Comparative Analysis of Wal-Mart, Kmart, and Burlington - Research Paper Example

? BUSINESS Research Paper on Comparative analysis of Wal-Mart, Kmart and Burlington ………………………….. College ……………………………… ……………….. Words count: 4877 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 4 Company Background Information 4 Wal-Mart 4 Kmart 8 Burlington 10 Organizational Culture and Structure 12 Wal-Mart’s culture and structure 13 Kmart’s culture and structure 14 Burlington’s Culture and Structure 15 Analyzing Internal and External Environmental factors 16 SWOT analysis of Wal-Mart 16 SWOT analysis of Kmart 18 SWOT analysis of Burlington Coat Factory 19 Conclusion 21 Summary of Findings 21 References 23 Introduction Companies are concentrating more on effective business strategies with a view to respond to consumers’ on-demand expectations. Successful businesses in today’s rigorously competitive marketing environments are those who not just seek a response such as attention, purchase or vote from others, but also stimulate demand for their products and services (Kotler and Keller, 2006, p. 10) through different business and management strategies. Almost all different companies play very uniquely in the market with varying organizational objectives, visions, techniques, ideas and strategies and therefore all these companies provide illuminating examples for how differently a market can be created and maintained. This piece of research paper presents a comparative study of the company background information, organizational cultures and environmental factors of three well known companies; Wal-Mart, Kmart and Burlington Coat factory. Based on the comparative analysis of the business strategies and marketing techniques of these three companies, this paper explains how different companies play uniquely in the market by creating values for their customers to make them ultimately satisfied. Company Background Information Wal-Mart The Wal-Mart is always an amazing business story since it has emerged to be the largest retailer from the dream of a family to start a small lucrative retail business with their personal saving of six thousand dollars (Soderquist, 2005). Out of all the retail and other brands in the US, Wal-Mart has undoubtedly affected the life of millions around the world by changing their lifestyle, culture and social status too. Wal-Mart operates retail stores in various formats and segments across the world such as discount stores, supercentres, neighborhood markets, Sam’s club and market-side. It is ranked first by Fortune 500 on the list of America’s largest corporations and also as one among the world’s largest corporations listed in 2011. Wal-Mart stores provide its customers with wide range of national as well as internationally recognized brands in categories of grocery, home appliance, entertainment, health and wellness, apparel, home wares and so on. One of the major strengths of the company is that it can quickly shift the products mix to adapt to changes in demand and market since the company has dominant position in its market and also that it provides wide ranges of goods and services (Datamonitor, 2011). The Wal-Mart story The Wal-Mart story begins with Sam Walton’s dream to start a small franchise Ben Franklin’s variety store in Arkansas, Bentonville in 1945 (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2009, p. 293). The retail store that Sam Walton started began to inspire a group of people with his uncanny ability and his vision to create not just one-of-a-kind company but a revolutionary business model and thus to grow to impact the standard of living for millions upon millions of people every day in the US and worldwide (Soderquist, 2005). Until 1962, the business was entirely devoted to the operation of franchise variety stores. By July 1962, Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers and this has eventually grown to be a large chain with 24 stores that ringed up $ 12.7 million sales in 1967. In 1969, the company is formally incorporates as Wal-Mart Stores Inc (History Timeline, 2012). In 1970s, it expended to be a national company with incredible business growth. Its first stock was traded for $ 16.50 per share in 1970 and it was listed in New York Stock exchange by 1972. During this time, Wal-Mart stores recorded higher sales of $ 78 million through more than 50 stores. In 1980, the company reached $ 1 billion in annual sales with 276 stores and employing more than 21,000 employees. In 1983, the first Sam’s Club was opened in Midwest City, Okla. Between 1987 and 1988, it launched the first ever satellite communication technology to link company’s operation through voice and video communication and launched the first Supercentre in Washington. Its supercentres are large hypermarkets with size varying between 98,000 to more than 150,000 square feet (History Timeline, 2012). By 1990s, Wal-Mart became America’s number one retailer with fastest growth in sales and profitability. By 1992, it has grown to own more than 1920 