Wal Mart - Case Study Example

Publics Relations – Wal Mart Submitted By: XXXXXXX Number: XXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX Submission: XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX University Introduction: Wal Mart is the largest retail company through out the world, with over 971 discount stores, 2447 supercentres, 132 neighbourhood markets and 591 Sam’s club s in the US. The company is spread over the 14 countries and employees almost over 2.1 million people. The company has made enormous revenue of over $378,799 million for the year end January 2008. The company’s revenue has increased by 8.6% over the previous year and the profits increased by over 7.3% over 2007. Being the largest retailing company world wide, the company faces a lot of competition from across retailers both locally and globally. The revenue made by the company is primarily from US. Wal-Mart is the largest retailer and is positioned at the top of the Fortune 500 companies of the world. (Money Central, 2008). As a public relations officer it is essential to gain a through study of other companies and analysing how their public relations work and how well the press release of the company passes on the intended message. To enable this, two press releases have been chosen from the website. The chosen press releases are relatively a little old as this are some important aspects of the business. Press Releases: After going through the various press releases on the website, two of them have been chosen to be discussed for this report. These have been considered as they deal with two extremely important aspects of the business, namely the growth of the company and the international future of the company. The titles of the two releases read as below. This provides a clear picture of what the general context of the press releases are: “Plenty of room to grow: Wal – Mart”, Super Market News, 24 November 2008, New York. “Wal – Mart’s international chief will shape future”, Market Watch, 21 November 2008, New York. These releases have dealt with some very important happenings within the company and to a great extent have a strong impact on the working of the company. The first release that has been mentioned above, mainly deals with the growth of the company internationally. This is a very big event and can change the face of the company to a great extent. This being the major context of the release, an emphasis has been made for the growth possibilities into fifteen different markets or the company. Wal – Mart has been noted to have a few markets where the market share of the company is relatively low. Hence the major emphasis of this release is focused on these markets. Eduardo Castro Wright the CEO of the US division to a great extent highlighted the possible prospects for the company and also highlighted the growths that the company could take up in markets with low market share (Wal – Mart: Supermarket News, 2008). The second release relates mainly to the change of the CEO of the company and how Lee Scott steps down from his post. Lee Scott has been the CEO of the company for the past eight years and in November he stepped down from the post. This has been quite a surprise as the company was at a very high point of its success and has been recognised to be leading retailer world wide. For Lee Scott who has contributed to a great extent to the company’s growth this was a very unexpected step as he had grown the company to a much better market position. However, since he had already taken up the decision of moving out of the post, thus Michael Duke, the Vice Chairman of the company was elected to be the CEO of the company (Wal – Mart: Market Watch, 2008). The communication in both the press releases has been clear and crisp and has provided the readers with a clear picture of the current happens within the company. Also with the immense growth that the company has gone through these reports have been able to clearly state the places where the company is missing out and the markets where the company has shown slower limited growth. This helps provide a clear view of how the company can improve its current market share in all countries. The reports have been released in the recent past and although the reports do not have a clear connection, the reports yet have a remote relation. With Lee Scott has moved out of the CEO position and the company trying to move into the US market the company the number of changes are very high. The main aim of the company is to improve the growth and also use any and every possible growth opportunity to ensure betterment in the market presence and the market share. As understood from the company’s website and from the company’s mission and vision, the main aim of the company is to help provide the customers with better value and help people save money everyday. Here it is essential to highlight the mission statement of the company as this would provide for a clear understanding of the company’s underlying aim. Wal Mart’s mission is, "To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as rich people". However, although the company has got a high level of growth, the company still faces a lot of competition from different retailers and still has managed to keep up its image and market position (MSNBC, 2008) This is highlighted to a great extent by the two messages highlight the company’s aim to use every opportunity it possess and improve the market position to the maximum. Conclusion: Wal – Mart has a strong aim and steady focus from the beginning. The company’s main focus has constantly been at making the company successful and ensuring it becomes the best in the industry. The two press releases have provided for a clear and concise display of the message that the company intends to pass. The main base of all the reports, press releases is the highlighting of the company’s aim i.e. the aim to become the world leaders of the retail industry. There is a clear and strong communication that the company uses and also ensures that every message is clearly and strongly provided to all the readers. Bibliography Money Central, 2008, ‘Wal-Mart Stores Inc: Financial Statement’, Accessed on 19 March 2009, Retrieved from http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/invsub/results/statemnt.aspx?symbol=wmt MSNBC. (2008). Wal-Mart remains at top of Fortune 500 list. Accessed on 19 March 2009, Retrieved, from MSNBC Business Website http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24240547/ Wal – Mart: Market Watch. (2008). Wal – Mart’s international chief will shape future. Accessed on 19 March 2009, Retrieved from Wal – Mart Website http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=2708&topicId=100019774&docId=l:889037293 Wal – Mart: Supermarket News. (2008). Plenty of room to grow: Wal – Mart. 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