Walmart’s Successful Business Strategies Leading to Competitive Edge in the Retail Industry

Abstract

Walmart Stores, Inc. is a multinational organization that has successfully managed to overcome market fluctuations and volatility throughout the years. Its business strategies and approach have granted continuous success by achieving net revenues of $514.41 billion with 11,361 stores in 2019. This research elaborates on Walmart's business strategies throughout the years by reviewing Walmart's Annual Reports. The observations obtained from the annual reports are then compared against retail industry successful strategies and principles while assessing relevance. The research also evaluates possible correlation between the quantity of stores, net revenues and leadership (Chief Executive Officer). The research results displayed a positive correlation between the increment in store quantity and net revenues for the organization during the leaderships of Sam M. Walton, David D. Glass, H. Lee Scott Jr. and Michael Duke, but it showed weak or potentially non-existent correlation from 2014 to 2019 under Douglas McMillon’s leadership. Key Terms ⎯ business strategies, competitive advantage, retail industry, Walmart