Running head: PROJECT PROPOSAL INT 700 Project Proposal 1 PROJECT PROPOSAL 2 Corporate overview Walmart Stores Inc. is a multination corporation and the industry leader in the retail industry. The company was established in 1962 in the United States by Sam Walton (Bonanno, & Goetz, 2012). Walmart Stores Inc. was incorporated in 1967 to become a publicly traded company. From 1 store in 1962 and 3 stores in 1964, the company has grown tremendously to surpass the 11,700 stores mark to date (LeCavalier, 2016). Currently, Walmart Stores Inc. operates in more than 40 countries worldwide with some of its latest expansion involving opening of its stores in Asia and China. The company is also one of the industry leaders in human resource employment with over 2.3 million employees spread all over its stores. Low prices and human resource are some of its key core competencies. Walmart Stores Inc. stocks are listed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Financial performance overview Walmart Stores Inc. has a healthy financial position. This is largely contributed by its high sales volumes and sales revenue. In a normal day, this leading retailer serves over 38.5 million customers across all its 11,700 stores globally. In the financial year 2018, Walmart Stores Inc. made a total revenue amounting to $500.3 billion. This was an improvement from the fiscal year 2017 when it made a total revenue of $487 billion. Since 2013, Walmart Stores Inc. Have being registering a continuous revenue growth at an average rate of 1.34% per annum (Statista 2018). Walmart Stores Inc. earned a $9.86 billion net income. The company has been recording decline in net income over the last 5 years. Most of Walmart Stores Inc. profitability ratios indicated that the company performed poorly in fiscal years 2017 and 2018. These ratios include gross profit margin, operating profit margin, net profit margin and return on investment. As such, Walmart’s stock is still strong but have been performing poorly. PROJECT PROPOSAL 3 Business segments Walmart operates several business divisions. All of these divisions perform well and contribute to be high annual revenues. The company operates Discount Stores in all the US states, Supercenters in 45 states as well as Neighborhood Markets in 12 states. Thus its business operation are classified into three business segments which include Wal-Mart Stores that generates the highest revenue at 61.98 % of its total Revenue, the Sams Club segment that contributes the least revenue at 12.35 % of its total Revenue as well as Walmart International segment that contributes the second high revenue at 25.67% of its total revenue (CSIMarket 2018) Subsidiary/parent-child structure Walmart has 12 subsidiaries most of which are located in the US while two are located in Mexico and England. The table below describes top Walmart subsidiaries and their percentage of equity owned are indicated in the table below. Subsidiary Wal-Mart Stores East, Inc. Sam's West, Inc. McLane Company, Inc., and its subsidiaries Wal-Mart de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. ASDA Group Limited Organized Or Incorporated Percent of Equity Securities Owned Delaware, U. S. 100% Delaware, U. S. Texas, U. S. 100% 100% Mexico 61% England 100% Name Under Which Doing Business Other Than Subsidiary's Wal-Mart Sam's Club Wal-Mart ASDA PROJECT PROPOSAL 4 Geographic segmentation Walmart Stores Inc. operates in many different areas globally. Through geographical segmentation, Walmart divides customers with regard to their location. This helps in determining the location of their retail stores as well as in knowing what to stock based on customer needs from different regions. The United State market segment contributes most of Walmart’s revenues. Recent strategic initiatives/stated strategic objective Walmart has recently adopted three strategic initiatives aimed at helping it sustain its industry leadership. The three strategic initiatives are aimed at improving customer benefits. They include Save Money, Live Better, second is Win, Play, and Show while the third one Fast, Friendly, Clean (Murray 2018). Through these strategies, Walmart is seeking aiming to retain its consumers by ensuring they are happy. It also seeks to secure return purchases. Important negative events or challenges Walmart Stores Inc. experience a number of challenges that affect its profitability. One of them is sales lag its online sales. The second is growth in competition while third is the continuous decline in its share value and decline in profitability. Domestic/foreign industry summary Walmart Stores Inc. operates in the larger retail industry. This the biggest industry both in the United States and the world at large. It is also one of the fastest growing industries globally. The industry is valued at $24.9 trillion in 2018 (E-Marketer Chart 2017). Walmart industry NAICS is 44-45 for stores and non-store traders while it’s SIC code is 52-59 for retail trade. PROJECT PROPOSAL 5 Ccompetitor’s overview The main Walmart Stores Inc. competitors locally are the Target and Home Depot. These two are store retailers largely based