Emerging Logistics and Retail Management †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Emerging Logistics and Retail Management. Answer: Introduction: Wal-Mart Inc, founded in the year 1962 by Sam Walton, is an American Multinational retail corporation which conducts its business through a web of grocery stores, hypermarkets and discounted departmental stores (Walmart.com. 2018). According to the Forbes Magazine (2016), Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world in terms of annual revenue (Forbes.com 2018). The annual revenue of the company for the year 2016 was $480 (Forbes.com. 2018). It is also one of the largest private employers of the world, employing more than 2.3 million people from diverse parts of the world (Walmart.com. 2018). The major part of operation of the company is based in the United States of America however the company has its branches and franchise stores in various diverse parts of the world as well. It is to be noted that the commercial rivalry between the retail giants Wal-Mart and Kmart began in 1962, the year of foundation of both the companies. However, in the thirty year following the foundation of Wal-Mart and the death of its founder, Walton had already made Wal-Mart the retail giant of the United States (Walmart.com. 2018). The strategies used by Walton were way head of his time and some of them even revolutionized the retail trade in the United States of America (Fernie and Sparks 2014). Some of the strategies used by Walton to capture the domestic market of the United States of America and also to out-rival his competitors like Kmart and others are discounted pricing, providing the facilities of low prices always on several brands commonly used by the American people, providing regular as well as periodical sales to the customers wherein they can buy goods and services at very attractive prices and others (Walmart.com. 2018). In addition to this, the cheerleading manag ement style adopted by Walton was lead to the rapid growth as well as the development of the company (Walmart.com. 2018). The advanced as well as innovative technology used by the company like its sophisticated, companywide point-of-sale and satellite-communications systems, and in service, symbolized by the greeters stationed at the front doors of its stores also contributed to the rise of the company as the premier company of America (Barney 2012). Another competitive which Wal-Mart had over Kmart was its focus on the operations section instead of promotion. Therefore, the company Wal-Mart by focusing on its supplier as well as delivery systems, companywide computer system, restocking policy for the products sold, cost control, opening of its branches in the urban areas and various others was able to beat its competitors like Kmart (Chekwa, Martin and Wells 2014). It is to be noted that there were primary four sources for the competitive advantage of Wal-Mart over its rivals like Kmart and others- its distribution capabilities, everyday low-cost products (EDLP), its workforce culture and finally its use of the latest innovations and technologies for the handling of its stores and data (Chekwa, Martin and Wells 2014). It is to be noted that all these four factors contributed equally towards the growth as well as the development of the company. The Buy it low, stack it high, sell it cheap policy of Walton worked really well for Wal-Mart and contributed greatly towards the overall growth as well as the development of the company (Annual Reviews 2018). However, there were many potential threats which the company faced in the 1990s. The primary threat which the company faced was obviously from its rivals like Kmart, Target Cooperation and others which were threatening to break the monopoly gained by Wal-Mart, which was in a precarious position especially after the death of Sam Walton, the founder as well as the primary reason behind the rise of the company as the major retail company not only of the United States of America but of the entire world (Annual Reviews 2018). The rise of the Big Box Phenomenon posed a serious threat to the company (Annual Reviews 2018). Another major Setback to the company was its average performance in the countries of Mexico, China and various other countries (Barney 2012). Another threat which th e company faced in the 1990s were the various reports which alleged that the company was hiring underage children to work in their retail stores as workers at a relatively .lower salary (Annual Reviews 2018). The company also had to face some labor disputes not only in far way countries like China, Mexico and others but in the United States of America as well. It is at this point of time that the efficient supplier and delivery system of China started to show signs of weaknesses. It is to be noted that at this point of time several of the companys women employees complained that the company had violated the stipulations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act according to which discrimination on the basis of gender related to job promotion, salary, placement and others is a punishable offense (Annual Reviews 2018). These in short were some of the potential threats which the company Wal-Mart faced in the 1990s. Kmart Corporation, started in the year 1962, is a Big Box department store chain which is headquartered in the United States of America (Kmart.com. 2018). The companies operates in most of the famous countries in world and back in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s it was considered to be a serious rival to Wal-Mart. It is to be noted that for the year 1987 the annual sale for Wal-Mart was $15.96 billion whereas the annual sale for Kmart was $25.63 billion (Kmart.com. 2018). However, the company soon lost its track because of its ineffective strategies, the monopolisation of the market by Wal-Mart and various other factors. The company Kmart Corporation can imitate the strategies followed by the company Wal-Mart. However, it is to be noted that the major reason behind the success achieved by the company Wal-Mart was the effective as well as efficient leadership provided by its founder, Sam Walton. He sought to speed up the growth through his cheerleading style of management and visite d almost all his retail stores on a regular basis in a bid to ensure that the policies as well as strategies innovated by him are effectively and efficiently applied at all his retail stores. It is to be noted that the company Kmart lacks such a leader who could lead the company from the front. Target Corporation, found by George Dayton, is the 2nd largest retail discount store in the United States of America, the 1st largest being Wal-Mart (Target.com. 2018). The company came into existence in the year 1902 however it had to wait till 1962 to open its first store in Roseville, Minnesota (Target.com. 2018). The company presently owns around 1,834 stores in the United States of America as well as in the diverse parts of the world in total (Target.com. 2018). The company focuses on "the needs of its younger, image-conscious shoppers" in direct contradiction to the company Wal-Mart which follows the policy of always low prices (Target.com. 2018). The company Target Corporation stands at the 449th position in terms of the largest companies on the basis of the annual revenues generated by them whereas on the same list Wal-Mart stands at the 17th position (Forbes.com. 2018). Some of the financial statistics of the company Target Corporation are listed below It is to be noted that both the companies Wal-Mart and Target Corporation belong to the retail sector and provide more or less the same kind of services to the people. However, the company