Business Policy and Strategy/ Project3 - Essay Example

This company is also the largest grocery retailer in the United States that deals with diverse ranges of product lines. Wal-Mart mainly operates in 17 different countries. Since Wal-Mart is a global company, it has to compete with smaller retailers and international corporate giants. Strategic management and decision making play a vital role in determining the efficacy of company’s performance as these elements assist the managers to coordinate all the functional sectors within the company.

Corporate governance constitutes a significant part of strategic management and it includes different policies, laws, customs, and processes that affect the way a company is operated. This paper will prepare a strategic audit for the global giant Wal-Mart. Current situation As reported in forbes.com (n.d.), presently, Wal-Mart is a rapidly developing corporation which in 2010 was the world’s largest public corporation on the ground of revenue. Recently, the company announced that it would formulate and implement several environmental policies in order to address issues associated with energy crisis.

The Wal-Mart continuously deals with territorial expansion; and the company has replaced its old advertising slogan in 2007 by the new one, “Save Money Live Better”. The company’s mission statement and advertising slogan are the same. . The most fascinating feature of this company is that it exercises ‘Sandown rule’ that forces the management to answer employee, customer, and supplier questions on the same day the questions are placed. Strategic managers According to Wal-Mart’s 2011 annual report, fifteen elected board of directors are responsible for dealing with the business affairs of the company.

In addition, the top management constitutes various committees like “audit, strategic planning and finance, compensation, nominating, and governance, executive, and global compensation” (Wal-Mart 2011 annual report). External environment In order to analyze the external environment or external factors affecting the business, it is necessary to apply tools like SWOT analysis, SFAS matrix, and TOWS matrix. Since the company operates across the globe, political and environmental features of different countries greatly affect the policies and functions of the Wal-Mart.

For instance, China adopts more regulative approaches to foreign firms and these strict governmental regulations to international marketers adversely affect Wal-Mart’s business interests. Similarly, socio-cultural, economical, and technological elements also raise both threats and opportunities to Wal-Mart’s international market. Recent upward trends in the Wal-Mart’s profitability indicate the economical viability of the company. As reported in the website ‘Retail Inventory’ (July 4, 2010), Wal-Mart reported a net income of $13.

6 billion for the financial year ending January 31, 2009; and each year, approximately 100 million customers visit Wal-Mart’s US stores and they constitute nearly one-third of the US population. This large group of customers is the real strength of the company. Internal environment As