stores and to employ more than 370, 000 people. The company started its first branch in China in 1996. In 1988, Wal-Mart opened neighborhood markets with a view to establish stronger customer relationship and thus to maintain stronger customer loyalty. Wal-Mart’s neighborhood market was highly successful strategy to establish stronger customer relationship (Soderquist, 2005, p. 18) because they provided customers with convenience and speed which in turn increased the customer base of the company. In 2000, Wal-Mart started online shopping facility for American customers. Between 1990s and 2000s, the company entered various international markets such as Japan, India, South Africa, and Chile and so on. By 2009, its sales exceeded $ 400 billion of annual sales. The company started Express-Store in 2011 and started celebrating 50 years of its unique vision of ‘helping people save money, so they can live better’ with more that 2.2 million employees working through more than 10, 000 stores to serve 200 million customers in 27 countries (History Timeline, 2012). As depicted above, Wal-Mart US stores currently represent 62 % of the total sales with $ 260 billion Net Sales, whereas Wal-Mart’s international stores represent 26 % and Sam’s clubs represent 11%, with $ 109 billion and $ 49 billion respectively. Market and Financial Overview of Wal-Mart Wal-Mart is the market leader in US retail and grocery industries with yearly sales of $453.9 billion. As compared to the total sales figure of the second largest retailer- $85.4 billion, Wal-Mart stays unbeatable and the market leading share itself makes the company long-term profitable (Stores.org, 2012). Wal-Mart is not only just the market leader and world’s largest retailer, but has widely been perceived to be the barometer of economic activity (Wohi, 2012). In a close analysis of the financial performance, Wal-Mart has been gaining steady growth for last several years. As shown in the figure above, the company has been gaining steady growth and is expected to grow net sales between 4 and 6 percent by the end of 2012. As of the financial year 2011, the operating profit of the company was $ 25, 542 million showing an increase of 6.4 percent over the operating profits of the company during 2010. More interestingly, the net profit for 2011 was $16, 389 billion with an increase of 14.1 % over the previous year. Kmart Kmart Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sears Holdings Corporations, being one of the largest general merchandise retailer chains in the US. As of 2007, Kmart was positioned to be the third largest retailer with a strong brand name and brand equity (Datamonitor, 2007). The company has gained considerable market position by selling its own brand and private labeled products. Its products lines include toys, hardware, supplies, kitchen appliances, hair care materials, entertainment and electronic items. Kmart is a part of ShopYourWay, a social shopping experience that the permanent customers are able to earn points and receive benefits from shopping a wide range of physical and digital formats. The company thus offers quality products through different brand names such as Sofia, Jaclyn Smith, Boxer, Smart sense etc (searsholdings.com, 2012). In beginning of 2012, there were 1305 Kmart stores across 49 states of the US. Its stores include 1279 discount stores and 26 Supercentres, with an average floor-space of 94,000 square feet and 169,000 square feet respectively. The company planned to close 60 Kmart stores by the mid of 2012 (searsholdings.com, 2012). Kmart history More than one hundred years ago, in 1899, Sebastian Spering Kresge founded today’s Kmart in the name of SS Kresage. It then eventually grew to be one of the largest companies of 1900s, and has been incorporated in Delaware with 85 stores and with annual sales of $10,325,000 in 1912. By 1918, it became publically traded company and listed in the New York Stock Exchange. By 1966, its total sales reached one billion US dollars. S.S Kresage and G.J Coles and Coy Limited of Australia together organized Kmart in 1968 with a view to develop Kmart stores in Australia. The company has gained steady growth in various aspects related to total retail-selling space, annual sales, profitability, and customer base and brand equity. By 1976, the company opened more than 270 stores to reach its total stores to be 1647 and the company has been the first to launch 17 million square feet of retail space in a single year (searsholdings.com, 2012). In 1981, the 2000th Kmart store was opened and reached the total numbers to 2055 by the end of the year. The company continued to acquire different companies in different segments such as sports, books, and stationary and so on. Now, the Kmart supercentres are full-service grocery and general merchandise stores, offering 24 hours a day and special services. These supercentres range in size from 140, 000 to 190,000 square feet. They feature in-house bakeries, fresh meats and sea food items and specialty