October 31, 2011
The team is playing the role of management consultants in the case study of Wal-Mart stores in China. The team decided that a SWOT analysis was the best approach to the case in the beginning stages of the project. The SWOT analysis was designed as a tool that identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization. The method of SWOT analysis is to take the information from an environmental analysis and separate it into internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats). Once this is completed, SWOT analysis determines what may assist the firm in accomplishing its objectives, and what obstacles must be overcome or minimized to achieve …show more content…
France’s Carrefour was able to get into cities that Wal-Mart had issues with because they went around the Federal law and worked directly with the local governments (Farhoomand, 2006). Finally, it is very important in China for fresh food. In some cases this means that there are live animals in Wal-Mart because the consumers demand absolute freshness. This makes it almost impossible for Wal-Mart to use their regular suppliers and they are forced to use local suppliers where they may or may not be able to get the lowest price.
Wal-Mart has the opportunity to streamline its supply chain management functions in China. In the states this function is essential to the survival of store operations. Which is what separates this retailer from any other in the world; the use of 3PL’s also makes moving products from one place to the other in a timely manner logistically sound. However in China innovation via automation in the manufacturing sector is either non-existent and or partially functional. Wal-Mart has been instrumental in government relations and has participated in debates directly with the Chinese government to improve local and national distribution channels. Another major opportunity for Wal-Mart to further improve their global operations in China and reduce cost is financial matters. Business operations in China depend heavily on hard-copy