Wal Mart Corporation - Case Study Example

Wal-Mart Stores Inc Wal-Mart Stores Inc is currently one of the largest public corporations and a retail giant in the United s. It is also one of the biggest global employers (in terms of number of people employed), next only to the People's Liberation Army of China, the National Health Service of England and Indian Railways. In the retail and grocery market, Walmart's market share hovers around 20% in the United States and it claims a 45% market share in the retail toy business.Founding History:Wal-Mart Stores was founded by Sam Walton in 1962,incorporated in 1969 and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972.

Sam Walton had set up a variety store in Bentoville,Arkannas which he called "Walton's Five and Dime", the store offered lower prices than it's competitors and registered higher sales volumes than them. The first Wal-Mart store was opened in 1962, known as the Wal-Mart Discount City. Within five years twenty four more outlets were opened in the state of Arkansas touching $12.6 million in turnover. The company forayed outside the state of Arkansas for the first time in 1968 with the launch of its stores in Sikeston, Missouri and Clairemore in Oklahoma.

By 1975, the company had established it's presence in most part of country, with 125 stores across different states, with a sales turnover of $340.3 million and 7500 employees. 1(Wikipedia)Global PresenceThe company is now one of the world's top retailers. Mainly driving its growth were its diversification strategies(Wal-Mart Super centers and Neighborhood Markets),international operations and membership warehouse clubs(Sam's Club).As of June 30th 2007,the Company had a network of 1,039 Wal-Mart discount stores,2,337 Supercentres,585 Sam's Clubs and 121 Neighborhood Markets in the United States-a total of 4,082 outlets.

The Company's global operations include-15 units in Argentinia,298 units in Brazil,290 units in Canada, a presence of 83 Wal-Mart units and101 Trust-Mart units in China. Besides these it carries out operations in, Costa Rica(140),Guatemala(137),Honduras(44),Japan(392),Mexico (919),Nicaragua(40),Puerto Rico(54),El Salvador (63) and the United Kingdom(337).2(Wal-Mart investors).To sum it up Wal-Mart has operations in nearly 44 countries with more than 2276 stores outside the US and an employee base of more than 1,00,000 associates.

In 2005, its international business clocked a 18.3% growth over 2004 and profits from global operations soared by $3bilion.4Financial SnapshotWal-Mart Stores (NYSE:WMT) reported a net sales of$85.387 billion for the quarter ended 31st April 2007, or the first quarter of the fiscal year 2008.The sales figure has clocked a 8.3% growth over the first quarter results of the fiscal year 2007.Income from continuing operations of the business for the quarter was, $2.826 billion,6.2% increase over the last fiscal.

Earnings per share from continuing operations were $0.68 from $0.64 last fiscal. The figures reflect record sales earnings and are an indication of the company robust fiscal health.3Customer base and low prices.Wal-Mart boasts of an enormous customer base, it is estimated that each week a 100 million people (nearly a third of the population of US) visit the Wal-Mart stores. Low prices are cited as the chief reason to shop at Wal-Mart (the company has religiously followed the "low prices, always"policy ever since its inception in 1962).

Analysts point out that Wal-Mart's average customer's income is below the national average.1 (Wikipedia) REFERENCES1) Wikipedia-Wal-MartAvailable at-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wal-Mart2) Wal-Mart InvestorsAvailable at-http://investor.walmartstores.com/phoenix.zhtmlc=112761&p=irol-irhome3) Wal-Mart Stores Inc-Wal-Mart Reports first quarter sales and earnings; 15th May 2007Available at-http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/11/112761/news_051507.pdf4) Forbes: Walmart reshapes the retail world;1/24/2006Available at-http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/forbes/P142021.asp