Essay - Wal-mart Value Chain Analysis Wal-mart Value Chain Primary Activities: Supply...

Wal-Mart Value Chain Analysis

Wal-Mart ***** Chain

Primary Activities:

***** Chain Management

The supply chain of Wal-Mart is considered to be one of the most efficient and state-of-*****-art in the world due ***** ***** focus on integrating logistics into retail operations, often relying on part-time associates to replenish shelves and assist with inventory audits. Wal-Mart also relies on a network of approximately 3,500 suppliers, relying ***** Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies to au*****mate pallet-based shipments from the top 20% of them on a regular basis. In addition, Wal-Mart uses an extensive satellite-based network for communicating pricing data to its 971 discount stores, 2,447 supercenters, 132 neighborhood markets ********** 591 Sam's Clubs located throughout the U.S. The company has also opened subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, the UK and China yet ***** found globalization difficult to achieve in regions ***** world that have significantly different cultures than ***** U.S. ***** following key areas of the ***** supply chain are now provided in bulleted form:

Operations

Wal-Mart relies on their SuperCenters to also be distribution centers, stocking inventory on average for 45 days. As 60% of staff on average ***** a SuperCenter is part time, Wal-Mart relies ***** these employees to also stock shelves, assist ***** the unloading of shipments ***** physical inventory ***** as well.

***** relies on software-based analytics and dashboards of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure overall Operations systems performance. Reliance on ***** and dashboards is critical for the daily functi*****ing of ***** key tasks involved in fulfillment.

Distribution

Reliance on SuperCenter staff to assist with distribution-related tasks by location:

Day Receiving is 35 employees ***** 5 supervisors, the third largest de*****ment in the *****.

***** ***** is on average staffed with 40 associates ***** 4 *****, the second largest department and by far ***** most critical for keeping the overall Wal-Mart supply chain running.

***** an average ***** 120 employees ***** 9 supervisors ***** Overnight Associates are the ***** specific department in the SuperCenter. The functions of these employees include assisting with *****, completing stocking ands re-stocking ***** merchandise, and the continual work of keeping new products moving into the store locations that ***** Corporate has defined from marketing and merchandising standpoint.

***** & Marketing

Oriented towards what Wal-Mart calls the "Value Shopper" specifically focusing on those families with per median incomes in ***** $43K/year range, ***** their LPED (Low Price Every Day) value proposition as ***** to these families mak*****g ends financial meet.

Excellent use of co-marketing ***** key ***** including Proctor & Gamble, app*****l manufacturers, including the re-design of apparel ***** of older stores to reflect a more boutique-oriented *****pproach to *****ing.

*****

Strong culture of customer service ***** rewards exceptional ***** for customers.

Training on how to use ***** catalog management system to check price and availability through the ***** of hand-held scanners is significantly improving the perception of responsiveness on the part of associates.

***** of Associates based on customer service records including