Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer as measured by total revenues. As of January 31, 2003, it operated in all fifty states. In the United States, Wal-Mart owns 1,568 discount stores, 1,258 Supercenters, 525 SAM's Clubs and 49 Neighborhood Markets. Wal-Mart's growth as measured both by its net sales and net income increases occurs in large measure as a result of the increase in the number of stores it operates both in the United States and internationally, combined with increases from year to year in same store sales. The biggest challenge facing Wal-Mart is to see if it can maintain double-digit growth since it has already reached nearly $245 billion in annual sales. In Jerry Useem's (2003) article in Fortune, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott believes that Wal-Mart could double or triple its growth in the next five years (Useem, 2003, 68).

Wal-Mart has built its business by offering customers quality merchandise at low prices. This simple idea has been the mainstay of this company's business philosophy for decades. The company is able to lower the cost of merchandise through negotiations with suppliers and by efficiently managing its distribution network. The key to Wal-Mart's success is its ability to grow its base business. While other retailers focus on selling fewer units at higher prices and higher per unit profits, Wal-Mart has found a niche in which the economies of scale it enjoys enables this company to remain profitable throughout the economic cycle, from boom-to

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Category: Business - W