Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Case

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. branded as Wal-Mart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000 list, and the largest public corporation when ranked by revenue. It is also the biggest private employer in the world with over 2 million employees. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31, 1969, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Wal-Mart is also the largest grocery retailer in the United States. In 2009, it generated 51% of its US$258 billion sales in the U.S. from grocery business. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America. Wal-Mart has 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names. The company operates under its own name in the United States, including the 50 states and Puerto Rico. Walton was extremely successful in running the store in Newport, far exceeding expectations. However, when the lease came up for renewal, Walton could neither come to agreement on the existing store's lease renewal nor find a new location in Newport. Instead, he opened a new Ben Franklin franchise in Bentonville, Arkansas, but called it "Walton's Five and Dime." There, he achieved higher sales volume by marking up slightly less than most competitors. On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City store located in Rogers, Arkansas. The building is now occupied by a hardware store and an antique mall. Within five years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas and reached $12.6 million in sales. In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.

Wal-Mart's former logo (1992-2008 in the US, 2001-2009 in Canada, and 1992-2009 in Mexico), though it is still seen on many American locations, though a majority of Canadian locations have this logo instead of the 1994-2001 logo with a hyphen. It is still used in Mainland China. The company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31, 1969. In 1970, it opened its home office and first distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas. It had 38 stores operating with 1,500 employees and sales of $44.2 million. It began trading stock as a publicly held company on October 1, 1970, and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The first stock split occurred in May 1971 at a market price of $47. By this time, Wal-Mart was operating in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma; it entered Tennessee in 1973 and Kentucky and Mississippi in 1974. As it moved into Texas in 1975, there were 125 stores with 7,500 employees and total sales of $340.3 million. In the 1980s, Wal-Mart continued to grow rapidly, and by its 25th anniversary in 1987 there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates. This year also marked the completion of the company's satellite network, a $24 million investment linking all operating units of the company with its Bentonville office via two-way voice and data transmission and one-way video communication. At the time, it was the largest private satellite network, allowing the corporate office to track inventory and sales and to instantly communicate to stores. In 1988, Sam Walton stepped down as CEO and was replaced by David Glass. Walton remained as Chairman of the Board, and the company also rearranged other people in senior positions.

In 1988, the first Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Washington, Missouri. Thanks to its superstores, it surpassed Toys "R" Us in toy sales in the late 1990s. The company also opened overseas stores, entering South America in 1995 with stores in Argentina, Brazil, and Europe . In 1998, Wal-Mart introduced the "Neighborhood Market" concept with three stores in Arkansas. By 2005, estimates indicate that the company controlled about 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business. In 2000, H. Lee Scott became President and CEO, and Wal-Mart's sales increased to $165 billion. By 2002, it was listed for the first time as America's largest corporation on the Fortune 500 list, with revenues of $219.8 billion and profits of $6.7 billion. It has remained there every year, except for 2006. In 2005, Wal-Mart had $312.4 billion in sales, more than 6,200 facilities around the world--including 3,800 stores in the United States and 2,800 elsewhere, employing more than 1.6 million "associates" worldwide. Its U.S. presence grew so rapidly that only small pockets of the country remained further than 60 miles (100 km) from the nearest Wal-Mart.

As Wal-Mart grows rapidly into the world's largest corporation, many critics worry about the effect of its stores in local communities, particularly small towns with many "mom and pop" stores. There have been several studies on the economic impact of Wal-Mart on small towns and local businesses, jobs, and taxpayers. In some states, it was found that some small towns can lose almost half of their retail trade within ten years of a Wal-Mart store opening. However, in another study, he compared the changes to what small town shops had faced in the past including the development of the railroads, the advent of the Sears Roebuck catalog, as well as the arrival of shopping malls and concluded that shop owners who adapt to changes in the retail market can thrive after Wal-Mart arrives. A later study in collaboration with Mississippi State University showed that there are "both positive and negative impacts on existing stores in the area where the new supercenter locates. With this said, Wal-Mart's major issue within the company is the high employee turnover rate which shows an average of 34.7 percent for the entire retail industry in 2006. But some stores have experienced turnover rates of as much as 85 percent and 104 percent. The turnover rate varies per store , with a large disparity between the average turnover rate in the industry and the turnover rate at Wal-Mart. Although I'm not actually affiliated with the company, but I have had seven years of experience in the retail industry and have seen how high employ turnover rate can affect a company.

The business problem to be illustrated is the high employee turnover that Wal-Mart experiences. A look into why employee retention is so high and the associated costs of this high turnover will be explored. Illustrations will show Wal-Mart's problem of high turnover in statistical terms and list a set of recommendations to reduce employee turnover. Dependent and independent variables will be illustrated, the null and alternative hypothesis and the theories to support these hypotheses will be evaluated, primary

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