in the US. They deal in similar products at Walmart. They compete with Walmart in terms of prices and coverage. International competitors include Alibaba and IKEA. Alibaba is one of the fastest growing online retailers from China while IKEA is a Swedish multination retailer operating in over 50 countries (Bhasin 2018). Why Interest in Walmart Stores Inc. Walmart Stores Inc. is a company of interest because is strategically align with the purpose and objectives of these paper. The company is on top of the industry and many competitors are working hard to outdo it. On the other hand, it works very hard to stay on top of the industry by adopting strategies aimed at sustaining its competitive advantage. This provides a good basis for carryout strategy analysis. PROJECT PROPOSAL 6 References Bonanno, A., & Goetz, S. J. (2012). Walmart and local economic development: A survey. Economic Development Quarterly, 26(4), 285-297. CSIMarket (2018). Walmart Inc. Retail industry, department and discount Retail. Retrieved from https://csimarket.com/stocks/segments.php?code=WMT E-Marketer Chart (2017). Total Retail Sales Worldwide, 2015-2020. Retrieved from https://www.emarketer.com/Chart/Total-Retail-Sales-Worldwide-2015-2020-trillionschange/194243 Hitesh Bhasin (2018). Top Walmart Competitors. Retrieved from https://www.marketing91.com/walmart-competitors/ LeCavalier, J. (2016). The Rule of Logistics: Walmart and the Architecture of Fulfillment. University of Minnesota Press. Martin Murray (2018). What are Walmart's 3 Strategic Initiatives? Retrieved from https://www.thebalancesmb.com/wal-mart-s-strategic-initiatives-2221112 Statista (2018). Total revenue of Walmart worldwide from 2012 to 2018 (in billion U.S. dollars). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/555334/total-revenue-of-walmartworldwide/ INT 700 Final Project Milestone Two: Annotated Bibliography Guidelines and Rubric Guidelines Your final project entails developing a full strategic analysis on a publicly held multinational enterprise (MNE). For Milestone Two, you will submit your current research summary and annotated bibliography. This Milestone is due in Module Four. Current Research Summary Your summary should be 2–3 paragraphs in length detailing the research involved to date. This portion of the milestone is submitted for feedback only. Annotated Bibliography Annotated bibliographies provide you with the opportunity to cite, summarize, and compare and contrast resources you will use in a paper. You will cite each resource in APA style, write an approximately 150-word description that summarizes the central theme and scope of the resource, and compare and contrast it with other resources. For more information on annotated bibliographies, consult the SNHU Writing Center’s annotated bibliography guide. Depending on the assignment, the annotated bibliography may serve a number of purposes, including but not limited to reviewing the literature on a particular subject; illustrating the quality of research you have done; providing examples of the types of resources available; describing other items on a topic that may be of interest to the reader; and/or exploring the subject for further research. Your purpose here is to prepare to complete a final research paper on developmental psychology by locating a minimum of three to five current research articles (from the past three years) that you might potentially include in your final paper; these articles should relate to either Piaget’s theory and/or Vygotsky’s theory. The articles should provide sufficient information for you to compare and contrast the two theories. (Source: http://lib.skidmore.edu/library/index.php/writing-an-annotated-bibliography) Sample Annotated Bibliography of a Journal Article The following example is what your final product for each resource should look like. This example (for the psychological research article A Bad Taste in the Mouth: Gustatory Disgust Influences Moral Judgment) employs APA style for the journal citation. The writer of this annotation follows the above points to create an annotation that summarizes the article’s main points and draws connections between that resource and other resources: Eskine, K. J., Kacinik, N. A., & Prinz, J. J. (2011). A bad taste in the mouth: Gustatory disgust influences moral judgment. Psychological Science, 22(3), 295–299. Annotation: In this article, Eskine and colleagues describe the results of an experiment that examined whether the taste in a person’s mouth influences the moral judgments that the person makes. The authors, who are researchers at the City University of New York, hypothesized that there would be a relationship between these two variables because prior research has shown that there are strong links between basic emotions and moral judgments. Indeed, the authors found that participants given a bitter drink made harsher moral judgments than those given a non-bitter drink. This article is extremely useful for my paper because it provides evidence that seemingly unimportant sensory information can influence moral judgments. Also, it nicely complements the work of Chapman et al. (2009), who