Identify & describe a major decision making situation that has recently occurred
Focus on Wal-Mart organization, presence of Wal-Mart’s company and marketing decision situations as these decisions refer to expansion and rationalization activities as changing size of Wal-Mart’s portfolio can be achieved on a site basis such as the organic based growth of the Wal-Mart marketing process. There have been expansion decisions surrounding retail’s existing markets, the expanding through major to minor nodes of retail activity and the organization’s decisions result in roll-out of network through process of opening some other retail stores outside UK. The latter decisions are planned and budgeted for years being opposed to mergers and acquisitions that often occur in location based manner at Wal-Mart. The making of global markets, deciding globally on markets as well as operations such as information technology and supply chain based retailing decisions, the Wal-Mart effect is in control of the process.
In addition, Wal-Mart rolls out IT based systems and supply chain ways, this can involve Wal-Mart’s location decision making in lieu to Wal-Mart portfolios based on retailing decisions and concerns thus, deciding to utilize cost initiative upon directing its marketers to divert money proportionate to their share of sales to Wal-Mart marketing programs (Simmons 2000; Yeates 2000). The location decision making as one of the recently occurred decision making situation of Wal-Mart this can be in support to the launching of certain aggressive push in order to have marketers divert on Wal-Mart’s marketing budgets and consumer media decisions placing in retailer’s growing as well as budget thus, deciding to apply in store marketing programs through a push upon clearing brands that is not performing well into shelves being added leverage. Wal-Mart store has always represented only minuscule share of goods available to the consumer. The rapid rise of specialty retailers seemed to indicate that consumers were looking for more choice and more depth in each merchandise category rather than the convenience of one-stop shopping for wide variety of goods. Wal-Mart's subsequent performance demonstrated that the American retailing landscape still had a place, and indeed sizeable one, for an enlarged version of the old variety store.
Wal-Mart IT and supply chain concentration has occurred and resulted in other retailers controlling proportion of UK retail sales, even if significant variation between retail sectors are unclear at times (Gomez-Insausti 2000). Widespread development of innovative Wal-Mart formats and the reconfiguration of decision process of the known Wal-Mart activity in place with other retailers for example, challenging mall operations and front line retailers in the UK (Simmons 2000; Yeates 2000) and the prevailing of Wal-Mart’s IT systems, advocating global market strategies and Wal-Mart effect (Michalak 2000; Evans 2000). Application centering on location decisions, one of decisive factor in determining Wal-Mart success as well as failure also, the decision to carry out long term global marketing under operational and strategic implications of Wal-Mart stores.
Identify & describe the information that was available
The availability and use of decision support tools by Wal-Mart’s operating and managing store portfolios with duly emphasis that are placed on varied use and role of location analysis techniques, data and technologies within strategic decision making activities. The presence of new strategic system, strategic based decisions to Wal-Mart’s marketing strategy. Moreover, Wal-Mart is not really doing anything, other retailers have not and Wal-Mart’s aggressive push is just one indication of the growing importance of shopper marketing, from the degree to which manufacturers comply with Wal-Mart’s requests will have much to do with the strength of Wal-Mart’s brands with stable of leading brands that consumers likely would leave store to buy, considerably have power to fend off raids on its consumer marketing budget than marketers of second based brands (Boyle 2003: 46).
During early days of the year 1960s, several retail applications of IT were at first limited to a small number of financial and inventory management tasks, slowly expanding to incorporate other aspects of the business process. IT deployment became the integration of Wal-Mart systems for reliable tagging and automatic identification of such products as well as recording devices trough electronic cash registers, credit card and check readers. The supermarket industry ceased to be the innovation leader, and the big discounters, led by Wal-Mart driving its diffusion along their supply chain (Boyle 2003: 46). Supermarket chains have less incentive and less opportunity to innovate outside supermarket led industry. Unlike general merchandisers, Wal-Mart stores faced little, highly concentrated group of certain domestic suppliers such as found in food and health care industries that had basis for competing Wal-Mart stores.