food kiosks. The traditional Kmart stores include pharmacies and almost 978 Kmart stores operate in-store pharmacies. Market and Financial Overview of Kmart Until 1990s, both Wal-Mart and Kmart were almost equally sharing the retail market with an approximate market share of 30 percent. But, Kmart’s market share has been declined to 17 percent in 2000 whereas Wal-Mart’s share has been increased to 55 percent and Target’s share to 13 percent (Sutton and Klein, 2003, p. 37). Kmart has continuously been losing its market share and this explains why the company had to close more than 100 stores in 2012 even while Wal-Mart and other retail giants reported growth in annual sales and opened more stores. As BBC New reported, Sears and Kmart were ready to close 120 retail outlets since the company felt a decline of 27 percent of its share value and also due to that its sales were fallen by 4 to 6 percent (BBC.co.uk, 2011). As far as its financial performance is concerned, Kmart has been reporting percentage decrease in its net operating profits. The company recorded the total revenues of 419,094 million during the financial year of 2005, showing a decrease of 3.8 percent over the financial year of 2004. The operating profit for 2005 was $767 million with a decrease of 57.9 percent over 2004 (Datamonitor, 2007). As of 2012, the domestic stores sales of Kmart declined by 4.7 percent in the second quarter (searsholdings.com, 2012). Burlington Burlington Coat Factory, generally renowned as Burlington, is a largest and most successful privately held apparel and merchandise retailer headquartered in Burlington, New Jersey. The company operates a chain of about 470 stores in 44 states of the US (Datamonitor, 2010). Burlington Coat Factory has been ranked as # 103 in Forbes largest private companies and # 583 in the Fortune 1000 companies (hoovers.com, 2012). Burlington Coat Fcatory is the 88th largest retailer in the US with an annual sales of more than $ 3 billion and an annual growth of 4.9 percent of sales between the financial years of 2010 and 2011 (stores.com, 2012). It is a multinational retailer with relatively smaller percentage of global sales to add to its total revenues and operating profits. Burlington History The history of the company goes back to 1924 when the company started as small wholesale shop for ladies coats and junior suits. The first retail outlet was opened by Monroe G. Milstein in 1972 in New Jersey (fundinguniverse.com, 2012). Over years, the concept has been evolved to offer greater convenience to customers and the company has changed to one-stop shopping, providing extensive selection of men’s’ as well as women’s’ coasts, suits, sportswear, shoes and other relevant accessories (burlingtoncoatfactory.com, 2012). In 1990, the company launched one of the largest national distribution centres with 438,000 square-feet floor space. By 1993, the total sales of Burlington Coat factory surpassed one billion US dollars. The company continued to expand by adding 27 more stores in 1999. By 2003, the company owned and run more than 335 large stores across the country and its total revenues steadily grew to reach $2.7 billion in the same fiscal year (fundinguniverse.com, 2012). Market and Financial overview of Burlington Burlington is the top name-brand apparel and accessories store. Burlington coat factory holds relatively a very less share of the US retail market as it is ranked # 88 largest retail stores in the US, considering the total annual revenues and potential growth. According to the latest reports, the company announced the net sales for the third quarter of 2012 as $967.8 million compared to the $898.7 million for the same quarter of 2011 with an increase of 7.7 %. In the second quarter of 2012, the company reported 2.9 % comparative store sales increase and 8.9% total net sales increase. (Burlington Coat Factory Reports, 2012). Organizational Culture and Structure Organizational culture is a system of shared values, actions and beliefs that an organization develops and establishes to influence its members to guide and shape their behavior aspects (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn, 2005, p. 436). It is a basic pattern of shared values, beliefs and assumptions that management and organization’s members find them to be right way of thinking and acting on problems and opportunities facing the organization (McShane and Von Glinow, 2004, p. 476). From these literatures, it is very evident that organizational culture is the DNA of organization not only because it is something invisible but also that it functions as a very powerful tool to shape everything that concerns the organization. Organizational culture thus represents an organization’s personality. Management and members of the organization may belong originally to different cultures, values, beliefs, religions, and ethnicity and so on, but as they are as a team within an organization, they get in to an already established organizational culture by aligning and integrating