What is the power of Wal-Mart?

I agree that Wal-Mart would be a safe investment in the market, for instance, in terms of rankings, it includes: number 2 in Fortune 500; S&P 500; Dow Jones Industrials; Dow Jones Global Titans; and number11 in FT Global 500 (Wal-Mart, 2009). It has about 2,100,000 employees in 2008 worldwide (e.g., about 55% of its stores are in the U.S., and others located in Canada, Mexico, China, Japan, UK, Europe, and South America) with more than 7,870 stores--including 890 discount outlets, 2,970 supercenters, 600 warehouses of Sam's club--the world's biggest retailers (Wal-Mart, 2009). Pan, Lai, Liang, and Leung (2009) analyze and argue that "retailing channels are increasingly being dominated by [power] retailers who are in a position to dictate and ordering schedules to manufacturers and suppliers. A dominant retailer, such as Wal-Mart, has the [power] to decide retail prices of products because there are so many manufacturers who are keen to sell their products through or to such a large and powerful retailer"(p.1). It is very true, there are hundreds and hundreds of shoppers with families line up in the Wal-Mart stores every weekend to shop their less price items even in this slow economy—this is why the company becomes a blue chip in the current stock market. The great strategic management and business policy (e.g.,  less price, quality merchandises, guaranteed satisfaction, a wide selection, friendly, excellent customer services with great shopping experience)--all these aspects make the company as the number one retailer in the U.S. and Canada.

Franki



References

Wal-Mart. (2009). Hoovers. Retrieved April 27, 2009, from


       http://www.hoovers.com

Pan, K., Lai, K., and Liang, S. (2009, August). Two-period pricing and


       ordering policy for the dominant retailer in a two-echelon supply chain


       with demand uncertainty. Omega, 37 (4), 919-929. Retrieved April 27,


       2009, from EBSCO HOST: Business source elite database.