal-Mart's Web site is to follow the technologytrends with the e-commerce.

Wal-Mart's website is useful since many users can buyproducts directly through the website or search for items thathe might need on the next visit to the store.

The website is being so used, that on 2006, the websitesuffered from visitors overload on the Black Friday.

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