"TUI University"
Archie P. Folks
FIN 301: Principles of Finance
Module 03 SLP 03
Dr. John Halstead
Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart in 1962 when he and his brother opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City located in Rogers, Arkansas. Since then Wal-Mart has grown to become the largest company in the world. In the United States, there are a wide variety of stores under the Wal-Mart name including their discount stores, Super-centers, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam's Club warehouse membership clubs. The company also has many international operations. Wal-Mart is considered a variety store, which focuses on low prices featuring apparel as well as hard goods, and has been committed to upholding their basic value of customer service. "The secret of successful retailing is to give your customers what they want," Sam wrote in his autobiography. "And really, if you think about it from the point of view of the customer, you want everything: a wide assortment of good quality merchandise; the lowest possible prices; guaranteed satisfaction with what you buy; friendly, knowledgeable service; convenient hours; free parking; a pleasant shopping experience" (The Wal-Mart story, 2007, p.
English: Inside the Walmart (still branded as Wal-...
A protest in Utah against Wal-Mart
English: Exterior of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Mad...4). Wal-Mart operates discount retail department stores selling a broad range of products. It typically stocks basic, rather than premium products. Wal-Mart also operates "Supercenters" which include a full line of grocery items. Wal-Mart also operates Sam's Club; these are "warehouse clubs" which, like Costco, require membership dues and sell merchandise in large and inexpensive sizes and quantities. Beta of Wal-Mart = -.18 http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ks?s=WMT Explanation of beta Beta measures a stock's volatility, the degree to which its price fluctuates in relation to the overall market. In other words, it gives a sense of the stock's market risk compared to the greater market. The Beta factor measures how volatile a stock is when compared with an...