the shared values among them. Ethics, rights and responsibilities given to different people and the structure used in the organization generally influence the culture. Organizational structure and culture are therefore closely interrelated. As Newstrom and Davis (2004, p. 6) pointed, organizational structure refers to a formal relationship and use of people within the firm. Different levels of people involved in varying tasks like managing, marketing, financing, accounting, supervising etc are related each other in a very structural and systematic way so that their tasks can easily be integrated and carried out. In short, organizational culture refers to shared values, beliefs and assumptions that influence organization’s members whereas ‘structure’ represents formal system of relationship between tasks and authority that control how people coordinate various functions to reach the ultimate organizational goal (Jones, 2004, p. 9). Within an organization, its ‘culture’ largely affects the ‘structure’ and the ‘structure’ as well influences the shared values and beliefs among its people. Wal-Mart’s culture and structure Wal-Mart’s culture is founded based on three shared values and beliefs, they are, 1) service to its customers, 2) respect for the individual and 3) striving for excellence (Culture, 2012). Wal-Mart designs, structures and develops all its activities taking in to account these three basic principles especially with a view to make its people always adhere to these cultural values. It motivates its people to better serve its customers, respect others and strive for excellence in order to reach its so called motto- save people’s money so that they can live better. In order to serve customers better at Wal-Mart, every associate from the top to the bottom are everyday reminded that its customers are why the associates are there. For the cultural value to be achieved, the management team supports its associates to better serve the customers and provide local communities with ways to connect to the customers. In order to enhance mutual respect and dignity, the company motivates people to value and recognize the contributions of each associate and communicate by listening to all of them. For striving for the excellence, Wal-Mart innovates by trying newer ways and work as a team to help each other (Culture, 2012). As Hill & Jones (2011, p. 258) noted, the strong customer-oriented values that are created by Sam Walton exemplified the stories of Wal-Mart. It is mainly about its associates’ concern about the customers. This strong culture has always helped Wal-Mart’s employees control and motivate in achieving the stringent output and financial targets that the company expected form them. Its culture gets built further strong from the annual stockholders’ meeting where in its people and stockholders witness an extravagant ceremony celebrating company’s annual success. Wal-Mart’s organization is functional in structure and with that it uses its cost leadership strategy as well (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2008, p. 317). A functional organizational structure is a structure that consists of a chief executive officer and quite limited corporate staff with functional line managers such as marketing, accounting, engineering, Research and Development etc. Mike Duke is the current CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, and Doug McMillon for Wal-Mart International. Under them, there are hundreds of functional managers, presidents and various other executive people such executive presidents and vice president for logistics, marketing, global consumer insights, R&D etc. Kmart’s culture and structure In a close analysis and study about Wal-Mart’s success and Kmart’s failure, it is very clear that culture has dominant place in determining success and failure of a firm. Wal-Mart’s culture played pivotal role in its success, whereas, as Ortega (1999, p. 271) pointed out, Kmart’s biggest problem was its stodgy organizational culture. Griffin (2012, p. 71) also observed that organizational culture in Kmart was very weak as the management team changes rapidly and few people could sense any specific direction in the company. This has been a fundamental reason why Kmart lost its market growth and share in previous years. Kmart’s multicultural diversity among its workforce illuminates a potential side for its people to serve different communities. Kmart has long been serving urban communities and it has been working with minority-owned suppliers. The company asks its people to compile and verify accurate demographic information about each store location, identify variances in selling patterns, ensure that demographic and geographic needs are set and work with store management (searsholdings.com, 2012). Kmart’s organizational structure is characterized by committee organization in which authority and responsibility are jointly held among a group of individuals rather than a single manager. Kmart follows office of the CEO concept because