Half A Century Of Supply Chain Management At Wal Mart Case Solution

2. Situation Analysis 

Wal-Mart's supply chain consists of the generic components of SCM including purchasing, operations, distribution and integration. Over the years, Wal-Mart has determined several CSF for its SCM of which the following are relevant to the problem statement

1. Continuous improvement in logistics

2. Cost-effectiveness value added

3. Strategic planning

4. Inventory management & capacity planning information system 

5. Transportation planning

6. System and information quality (especially for the e-supply chain)

7. Automation for business process and re-engineering, Information technology

8. Customer focus

9. Centralized control

10. Top Management Support

11. Human Resource

12. Collaborative Partnership

By focusing on improving these CSF, Wal-Mart can make the supply chain more flexible and smarter. By building alliances with major companies and integrating IT in all of the processes from stocking to checkout, Wal-Mart can ensure availability of products at all time while ensuring convenience and time saving for customers that the competition is offering. The e-supply chain would focus on targeting the online consumers where Wal-Mart's largest competitor is Amazon.

3. Recommendations

As Wal-Mart integrates the inventory management systems and the capacity planning information system while building strategic alliances with the major companies, Wal-Mart can send inventory information directly from the shelves to the vendor. This sharing of information ensures that the store is never out of stock and customers always find what they are looking for. Cost-effectiveness value added is essential to Wal-Mart's motto of consistently low prices and for that strategic planning in all aspects is essential to keep the costs low.