WALMART'S OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

WALMART'S OPERATIONS AND MANAGEMENT - Essay Example Market analysts are of the opinion that Walmart will retain its top position ("Turning Point"). With this trend, it seems that Walmart will definitely continue its dominance in the consumer market, at least in the foreseeable future. It definitely does not hve a problem with the number of retail stores it owns; in the United States alone,it has about 3900 retail outlets ("Annual Dividend"). Walmart is a very aggressive company, and is currently opening about 1.45 stores per day. Although Walmart shares have mostly not grown, it will most likely increase in the immediate future. In a research note, Edward Jones analyst David Powers said "We believe Wal-Mart's growth outlook remains favorable." Powers believes that by April this year, growth will accelerate to nearly 13%. (Van Riper) Walmart's main concern is its slow growth rate, although this seems to be a minor problem at the moment. In January 2006 Walmart's same-store sales growth was 4.7%, compared to the previous december's 2.2%. (Van Riper) It is interesting that Walmart has what is probably the world's largest computer database, in its 1000-person Information Systems Division. This database has a capacity of 460 terabytes, equivalent to almost half of the information on the Internet. (Bianco) Walmart is able to reduce payrol costs through automated generation and adjustment of work sch