The founder of Walmart, Sam Walton, established beliefs that formed the organization’s unique culture. These beliefs guide the operations of Walmart and include respect for the individual, service to customers, and strive for excellence. The beliefs steered the performance of its hard working and friendly associates. The belief of respecting an individual captured the fact that Walmart respects the opinion of each associate. As such, the organization has rules and customs that govern the value of respect accorded to shareholders such as customers, associates, suppliers and so on. Through respect, the company has served its communities well and continues to build a business that is committed to excellence. Walmart looks at excellence from an individual’s, teams and organizations point of view. The belief of according service to customers has ensured that Walmart’s customers are prioritized in its operations thus; enjoy a pleasant and friendly shopping experience. Convenience is also factored in by the organization because items are easily available in one building complex. Specialty aspects have also been substituted by the organization thus, managing time wastage for customers in searching for items in other stores. Walmart’s associates are exceptionally committed to satisfying the needs of their customers.
Walmart being the largest retailer in the world has a unique cultural phenomenon of great economic force. It boasts in offering its customers lower prices giving it a competitive edge from other retailers. Fundamentally, by using this pricing strategy, the organization’s culture has been shaped and continues to drive growth of the company. Furthermore, this unique culture has given Walmart extraordinary power to shape global labor markets. For instance, it can comfortably pay its associates $7 an hour with no benefits and still be the highest paying company in urban areas. The lack of benefits has also been substituted through the use of performance-based bonuses that motivate their associates to work harder in achieving the goals of the organization.
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Walmart has a unique culture that has given it extraordinary power to shape the global labor markets and this has led to the transformation of the entire operations of the retail industry. The corporation continued to increase its profits and this made Walmart the best retailer for large proportions of customers. Opening of the first Walmart store saw the corporation realize huge profits in less than ten years. By 1970, the store managed to acquire sales of $44.2 million with 1500 associates and this led to its recognition as the largest number one retailer in 1990. In 2002, it also managed to create history by making single-day sales of $1.43 billion after Thanksgiving. Such are the things that have given Walmart its unique culture because this trend continues to be seen even in recent past. For example, in 2010 Walmart had 2.1 million associates in 15 countries that had more than 8800 stores and club locations. During this year, the sales of the corporation reached $405 billion. As such, the characteristic of Walmart’s culture is one of continuous growth and progression amidst the rising challenges in the business environment.
Walmart’s culture can be characterized as one that is persistent in meeting its end goal of satisfying its customers and respecting its individuals. Having such persistence, has seen the corporation excel in all its operations including serving the community by giving out grants of different nature. Giving back to the community is an aspect that has helped many companies to operate longer in their communities because they have been incorporated in the organization’s vision and philosophy. The culture of Walmart is characterized by looking back at the founder’s frugal culture, which embodied risk taking aspects. He also placed emphasis on entrepreneurial, faith, and country achievement.