found that emotional disgust and morality utilize similar brain regions. One limitation, though, is that all of the participants in the study were college students. They may have responded differently to the moral situations than older or younger participants. Abstract from author: Can sweet-tasting substances trigger kind, favorable judgments about other people? What about substances that are disgusting and bitter? Various studies have linked physical disgust to moral disgust, but despite the rich and sometimes striking findings these studies have yielded, no research has explored morality in conjunction with taste, which can vary greatly and may differentially affect cognition. The research reported here tested the effects of taste perception on moral judgments. After consuming a sweet beverage, a bitter beverage, or water, participants rated a variety of moral transgressions. Results showed that taste perception significantly affected moral judgments, such that physical disgust (induced via a bitter taste) elicited feelings of moral disgust. Further, this effect was more pronounced in participants with politically conservative views than in participants with politically liberal views. Taken together, these differential findings suggest that embodied gustatory experiences may affect moral processing more than previously thought. Consider these highly relevant resource options as applicable: Primary Resources • Corporate o Current annual and quarterly reports to the current date o Corporate investor website o Transcripts of quarterly investor conference calls • SNHU Library Research Guide Databases o MarketLine Advantage: PESTLE country/region surveys, market and corporate analysis o OneSource: Corporate analysis and industry surveys o S&P Net Advantage: industry surveys o Valueline Resource Center: U.S. corporate analysis • Cultural and Institution Data o The Hofstede Centre: Cultural dimensions o Ease of Doing Business Index o Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index • Country Economic Data o The Economist Intelligence Unit (also political, demographic, risk, and more) o World Trade Organization (WTO) o World Bank (WB) o CIA World Factbook o The Heritage Foundation: Index of Economic Freedom • World Stock Exchange Listings o Available at the World Federation of Exchanges (www.world-exchanges.org) Secondary Resources • Contemporary events, opinion, and analysis o Financial Times, WSJ, Reuters, Bloomberg o Industry associations Note: Wikipedia, eHow, Investopedia, and similar websites are not acceptable professional or academic resources. They may, however, point your research in valuable directions. Format The annotated bibliography should use 1.5 line spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and Works Cited in APA format. Rubric Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value Evaluates at least Evaluates at least 10 Evaluates some Does not evaluate seven primary and primary and secondary primary and secondary primary and secondary secondary resources resources relevant for a resources relevant for Information resources relevant for a relevant for a full strategic analysis on a a strategic analysis on 20 Literacy and full strategic analysis strategic analysis on a Research on a publicly held publicly held a publicly held publicly held multinational multinational multinational multinational enterprise (MNE) enterprise (MNE) enterprise (MNE) enterprise (MNE) Annotation describes Annotation Annotation describes Does not describe the the author’s viewpoint incompletely describes the author’s viewpoint author’s viewpoint and and authority and the author’s viewpoint and authority and authority and/or accurately and and authority and summarizes some of inadequately 30 Annotation succinctly summarizes partially summarizes the critical summarizes the the critical information the information information provided information provided provided by each provided by each by each resource by each resource resource resource Annotation clearly Annotation describes Annotation describes Does not describe the describes the rationale the rationale for the the rationale for the rationale for the for the inclusion of inclusion of each inclusion of each inclusion of each each resource and resource and indicates resource and provides resource and/or does indicates how it will be how it will be used to some indication on not indicate how it will used to inform the inform the strategic how it will be used to be used to inform the Critical 30 Analysis strategic analysis on analysis on the inform the strategic strategic analysis on the publicly held MNE. publicly held MNE. analysis on the publicly the publicly held MNE. Totality of resources is Totality of resources is held MNE. Totality of Totality of resources is more than sufficient sufficient for a full resources is insufficient insufficient for a for a full strategic strategic analysis of for a full strategic strategic analysis of a analysis of the MNE the MNE analysis of the MNE MNE Minor errors related Major errors related to No errors related to Some errors related to Writing to organization, organization, organization, grammar 