it has an organizational arrangement whereby the duties of the chief executive are shared among two or more members. Burlington’s Culture and Structure Burlington Coat Factory is not just the leading off-price apparel and home product retailer, but also an excellent workplace for people to enrich themselves with further career opportunities to learn and advance within the organizational setting (burlingtoncoatfactory.com, 2012). The organizational culture of the company is thus characterized by respect, reward and recognition as people not only get opportunities to further develop their skills and talents, but also will be rewarded and recognized so that they always feel respected and motivated. The respect and reward the organization offers to the talented and skilled people are the factors that enabled the company become a very successful $3.8 billion national off-price apparel retailer. Its culture is founded based on three elements; they are, 1) develop trust and respect, 2) build team and partnership and 3) drive results. As the company seeks people who are dedicated and are capable of loving people with an ability to bring smiles to its customers, the company maintains a culture with reward and recognition to those who perform well and thus make them still performing better. Burlington is proud of its 28,000 people who always liked to work in Burlington for that its culture keeps them satisfied, motivated and responsible to become high performing workers. Burlington Coat Factory holds specific instructions related to code of ethics and professional guidelines that its associates and members are required to keep in mind in regard to working as a team member of the organization’s team. It has organizational line structure wherein lower level supervisors, department managers, district manager, regional manager, director, vice president and senior management are the members in the line organizational structure. Analyzing Internal and External Environmental factors A business firm is always affected by various environmental factors both internal and external to the firm. In today’s competitive business landscape, it is highly important that a firm must analyze both the internal and external environmental factors so as to find out what specific internal or external factors represent firm’s weakness or threats or opportunities or strengths and thus how they respond to its competitive advantage. Though there are various tools for these analysis such as WSOT, PESTEL, Porter’s five force analysis, Porter’s generic strategy and so on, SWOT seems to be most powerful and effective strategic analysis tool that help firms identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats both internal and external to the firms. SWOT analysis provides an insights and observation in to both internal and external environments of a firm. Environmental factors internal to the firm will be explained by S (Stregths) and W (Weaknesses). Similarly, the environmental factors external to the firm will be described by O (Opportunities) and T (Threats) (Ferrell & Hartline, 2010, p. 128). SWOT analysis of Wal-Mart Strengths Weaknesses Market leader and wide product assortment Low cost leadership Internationalization strategy Big box retailing format led to lower penetration Litigations affecting labor relations Opportunities Threats Outperforming retail sections Concentration on grocery Growth in internet retailing 2 million plus employees increase exposure to wage and health costs rise Competition Increasing resistance to local organizations. Internal environments of Wal-Mart 1- Wal-Mart is the market leader and the largest retailer in the world and the company has been ranked #1 by Fortune 500 on the list of US’s largest corporations. By the end of 2011, its total revenues were $ 400 billion, and over 25 billion in operating profits. With more than 10,000 stores, the company has more than 10, 00,000 square feet of floor retail selling space (Datamonitor, 2011). 2- Wal-Mart is a price leader and its low cost operations enable the company maintain this leadership position over years. Its grocery products are much lower priced as compared to that of other players (Datamonitor, 2011). 3- Wal-Mart continues to strengthen its international position and this seems to be an important strength of the company. By the end of 2011, its international segment operated 3949 global retail outlets in 14 countries. 4- Since its big-box retail outlets such as Supercenters require large floor space, especially in urban areas, the potential for expansion and opening new stores is limited. 5- In relation to labor relations, Wal-Mart has been facing several lawsuits. For instance, in 2009, it faced 63 wage-and-hour related lawsuits. External environments of Wal-Mart 1- Wal-Mart has been expanding its presence in emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico. Wal-Mart experienced 6.2 % growth in Brazil and 4.9 % in Mexico. 