Wal Marts Competitive Advantage - 1744 Words

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores and a warehouse stores. The company is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas and was founded by Sam Walton. Wal-Mart is the world’s largest company by revenue, according to Fortune Global 500 list in 2014 and the biggest private employer in the world with over two millions employees. Wal-Mart analytical strategy is to focus on selling products at low prices to get higher volume sales at a lower profit margin. Sam Walt was successful analytically because he was able to find lower-cost suppliers and also shared his data than those used by other stores. Walmart is an organization that uses analytics extensively and systematically to outthink and execute the competition. Walmart has gained competitive advantage by following four pillars of analytical competition. These are; Walmart support strategic distinctive capability. Distinctive capability set Walmart apart from competitors and made them successful in the market place. For example Wal-Mart distinctive capability is supply chain, professional sports is choosing the right players, Netflix is predicting customer movie preferences etc. Without distinctive capability you cannot be analytics competitor because there is no clear process or activity for analytics support. Secondly, Walmart has adopted enterprise level approach to management, this ensures that the data and analysis are made available broadlyShow MoreRelatedWal-Marts Sustainable Competitive Advantage Essay1093 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Competitive advantage can be defined as a means by which a firm manages to keep making money, add value by providing distinct products and sustain its position against its competitors. 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There are three approaches to competitive strategy, which are low-cost leadership strategy where struggling to be the overall low-cost manufacturer