For the final project I chose to complete a management analysis on Wal-Mart. Covered in this paper are the issues of productivity, hiring practices, corporate social responsibility and culture, diversity and affirmative action, the use of information technology, leadership, teamwork, and managing ethics.
Productivity is very important to any successful business. Wal-Mart has increased its productivity through many different advances. Business analysts have long admired Wal-Mart's logistics management, even though the public recognizes them for their low discounted prices. Wal-Mart has always been resourceful at moving and stocking goods, building its stores as branches around distribution center hubs. But, instead of simply maximizing efficiency at the warehouse, for example, Wal-Mart began to analyze costs over the entire shipping process, including how quickly goods can be moved onto shelves once they arrive at the store. Just one example of these analyses found, that by not completely filling a pallet with goods can save so much time in stocking the store, that what seems "inefficient" at the warehouse is more productive over all.
English: Inside the Walmart (still branded as Wal-...
A protest in Utah against Wal-Mart
English: Supermercado de Wal-Mart in Spring Branch...Through the analyses they have put into place the RFID, a new system of tracking merchandise. The RFID begins at the registers, when customers go through the checkout lines, the RFID immediately takes that point-of-sale data on their purchases combined with the RFID-generated data to create a list of what is available to produce a pick list. The use of this technology has enable associates to change the process in which inventory is tracked. The scanners automatically send the input and output data directly to suppliers, vendors and the distribution warehouses. This system allows for fewer middlemen, which in turn increases productivity by reducing costs, from the shipments leaving the warehouse, to the merchandise being unload and stocked on shelves in the stores. "The message is that...