Wal-Mart has a serious edge over Target Corporation not only in terms of the revenue generated by it on an annual basis but in the kind of strategies which they follow and also in the process of globalization followed by them. It is to be noted that the Canadian expansion of the company Target Corporation was a complete failure and the company ended up losing more than $2.1 billion (Target.com. 2018). Therefore, it can be said that although the company Target Corporation is the 2nd largest retail company of the United States of America it cannot be considered to be a serious rival of Wal-Mart. The company Amazon.com, Inc. or more simply Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos in the year 1994, is an American based company which specializes in the sphere of electronic commerce as well as cloud computing (Amazon Inc. 2018). The company operates in almost all the nations of the world and is the 4th most valuable public company in the world at the moment (Forbes.com. 2018). Amazon is also the largest internet company in the world in terms of revenue and the eight largest employer in the United States of America (Forbes.com. 2018). Some of the financial details of the company are listed below- The company Amazon though having a lower annual revenue generation than Wal-Mart is a serious competitor to it. It is interesting to note that in the year 2017, the company Whole Foods Market was purchased by Amazon (Amazon Inc. 2018). This purchase of the retail company is seen as a direct challenge to the company Wal-Mart. It is to be noted that the company provides online commerce facilities wherein they can get anything delivered at their door steps without having manually to go to the retail stores and the prices which the company charges its customers on par with the ones which the customers need to pay at the retail stores and sometimes even lesser than that (Amazon Inc. 2018). They also provide regular discounted sales to the customers wherein they can buy all kind of products of which ever brand they want. It is true that the company Wal-Mart did revolutionize the retail industry through its use of latest technologies as well as innovations back in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (Fernie and Sparks 2014). However, since then the company has not much upgraded the technologies used by it. Moreover, the people these days prefer to take the help of the electronic commerce and it is precisely here that Amazon scores more than Wal-Mart as it offers better electronic commerce options to the people. It is to be noted that the present world of technological advancement and innovations make it mandatory for all major business organizations as well as companies to develop effective business strategies for the promotion of the goods as well as services offered by them (Writers 2018). It is often seen that an effective digital market strategy helps in the overall growth as well as the business organization or company concerned. For example, the company Amazon follows a rigorous digital marketing strategy which helps to boost its electronic commerce which it offers to the customers. In synchronization with this particular view the company Wal-Mart should also develop an effective digital strategy in order to regain the monopoly which it once used to enjoy. The company first of all should do an extensive amount of promotion on the various social media channels and other digital platform about the range of services which it offers. Another thing which the company can do is to develop th eir own mobile phone app just the way other major electronic commerce companies use like Amazon, e-bay and others. The company should launch various youth and other social media campaigns which will increase its popularity among the youths. The company can also enhance its reputation by doing collaborative works with the various social events and award show organizers which will create a positive brand image of the company. It is interesting to note that a recent article reveals that the annual sales of Wal-Mart is expected to grow by 40% because of the new digital strategy implemented by them (Writers 2018). Ramesh Patel at Aragon Entertainment Limited The protagonist of this case study, Ramesh is obviously very unhappy with the not-so prompt behavior of Gibson. He needs to make him understand the value that Days of Knights holds not only for the company Aragon Entertainment Limited but for them as well as the newly elected members of the NHB (Mayo 2018). He needs to deliver a clear message to his friend that although he has more urgent or pressing tasks to complete but the Days of Knights is more important not only from the companys perspective but also from their own personal one as well. It is noted that even after making him understand the behavior of Gibson does not improves then Ramesh needs to report the behavior of Gibson to the other members of the NHB. Danielle Marcoux is the web designer at AdNet2Win Technologies which was initially designed by Charles Davide (Mayo 2018). In the recent time, the company is facing some problems due to the rise of the smart phones. However, when Marcoux tries to bring the issues of the designs and also to make innovations in the design in the team meetings, Charles changes the topic to some other irrelevant things (Mayo 2018). Therefore, Marcoux clearly needs to tell Davide that the entire team needs to discuss the issue which they are facing in the designing part and more specifically Davide. Davide is probably trying to leave in the image of the past however, Marcoux needs to give him a reality check and confront him with the problems with they are facing. Mary Griffin at Derby Foods In this particular case study Mary needs to deliver a message to Simon York, the brand manager of the company, Derby Foods. It is noted that York noted an aberration in the labeling of a product and went down to the manufacturing floor to vent out his anger (Mayo 2018). However, this behavior is very much resented by Shelburne, the director of production (Mayo 2018). Mary needs to make York understand that although he wishes the very best for the company yet he cannot interfere in the work of other departments. If he has noticed some kind of aberration he should convey it to Shelburne who would then handle the issue in his own manner. This kind of behavior is only going to weaken the unity of the management team. In this particular case study, Michael Lester in a very stiff situation as needs to make a presentation but has not been provided with adequate amount of information for the same by his colleague Nadine Roberts, who keeps on derailing it and on top of that his boss Karissa Gaffner is put pressure on him to deliver results (Mayo 2018). In this situation, he needs to have a one-on-one conversation with Roberts and tell her the issue which he is facing and clearly mention the importance of the information which she is delaying in providing and the stiff situation which it is causing. He also needs to convey clearly and completely all the activities of Roberts to his Gaffner. References Amazon Inc. 2018.Amazon Inc. [online] Available at: https://aws.amazon.com/free/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018]. Annual Reviews 2018.Annual Reviews. [online] Available at: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-soc-070308-115947 [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018]. Barney, J.B., 2012. Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive advantage: The relevance of resource?based theory.Journal of supply chain management,48(2), pp.3-6. Chekwa, E., Martin, J. and Wells, K., 2014. 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