Critically analyse the company called Wal-Mart (Walmart Stores Inc).

Order Description
Critically analyse the company called Walmart.

(Walmart Stores Inc www.walmart.com).

You are expected to identify its current issues and critically evaluate its performance in terms of strategy formulation and implementation. You should suggest ways of
improving its future business performance by enhancing its current strategy offering detailed instructions for the implementation e.g. coordination mechanisms (these
must be realistic, persuasive and researched). You are expected to offer insights based on the module content including examining Consistency, Consonance, Advantage,
Feasibility, Suitability and Acceptability to your chosen organisation.

The marker will be looking for:
• Understanding of the process of strategy formulation and implementation
• Knowledge of the subject area
• Evidence of good research
• Ability to critically analyse – not just describe
• Inclusion of relevant theory/concepts
• Correct application of relevant theory/concepts
• Critical and analytical discussion
• Clear and analytical arguments and conclusions
• Realistic and persuasive arguments
• Clarity of arguments through good grammar
• Strength of arguments
The Assignment layout sections

1. Suitable choice of organisation – The student should show a suitably analytical perspective in choosing an appropriate organisation based on the requirements of the
assignment brief. The organisation in question should allow the student to satisfy the remaining criteria effectively.

2. Identify its current issues and critically evaluate its performance in terms of strategy formulation and implementation. The student should be capable of analysing
an organisation in terms of its current strategy. They should be capable of outlining key elements of their strategy and strategist. They should address the following
indicative topics;

• Consistency
• Consonance
• Advantage
• Feasibility
• Suitability
• Acceptability
• Strategist profile and alignment with strategy

3. Suggest ways of improving its future business performance by enhancing its strategy– The student should critically discuss and analyse the future strategy of the
business and suggest methods for enhancement/improvement. Students should suggest ways of improving its future business performance by enhancing its strategic position
and offering detailed instructions for the implementation of their recommendations. (These must be realistic, persuasive and researched).
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What follows are some ideas of how a successful assignment could be structured and some of the potential discussion points it could contain. However, the notes below
offer neither an exhaustive set of discussion points, nor the only template to structure this assignment. Your views on both what theories to use, what critical
arguments to use to support your views and findings, what analysis to conduct and how to arrive at and present your recommendations together with structuring your
report form what you are being assessed on.

The report could be structured in three sections. Essentially, in the first section you could critically present your organisation; offer insights into its position
within the FTSE 500 (we advise you to provide proof of this as an unassessed attachment on your report); offer insight into the industry it competes in and its
positioning within that as well as the basis on which it competes (e.g. Porter’s three generic strategies, strategy clock etc.). The danger in introducing your
organisation is too be too descriptive rather than critical and insightful. Within this same section, it is crucial that you identify and present the key strategic
issues the organisation is facing. These can be across the entire corporation or chosen specific divisions; yet all should share a component of strategic significance.
Could you relate these issues to the ten Schools of Strategy for example? Your responsibility in this section is to identify the one issue (or closely related group of
issues) that you will seek to address in this report and justify with reasoning and arguments both your issue and company selections.

The second section is devoted to your analysis. Your analysis needs to both qualify and quantify in depth the issue you are seeking to resolve, its root causes and
dependencies as well as provide the necessary analysis to enable you to identify ways to resolve it. In this section, we suggest that a modest number of models can be
used to evidence your analysis, while references to findings from the application of analytical tools, theories and models can be made in the text to support the
corresponding arguments and provide further evidence of a thorough analysis. There is a vast amount of available information on FTSE 500 companies, including company
investor packs, stock values, websites, strategy, sustainability and financial reports etc. Making use of these is paramount. Also it is paramount that you refer to
quantitative as well as qualitative data. Efforts to engage with quantitative analysis in the strategy tools is welcome. It is suggest you prioritise complete tool
expositions in your report, that either are specific to the issue or example you are seeking to analyse (e.g. the Parental fit matrix would be a perfect way to analyse
business units’ alignment with their corporate centre), or summative tools that draw from the preliminary analysis that you have conducted (e.g. three Ps, TOWS etc.).
At all times conclude your preliminary analysis tool by tool, model by model, theory by theory. Reflect on “the one, three, five or even seven” key findings you have
extract and what they “tell us about our organisation”. Similarly, go over your analytical tools again and reflect and establish how the analysis from one tool
provides input(s) for another (or more) tools. Compare, contrast and conclude. Here it is important to see how “the connective tissue” of your analysis and indeed a
connected story throughout your assignment can be established with the help of applying the ESCO model. Your analysis can establish the strong connections as well as
imbalances when reflected upon with this model (i.e. how to further build on strengths and remove imbalances). Good analysis is not descriptive and “dry”, but
insightful, purposeful and directed. The findings of your analysis will form the foundation on which your recommendations will be based upon.

Thirdly, you conclude your work by essentially highlighting a set of possible recommendations aimed at resolving the issue(s) that you set to resolve at the outset
(first section of your report). These are rooted in your findings, yet also have a relative degree of creative interpretation/ imagination stemming out of them to
flesh out action. You should consider a “triage” of your recommendations through an appropriate strategy evaluation method (e.g. SAFE, Consistency, Consonance etc.),
conducted in some detail before you fully point the final chosen course of action. It is important that in your evaluation of your list of possible recommendations you
make use of both qualitative and quantitative parameters and data available. Following this you have probably now arrived at a smaller set of recommendations, that
chart the organisation’s way forward. These can also be categorised in short, medium and long term scopes with the former having progressively more detail attached to
them than the latter type (i.e. long term recommendations can be more visionary and less detailed). Recommendations need to cover the following aspects: “what needs to
happen”, “how will it be taken forward”, “why (i.e. expected benefits), “when should it occur (i.e. planning)” and “how much resources and risk it will entail”. You
could further conclude your work with an overarching closing statement.