Identify & describe the information that was not available in making the decision
For one, the unavailability of scale change to network of stores and have strategic implications, in relatively small marketplace, way of accelerating growth and or decline for number of retail organizations, reflected in the increasing levels of corporate concentration and emergence of global retailers. Merger and acquisition activity in which Wal-Mart disposes of unwanted outlets brought about by the merger/acquisition. Competition among supermarket chains was quite limited, not only was Wal-Mart power to shape supplier markets into greater means compared to the grocery sector, but Wal-Mart’s have more incentive to innovate because of intense competition in UK’s general merchandise retailing sector. Unavailable information technology and supply chain grounds as ideal for planning and management of locational assets throughout location decision creating and maintaining Wal-Mart profitability.
Aside, the non presence of pulling out of retail orders denoting certain expansion and location closures. Unavailable research towards Wal-Mart related surveys as well as lack of anecdotal evidence without effectiveness on the organization’s retail expansion, location decisions involving management of Wal-Mart store portfolios opposing in other retail decision cycles through IT and supply chain. Thus, unavailable closure and re-opening of other Wal-Mart stores in the global market, the non development of UK shopping mall of retail gravity considerably in areas where new building opportunities are limited due to competitive pressures for IT and supply chain and such location decision policy.
For the available information identified, describe the systems that provided this information
The executions of IT based technologies have facilitated decision support activities that previously were unimaginable, or at best, prohibitively time consuming. In lieu to the availability of launching information certain notable decisions made by Wal-Mart as of the present, information towards Wal-Mart’s suppliers and gaining promotions as effectively as possible. Availability of IT and supply chain, as Wal-Mart is looking for share not just of business promotion funds but as well as consumer based promos. Global based decisions such as refitting and refurbishing, the management of Wal-Mart locations at business level, replacing outdated fittings with present-day equivalent, providing opportunity to change interior styling of Wal-Mart store and certain Wal-Mart store appeal, the decisions were being triggered by the years Wal-Mart is operating in UK and within periodic update of the stores such as for refitted means in couple of years (Li 2004: 93-97; Wisner 2003: 1-25).
For instance, Wal-Mart are basing buying decisions primarily on consumer appeal and price, increasingly willing to use marketing funds at least as tie-breaker, in lower-priority categories as part of bidding process on what national brand gets to compete alongside private labels. Through adoption of supply chain techniques, Wal-Mart able to induce suppliers, trading companies, manufacturers, shippers, freight forwarders to rationalize Wal-Mart operations in accordance with market based decisions as well as some of notable location decision requirements, there created an awareness of seminal importance of Wal-Mart execution of IT systems and supply chain bases (Loh and Venkatraman 1992: 334-358; Hu, Qing, Saunders and Gebelt 1997: 288-301). Wal-Mart's transformation in the 1990s had a significant impact on its supply chain. Its entry into grocery retailing brought an increasing number of large manufacturers of packaged consumer goods into the orbit of its major suppliers. The effects were felt on both sides, as the manufacturers experienced a strong pressure to adapt to Wal-Mart's business model and increase their operational efficiency, and the retailer further rationalized its supplier base.
The global expansion of Wal-Mart stores created a much bigger challenge of creating a new global sourcing infrastructure on the level of size and complexity well beyond what any multinational firm had attempted before. Wal-Mart now operates as major exporter as well as importer in several large regional markets, shuffling tens of thousands of products around the world to meet the local demand in its 3,600 domestic and 1,600 international stores. There create whole new set of opportunities for Wal-Mart IT systems and chain partners, which can now gain better access to global consumer markets, creating decision making pressures to continuously shape and adapt their business models to Wal-Mart's strict demands
For the information that was not available identify the reasons for its non-availability & suggest ways in which information technology might be used to provide such information in the future
The one reason is the lack of research support along with effective information awareness adhering Wal-Mart’s global based decisions in the market, placing grounds for some issues of location decisions and the failure to manifest the aggressive push on certain IT based systems and supply chain applications and the lack of implementation steps for Wal-Mart expansion and rationalization means of integrating company and market decisions adopted by Wal-Mart. The adoption of information technology along supply chain has become necessity for enhancing supply chain performance. Wal-Mart within supply chain often adopts IT due to the institutional pressure exerted by the stores supply chain partners.
