SWOTWeaknesses

1. Mexico bribery scandal2. Weakening relationship to employees and investors. This is a conflict with what Sam Walton's leadership created relationship with his employees that is motivational and give them a sense of involvement .3. Expansion compromised its ability to combine huge size with remarkable speed and responsiveness. This is critical to its short chain of command and close relationship between the top management team and individual store managers.4. Lawsuit for unpaid overtime and legally mandated breaks.

Strengths1. Increasing sales, operating income, and return on equity.2. Increasing size boosted Wal-Mart's buying power. 3. Regular meetings.4. Image conscious -- convert to social and environmental responsibility. 5. Own distribution centers leads them to deliver a cheaper, faster, and more reliable logistics. World leader in distribution logistics. 6. Strategy and management style was inseparable from the philosophy values of its founder 'thrift and value for money were a religion".7. Buying power. 8. Involved in its suppliers employment and environmental policies which are monitored through third-party audits. 9. Effective inventory-control system with EDI (with the present of electronic data interchange system where suppliers can access their system to check their inventory). Also, the RDFI which they pioneered. This is a system for logistics management and inventory control. These contribute to low inventory, fast replenishment. 10. Integrated value chain by IT (POS/inventory, logistics, top management decision making). This helps achieve the goal of responding to the needs of customers even before they get in the store -- competitive advantage11. Non-unionized environment which drives lower wages costs.12. Incentive on shrinkage reduction is ½ below the industry average. 13. Correction system leads them to being ahead of their competitors.

Opportunities1. Own distribution centers leads them to deliver a cheaper, faster, and more reliable logistics. World leader in distribution logistics. 2. Partnership with big retailers around the world.3. Lower advertising/sales ratio compared to Target.4. Incentive on shrinkage reduction is ½ below the industry average.

Threats1. 23% and 55% of its stores compete with Target and Kmart respectively. 2. Growing geographical scope raised complex strategic and organizational issues.3. Unlike other global retailers (IKEA), does not have a consistent approach to different national markets: has different strategies and operated under different names in different countries.4. While Wal-Mart's growth was outside of the US, its international business was significantly less profitable than that of the US.5. Its transformation into a multinational corporation presented a challenge for its identity and culture that were firmly rooted in its SW US heartland.6. Challenges with international expansions such as difficulty in finding the right locations for big boxes, control on merchandise quality, e.g., in China, mislabeling ordinary pork as organic lead 12 stores in Wal-Mart so shut down for two months.