20 (Mechanics/ organization, grammar grammar, and style, grammar, style, and Citations) and style, and citations and style, and citations and citations citations Total 100% INT 700: Final Project Guidelines and Rubric Overview The final project for this course is the creation of a global strategic analysis that provides a strategic plan for the internationalization of a firm. The final project for this course requires students to select an international publicly held company and complete a strategic analysis of that company in a variety of areas pertaining to global strategic management. The scenario: You have been hired as a consultant at the company you have been researching. This final report is an in-depth look at the corporate management based on your detailed research completed throughout the semester. This paper is designed as a full report with recommendations that the executive team will use to enhance the existing strategic management. The final product represents an authentic demonstration of competency because the analysis represents the pragmatic application of concepts and tools used in formation of corporate-level global strategic planning. The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Four, Eight, and Ten. Main Elements Your analysis should include, at a minimum, the following eight components: 1. MNE Overview and Key Strategic Background 1. 1.1. Characterize the chosen firm (e.g., firm’s scale, strategic business units, scope of products and markets, diversification type, current financial and strategic performance trends (5-year max) with a brief comparison to industry trends, market shares, etc.) 2. 1.2. Describe the current international operations of the firm (e.g., geographic distribution of operations and their contributions to firm performance) 3. 1.3. What are the recent strategic initiatives (and their motivations) of the firm? 4. 1.4. Briefly analyze the MNE’s domestic and international rivals (a representative top challenger for each is fine) 2. Strategy Tripod Part One: Industry Conditions (Opportunities and Threats) 1. 2.1. What are the top five foreign markets for the MNE’s industry? 2. 2.2. Compare and contrast the five forces affecting the MNE’s industry. Note critical factors to each and critical differences in the MNE’s domestic and foreign markets. 3. 2.3. Which functions in the industry value chain are key to competitiveness for your MNE? How well do they address the industry’s key success factors and key drivers of change? 4. 2.4. Assess the strategic fit of the MNE’s generic competitive strategy with industry conditions. 3. Strategy Tripod Part Two: Internal Resources and Capabilities (Strengths and Weaknesses) 1. 3.1. Analyze the value, rarity, imitability, and organizational (VRIO) aspects of the firm’s core resources and capabilities within its value chain functions. Do any competencies reach the “core” or “distinctive” level over rivals? 2. 3.2. How well do these capabilities and resources support the MNE’s generic strategy choice? 3. 3.3. What resources and capabilities should the firm augment or develop to improve its future global competitiveness? 4. 3.4. Should the firm acquire, outsource, or build these resources internally? 4. Strategy Tripod Part Three: Institutional and Cultural Conditions 1. 4.1. How are formal and informal institutions setting the “rules of the game” for the MNE’s direct and indirect international operations? 2. 4.2. Using Hofstede’s five dimensions of national culture, how will the MNE’s domestic cultural norms compare to those of its foreign partners or subsidiaries? 3. 4.3. Which is currently a greater concern—cultural or institutional distance? 4. 4.4. What are your recommendations for the firm’s future IBS to leverage its exposure to these various “rules of the game”? 5. Entrepreneurship and Internationalizing the Firm 5.1. How effectively has the firm managed the five “entrepreneurial strategies” in its growth? 5.2. Are there institutional or industry-based conditions affecting entrepreneurship opportunities? 6. Internationalization: Where, When, Why, and How 1. 6.1. From the institution-based and resource-based views, does the firm possess “overwhelming resources and capabilities to offset its liability of foreignness”? 2. 6.2. How do the firm’s strategic goals align with the location-specific advantages of its global footprint? 3. 6.3. Assess the advantages and disadvantages of management’s entry mode choices and entry timing. 4. 6.4. Which diversification strategies have been used? Have they contributed to performance? 5. 6.5. Has performance benefited from international acquisitions or collaborative strategies? 6. 6.6. What are your recommendations for the MNE to pursue future complementary strategic options? 7. Internationalization: Strategy, Structure, and Learning 7.1. Which of the four strategy/structure configurations is used? 7.2. Considering the three legs of the strategy tripod, evaluate the “strategic fit” of the MNE’s strategy/structure configuration to its IBS goals. 7.3. Does this approach offer any innovation or learning advantages over the approaches of the MNE’s top rivals? 