2- Wal-Mart extensively concentrates on grocery items, and this is an important opportunity for the company since eating at home and eating healthy are becoming important trends that are likely to increase in years to come. 3- Wal-Mart’s internet retailing reported greater success. It is reported that there was an 18% increase in online shopping within the US and this poses greater opportunity for Wal-Mart. 4- labor costs for employees in US is rapidly increasing and this will certainly pose greater threat to Wal-Mart as it employs more than 2 million people. 5- Though Wal-Mart still stays unbeatable to competitors, the distance between it and its close players such as Safeway, Target and Tesco is shortening. 6- Wal-Mart in recent years faced severe resistance from several groups when it planned to expand or open new stores (Datamonitor, 2011). SWOT analysis of Kmart Strengths Weaknesses Strong brand equity Merger with Sears Holdings corporations Limited geographical presence Weak operating performance Opportunities Threats Increased online retail spending Growth in private label products Fierce competition Slowdown in consumer spending Environmental factors internal to Kmart 1- Kmart is one of the largest retailers in the US with more than 1300 retail outlets of supercenters and discount stores in more than 40 states. 2- Kmart merged with Sears Holdings in 2005. Sears Holdings is the third largest broadline retailer with approximately $55 billion in annual revenues. 3- Kmart operates only in the US, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands. Its most competitors are global players. 4- In recent years, Kmart reported weak operating performance (Datamonitor, 2007). Environmental factors external to Kmart 1- Kmart has expanded its online retailing and the company expects yearly increase in its online retailing. 2- Privately labeled products in the US Market are achieving relatively stronger growth. 3- Kmart is facing fierce competition from Wal-Mart, Tesco, Safe way, Target, Home depot etc. 4- The US consumer spending is expected to slow down because consumers are reducing their spending to rising interest rates and inflation (Datamonitor, 2007). SWOT analysis of Burlington Coat Factory Strengths Weaknesses Strong retail networks in the US Diversified product portfolio Higher levels of indebtedness Weak profitability Opportunities Threats Increased online retail spending Capital investments for new stores Weak economic situations Rising labor wages Environmental factors internal to Burlington Coat factory 1- Burlington Coat Factory has relatively stronger network of retail stores in the US. It has more than 470 stores in 44 states across the US. 2- Burlington offers a wide selection of designer and fashion products for its consumers who are brand-conscious. 3- The company has highly level of debt which could in turn affect its financial condition and future operations. Its total indebtedness as of 2010 was $1.2 billion. 4- The company has been recording weak profitability over the past few years (Datamonitor, 2010). Environmental factors external to Burlington Coat factory 1- Growing online retail spending of US consumers will more likely to strengthen Burlington’s market potential. 2- For expanding its stores, the company opened 20 seasonal pop-up oat stores and thus increased its capital investments in recent years. 3- The company operates primarily within the US and therefore any economic fluctuation can largely affect company’s revenues and performance. 4- Rising labor wages across the US would certainly affect the company in relation to its wage and expenses (Datamonitor, 2010). Conclusion This piece of research paper has compared and contrasted company background information and historical data of three different companies that are Wal-Mart, Kmart and Burlington Coat factory. All these three companies are well known and largest firms operating in retail sectors within the US retail industry. This paper has also compared and studies the organizational culture and structure of these three firms. This paper found that organizational culture is an important underlying factor that can determine the success and failure of a firm. Kmart’s failure and Wal-Mart’s success can thus be taken as good examples for that. This paper has also presented brief environmental analysis, including both internal and external, of these three retailers. Summary of Findings The flowing Chart illustrates the summary of the major findings of this paper   Wal-Mart Kmart Burlington Coat Factory Starting In 1945, by Sam Walton, in Bentoville In 1899, BySebastian Spering Kresge In 1972 by Monroe G. Milstein in 1972 Growth Very fast, and became No #1 in Fortune 500 within 55 years Very fast in the beginning, but slowed its growth later Fast growth, to become # 583 in the Fortune 1000 Form of organization Publically traded Publically traded Privately owned Financial strength $400 + billion in revenues $ 15593 million $967.8 million Market share Market leader with an almost 30 percent market share, - Market share increased from 30 of 1990s