The implications of the different types of norms explored from Wal-Mart perspectives to take successful and desirable initiatives to adopt IT and those that have followed IT structures and supply chain partners to adopt IT in its locations and market led decisions as there help Wal-Mart to better understand operational pressure Wal-Mart is putting on and or of adapting supply chain partners, possible problems and compliance Wal-Mart may face in the course of adopting IT for management of supply chains. The need to ensure that Wal-Mart items are delivered on time and to the right place at a reasonable cost, it is most desirable for Wal-Mart to use information technology to trace and track the status of decision making, support associations on information interchange in accordance to effective supply chain (Kovacs and Paganelli 2003: 165-183; Singh 2003: 243-247). Thus, before embarking on IT initiatives, it is important for Wal-Mart to consider diffusion, market acceptance as well as legitimacy of IT as Wal-Mart functions in the global market, facilitating and support market oriented communication among Wal-Mart partners upon ensure effective decisions and learn from experiences of IT and supply chain implementation knowing such intuitive value of IT to Wal-Mart’s chain, the IT adopters will fully realize its operational and economic benefits for Wal-Mart positive effect, the accounting of how and why Wal-Mart’s IT diffuse in supply chain decision contexts.
Therefore, Wal-Mart decisions will have to be linked to changes in marketing and corporate strategy, with the organization repositioning their retail offer. Changing the product range and merchandising of a retail location provide retailers with opportunity to create customized retail offer, which can accommodate local tastes. These decisions can be implemented extremely quickly, in comparison to the other structural type decisions that involve some form of construction and that Wal-Mart marketing decision and its supply chain mix should be a one critical component to the availability of Wal-Mart resources in terms of effective decision making routes particular on recognizing an adamant push on global strategies in UK retail sector as Wal-Mart t can possibly have prime retail location, but unless decisions fall short under circumstances, bringing in Wal-Mart’s IT execution and supply chain on a negative zone for expansion, rationalization and several activities in meeting Wal-Mart business demands such as those that are surrounding loyal customers, Wal-Mart stores will have to reach its full potential through crafting decisions in support to real ideologies and continuous application of available information and systems respectively.
References
Boyle, Mattew. Wal-Mart keeps the change. Fortune 2003; 148, 10: 46
Evans, W. Top of the E-Class. CSCA Research Report 2000-4. Toronto: Ryerson Polytechnic University
Gomez-Insausti, R. Canada's Leading Retailers: Characteristics, Strategies and Dominance. CSCA Research Report 2000-2. Toronto: Ryerson Polytechnic University
Hu, Qing, Carol Saunders, and Mary Gebelt. Research report: Diffusion of information systems outsourcing: A reevaluation of influence sources. Information Systems Research 1997; 8, 3: 288-301
Kovács, George and Paganelli, Paolo. A planning and management infrastructure for large, complex, distributed projects – beyond ERP and SCM. Computers in Industry 2003; 51, 2: 165-183
Li, Xiaotong. Information cascades in IT adoption. Communications of the ACM 2004; 47, 4: 93-97
Loh, Lawrence and N. Venkatraman. Diffusion of Information technology outsourcing: Influence sources and the Kodak effect. Information Systems Research 1992; 3, 4: 334-358
Michalak, W. B2B & B2C: Recent Developments in E-Commerce. CSCA Research Report 2000-6. Toronto: Ryerson Polytechnic University
Simmons, J. 2000. Retail Sales and Retail Restructure: Cross-Canada Comparisons 1989-1996. CSCA Research Report 2000-5. Toronto: Ryerson Polytechnic University
Singh, Nitin. Emerging technologies to support supply chain management. Communications of the ACM 2003; 46, 9: 243-247
Wisner, Joel D. A structural equation model of supply chain management strategies and firm performance. Journal of Business Logistics 2003; 24, 1: 1-25
Yeates, M. The GTA@Y2K: The Dynamics of Change in the Commercial Structure of the Greater Toronto Area. CSCA Research Report 2000-1. Toronto: Ryerson Polytechnic University.
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