7.4. Has the firm internalized any knowledge management or learning capabilities that maybe leveraged between developed and emerging economies? 8. Strategizing Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility 8.1. Has the MNE developed firm-specific capabilities to differentiate on corporate governance dimensions? 8.2. From the stakeholder-based view, what is a CSR initiative that will directly impact the competitiveness of the MNE? Milestones Milestone One: Research Proposal In task 2-2, you will submit your research proposal. Your final project entails developing a full strategic analysis on a publicly held multinational enterprise (MNE). It must be public because of the depth and transparency of data you will need to adequately complete the project. This MNE may be in any industry, based in any international location, and held in any public market. A number of MNEs in less developed economies are publicly listed in foreign equity markets. If you have difficulty determining this, contact your instructor. It is strongly suggested that highly diversified MNEs (conglomerates) be avoided due to the added complexity in completing your final project. This milestone must be submitted and accepted by your instructor before continuing on or it will not be accepted. This milestone is submitted as pass/fail. Your proposal should be 2–3 pages in length. The research proposal should present a concise and rigorous case for studying your proposed firm in light of global strategic management. It should consider the following: • • • • • • • • • • • Corporate overview (basic description of MNE, its operations, market position, leadership, etc.) • Financial performance overview (briefly review revenues, net income, profit ratios, balance sheet, equity trends) • Business segments (divisions or SBUs [strategic business units] with performance contributions) • Subsidiary/parent-child structure (corporate hierarchy with performance contributions) • Geographic segmentation (current with performance contribution) • Recent strategic initiatives/stated strategic objective • Important negative events or challenges • Domestic/foreign industry summary (includes industry name and the primary and secondary NAICS and SIC codes) • Brief key competitors overview (minimum two domestic and two foreign, using salient aspects listed above) • Reason for your interest in the MNE Milestone Two: Current Research Summary and Annotated Bibliography In task 4-2, you will submit your current research summary and annotated bibliography. Your summary should be 1–2 paragraphs in length, detailing the research involved to date. The annotated bibliography should be an annotated list of the major sources you intend to use or consult for your final paper. This milestone will be graded using the Final Project Annotated Bibliography Guidelines and Rubric. Milestone Three: Peer Review of Rough Draft In task 8-2, you will submit your rough draft of final project through the Discussion Topic for peer review. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. You will conduct one peer review for another student’s rough draft. You will submit your peer review through the Discussion Topic. Use the Final Product Rubric (below) to assist you with completing the peer review. This milestone will be graded using the Final Project Peer Review Guidelines and Rubric. Final Project Report: Final Global Strategic Analysis In 10-2, you will submit your final global strategic analysis. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the main elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. Your report should include a cover page, an executive summary (200 to 300 words), a table of contents, a discussion of all eight components described in the Main Elements section above, references (APA format), and appendices (financials, larger graphics or illustrations, tables, etc.). The final global strategic analysis report is graded using the Final Product Rubric (below). Deliverable Milestones Milestone Deliverables Module Due 1 Research Proposal Two 2 Annotated Bibliography Four 3 Peer Review of Rough Draft Eight 4 Final Project Report: Final Global Strategic Analysis Ten Grading Pass/fail; must be submitted for instructor approval. Graded separately; Annotated Bibliography Rubric Graded separately; Final Project Peer Review Rubric Graded separately; Final Product Rubric (below) Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Written components of project must follow these formatting guidelines: 1.5 spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and APA-appropriate citations. The final global strategic analysis should range between 12 to 20 pages, not including the cover page, financial statements, bibliography, and other resources. Needs Improvement (70%) Fully characterizes the Characterizes the Characterizes some Multinational chosen MNE’s business, chosen MNE’s aspects of the Enterprise (MNE) provides a thoughtful and business, provides a chosen MNE’s Overview & Key complete analysis of its complete analysis of business, provides Strategic international operations its international an adequate