Wallmart (Global Economy, Global Competition) - Research Paper Example

The size of an average store is 108,000 square feet. Each store employs about 225 associates. Wal-Mart Supercenters were developed in 1988 to meet the growing demand for convenient, one-stop family shopping. First opened in 1998, there are now 168 Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets. A typical store is about 42,000 square feet. Wal-Mart Express has been created to offer low prices every day in a smaller format store that provides convenient access for fill-in and stock-up shopping trips. Sam Walton, the mind behind Wal-Mart focused, on a single idea: selling merchandise at the lowest price possible.

So he made sure everyone worked hard to keep costs as low as possible. Walton continued to drive an old pickup truck and share budget-hotel rooms with colleagues on business trips, even after Wal-Mart made him very rich. He demanded that his employees also keep expenses to a bare minimum, a mentality that is still at the heart of Wal-Mart culture more than a decade after Waltons death. The company has continued to grow rapidly after his death in 1992 and now operates four retail divisions; Wal-Mart Supercenters, Wal-Mart discount stores, Neighborhood Market stores and Sams Club warehouses (New York Times, 2012).

Wal-Mart had its creation in the mind of Sam Walton who promoted a single idea: sell merchandise at the lowest price possible. It began with Wal-Mart working hard to keep the costs of their company as low as possible. This idea moved from their company to their suppliers as they asked them to be as frugal as possible. As the company grew in size, they began looking for every way to wring out the last penny of savings from materials, packaging, labor, transportation, and display. The result was "the Wal-Mart effect (Ghemawat & Mark, 2006).

Because of its size Wal-Mart wields incredible power. This especially creates problems for local retailers forcing them out of business. Economist