Company Motivational Profile – Walmart
Company Motivational Profile – Walmart
To achieve success, organizations must have a clearly defined plan. Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, began his retail career as a management trainee at JC Penny. Walton opened a five and dime store in 1951 and his first Walmart opened in 1962. Walton’s concept of discounting prices included a large variety of low priced items, buying large quantity goods at the lowest price, and passing the savings on to his customers. Today’s retail organizations must have a plan to achieve success. Walton’s vision allowed Walmart to grow into a multi-billion dollar international retail giant. This paper discusses Walmart’s ...view middle of the document...
Walmart’s financial information is closely watched by their customers, shareholders, and the entire world. Walmart’s net sales for the past five years were $345 billion in 2007, $374 billion in 2008, $401 billion in 2009, $405 billion in 2010, and $419 billion in 2011. Walmart increased their net sales by 3.4% from 2010 to 2011 and expect to increase their net sales by 4% to 6% in 2012. Walmart’s continuous operations increased by 12% in 2011 to $4.18 per share and maintained a return on investment of over 19%. Walmart closed out 2011 with almost $11 billion in free cash flow. Walmart’s shareholders received a record number of $19.2 billion through dividends and share repurchases. (Walmart 2011 Annual Report). These numbers reflect Walmart’s strengths as a business and the importance of shareholder value.
Corporate Culture and Management
The Mission Statement
The mission statement of an organization communicates the organization’s goals. Sam Walton believed that “if we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone…we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life” (www.walmartstores.com). Walmart’s mission statement is “we save people money so they can live better” and was Sam Walton’s ultimate goal for Walmart. Sam Walton believed the key was to sell high quality and brand name products at the lowest price. When Walton opened his first store in 1962, he developed three specific goals: 1) respect for individuals, 2) service to customers, and 3) strive for excellence (www.walmartstores.com). The main goal is to keep low retail prices and “experts estimate that Walmart saves shoppers at least 15% on a typical cart of groceries” (Wilbert, n.d.).
Organizational Structure
An organization’s structure defines the company’s procedures, reporting relationships, and decision-making process. Walmart’s organizational structure is seen in their shared services division. Each major process formed the Centers of Excellence (COEs) and assists Walmart to work toward efficiency, enhances individual career paths, and improves controls. The picture below shows the Shared Services Wheel, including each COE developed.
Walmart first developed only five COEs and included Internal Disbursements (payroll, travel, and expenses), External Disbursements (merchandise and freight payables and warehouse), Receipts (accounts receivable, billing, and collections), Controls (reconciliations, master data, and transactional controls), and Support (data entry, record retention, and Six Sigma continuous improvement). Later, an additional COE for General Accounting was added as the area of finance accelerated.
Once Walmart structured their processes, they focused on continuous improvement for the company. Walmart developed their Continuous Improvement Team and utilized the Six Sigma principles within each COE. Utilizing Six Sigma principles helps an organization measure quality as that organization...