to 55 of 2000. Third largest discount store in the US, Market share decreased from 30 of 1990s to 17 of 2000s. #88 largest retailer, Total numbers of stores 10000 + 1305 470 Online retailing Yes, and very Successful Yes, and growing, ShopYourWay Yes, and successful Organizational culture Very effective, with three components- 1-better service, 2- mutual respect and 3- striving for excellence Weak and Stodgy. Multicultural diversity Very impressive, based on reward and recognition, and with 3 components, 1- trust and respect, 2- team and partnership and 3- drive results Organizational structure Functional structure Committee organization, with office of the CEO concept Line organizational structure Strengths Market leader, low cost leadership and internationalization strong brand equity and merger with Sears Holdings strong retail networks, and diversified products portfolio Weaknesses lower penetration and litigations affecting labor relations limited geographical presence and weak operating performance high indebtedness and weak profitability Opportunities Outperforming retail sections, focus on grocery and growth in internet retailing increased online retailing and growth in private labeled products increased online retailing and extensive investments for new stores Threats wage rise, competition and resistance to expansions competition and slowdown in consumer spending weak economic conditions and rising labor wages References BBC.co.uk, 2011, Sears and Kmart to close up to 120 stores on poor sales, BBC Business News, Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16338641 Burlington Coat Factory Reports, 2012, Burlington Coat Factory Reports Third Quarter Sales, Burlington Coat Factory, EBSCO database Burlingtoncoatfactory.com, 2012, Our History, Burlington Coat Factory, Retrieved from http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/AboutUs/OurHistory.aspx Culture, 2012, Culture, Corporate.walmart.com, Wal-Mart, Retrieved from http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/working-at-walmart/culture Ferrell O.C, & Hartline, M.D, 2010, Marketing Strategy, Fifth edition, Cengage Learning Griffin, R.W, 2012, Management, Eleventh edition, Cengage Learning History Timeline, 2012, History Time line, Corporate.walmart.com, Wal-Mart, Retrieved from http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/heritage/history-timeline Hitt, M.A, Ireland, R.D and Hoskisson, R.E, 2008, Strategic Management: Competitiveness and Globalization: Concepts & Cases, Eighth illustrated edition, Cengage Learning Datamonitor, 2007, Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation, Company Profile, Datamonitor, EBSCO Database Datamonitor, 2010, Kmart Corporation, Datamonitor, EBSCO Database Datamonitor, 2011, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Company Profile, Datamonitor, EBSCO Database Ferrell, O.C, Fraedrich. J & Ferrell, L, 2009, Business Ethics 2009: Ethical Decision Making and Cases, Seventh revised edition, Cengage Learning Fundinguniverse.com, 2012, Company Perspectives, Funding Universe, Retrieved from http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/burlington-coat-factory-warehouse-corporation-history/ Hill, C.W. L and Jones, G.R, 2011, Essentials of Strategic Management, Third edition, Cengage Learning Hoovers.com, 2012, Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation Company Information, Retrieved from http://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/company-profile.Burlington_Coat_Factory_Warehouse_Corporation.24a380fb1102fa09.html Jones, G. R (2004), Organizational Theory, Design, and Change: Text and Cases, Fourth edition, Prentice Hall, Pearson Education Inc Kotler, P and Keller, K. L, 2006, Marketing Management, Twelfth Edition, Prentice- Hall, Pearson Education Inc McShane, SL and Von Glinow, MA, 2005, Organizational behavior: Emerging realities for the workplace revolution, The McGraw Hill Companies Inc Newstrom, J. W and Davis, K (2004), Organizational Behaviour, Human Behaviour at Work, Eleventh edition, The McGraw Hill Companies Ortega, B, 1999, In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and How Wal-Mart Is Devouring the World, Kogan Page Publishers Searsholdings.com, 2012, Kmart, Retrieved from http://www.searsholdings.com/about/kmart/ Schermerhorn, JR, Hunt, JG and Osborn, RN, 2005, Organizational Behavior, Ninth edition, John Wiley and Sons Soderquist, D, 2005, The Wal-Mart Way: The Inside Story Of The Success Of The World's Largest Company, Thomas Nelson Inc Stores.org, 2012, 2012 Top 100 Retailers, Retrieved from http://www.stores.org/2012/Top-100-Retailers Sutton, D and Klein, T, 2003, Enterprise Marketing Management: The New Science of Marketing, John Wiley & Sons Wal-Mart Annual Report, 2011, Building the next generation Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart Wohi, J, 2012, Wal-Mart international growth slows, shares fall, Reuters, Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/us-walmart-results-idUSBRE87F0G820120816 Read More