Background and strategic goals, and operations and analysis of its Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (90%) Not Evident (0%) Value Does not adequately characterize of the 20 chosen MNE’s business, provides an inadequate assesses its context in its industry sector, considering domestic and international rivals strategic goals, and assesses its context in its industry sector, considering domestic and international rivals international operations and strategic goals, and attempts to assess its context in its industry sector, considering domestic and international rivals analysis of its international operations and strategic goals, and does not address its context in its industry sector, considering domestic and international rivals Provides an Provides an acceptable analysis inadequate analysis of the MNE using of the MNE Provides a clear and the three competitiveness comprehensive analysis of components of the using the three the MNE using the three strategy tripod. components of the components of the Does not provide an Explores multiple strategy tripod. strategy tripod. Explores analysis of the MNE strategic issues Explores some multiple strategic issues competitiveness through collection strategic issues through extensive using the three Comprehensive and in-depth through collection collection and in- depth components of the MNE Analysis analysis of firm and and in analysis of 20 Using the Strategy analysis of firm and sector strategy tripod sector evidence to firm and sector Tripod evidence to make welland/or does not make well-informed evidence to make informed conclusions. explore strategic conclusions. Applies conclusions. Applies Cleverly applies course issues to provide course concepts, some course concepts, depicting conclusions depicting concepts, depicting sustainable competition sustainable sustainable in an international competition competition environment advantage in an advantage in an international international environment environment Develops an Does not critique Develops a inadequate critique the MNE’s reasonable critique of the MNE’s Develops a thoughtful entrepreneurship of the MNE’s entrepreneurship critique of the MNE’s and entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship and internationalization and internationalization strategies or Critical Analysis of internationalization internationalization strategies and strategies, analyzing its provide an 20 MNE strategies, analyzing provides minimal Internationalization strategies and adequate analysis its strategies and analysis of its performance and clearly of its strategies and performance and strategies and defining the performance or clearly defining the performance and strategy/structure used define the strategy/structure the strategy/structure used strategy/structure used used Provides a Describes the firm- Describes the firm- Does not adequately concise, wellspecific capabilities specific capabilities describe the firmStrategizing thought-out that differentiate that differentiate specific capabilities Governance and description of the MNE with the MNE with that differentiate 20 Corporate Social the firm-specific respect to its respect to its the MNE with Responsibility capabilities that corporate corporate respect to its differentiate the governance. governance. corporate Competitive Intelligence/ Resource Effectiveness Writing Style, Mechanics, and Citations Total MNE with Assesses a respect to its corporate social corporate responsibility (CSR) governance. initiative from Critically stakeholder and assesses one or competitiveness more corporate perspectives social responsibility (CSR) initiative(s) from stakeholder and competitiveness perspectives Consistent use of Highly selective scholarly employment of intelligence and scholarly, primary data primary, and filtered for secondary significant errors, intelligence omissions, and bias. resources Introduces creates superior secondary industry depth to the and competitor MNE strategic resources to clarify analysis context and reasoning Clearly demonstrates a Demonstrates a professional professional business writing business writing style, with no style, with minor errors related to errors related to organization, organization, grammar, and grammar, and APAAPA-formatted formatted citations citations Attempts to assess a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative from stakeholder and competitiveness perspectives governance and/or does not assess a social responsibility (CSR) initiative(s) from stakeholder and competitiveness perspectives Some incorporation 10 of resources of limited strategic importance. Does not Overreliance on incorporate opinion-based sufficient scholarly, resources, not primary, or separated from secondary resources primary resources for analysis by more than one degree of separation from firm 10 Writing style is not Writing style is adequately inappropriate for professional and business and/or some errors related major errors related to organization, to organization, grammar, and APA- grammar, and APAformatted citations formatted citations 100%
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