1) Gregory Wasson worked out a deal with a PBM and created the SMART 90 Walgreen’s plan which allowed customers to order 90 day prescriptions through Express Scripts. He also focused customer centric retailing, which is a strategy that delivers Walgreens customers with whatever they want. To help with the Growth of Walgreens Wasson also introduced the Walgreens app for IOS and android platforms. The app allows customers to order prescriptions and receive a SMS alert when their prescriptions are ready. Walgreens also showed that they are an environmentally friendly company by installing solar panels at some of their stores and also electric vehicle charging stations. 2) Walgreens has technology in this new age by developing an app allowing
The Tucker vs. Walgreen Company was a nationwide known class action case. It fell into the category of race discrimination. This cases was brought to the attention of the law by African Americans who were employed at this retail and pharmacy store. This pledged that they were being discriminated to by the following acts:failure to move up in positions (promotion), dieing them the opportunity to apply for assistant manager and manager, and being assigned to an undesirable store for an extended period of time compared to whites. They filed a class action lawsuit with the demand of compensatory and punitive damages and declaratory and injunctive relief. Along with these demands, the plaintiffs desired class certification for those who have been previously affected by the defendant’s discriminatory acts as well as any who will suffer from them in the future.
Earlier on this paper, the industry five forces analysis has been discussed generally. In this part, the paper analyzes Walgreens ' actions based on industry five forces model and suggests the next actions that Walgreens would rather do to maintain and improve its power in each five areas. This section will go into each force of five forces model in the order of priority, including bargaining power of buyers, the threat of substitutes, the degree of rivalry within the industry, the threat of new entrants, and bargaining power of suppliers.
Walgreens was founded in 1901 measuring 50 feet by 20 feet by Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.. Mr. Walgreen was born near Galesburg, Illinois and his family later relocated to Dixon, Illinois at town about 60 miles north of his birthplace. Mr. Walgreens’ father was a farmer who turned into a businessperson and saw a great potential of the Rock River Valley (Walgreen, n.d., p.1). At age 16, Charles Walgreen had his first experience working in a drug store. He didn’t always have pleasurable experiences but it was a job with pay. He had an accident at a shoe factory that cut off his left middle finger from the top joint. This injury also stops him from playing any sports at school. After a year and a half with the drug store, Mr. Walgreen left to pursue something bigger in the big city-Chicago.
Since 1901, Walgreens has had a strong passion for customer service. The founder, Charles Walgreens, goal was to create a drugstore that was like no other. He said that for as many drugstores as he had worked at, he had never worked for one that had a focus for good customer service and low prices. Walgreens has grown by leaps and bounds since 1901 and is now recognized as the leader in the market with over 7000 stores. Charles Walgreen had an eye for good managers. He said he was able to pick people that he knew were smarter than him so to promote them and make them the heads of his drugstores. As a store manager, not only is it your job to run a store which includes ordering, customer care, and inventory control, but also it is your job to manage the staff. As a part of managing staff, it is their responsibility to hire, train and develop, and terminate if need be. While there are many jobs to choose from when it comes to HR and employee staffing, I choose this one because it is by far to me the most intense.
Wal-Mart represents the sickness of capitalism at its almost fully evolved state. As Jim Hightower said, "Why single out Wal-Mart? Because it's a hog. Despite the homespun image it cultivates in its ads, it operates with an arrogance and avarice that would make Enron blush and John D. Rockefeller envious. It's the world's biggest retail corporation and America's largest private employer; Sam Robson Walton, a member of the ruling family, is one of the richest people on earth. Wal-Mart and the Waltons got to the top the old-fashioned way: by roughing people up. Their low, low prices are the product of two ruthless commandments: Extract the last penny possible from human toil and squeeze the last dime from its thousands of suppliers, who are left with no profit margin unless they adopt the Wal-Mart model of using nonunion labor and shipping production to low-wage hellholes abroad." (The Nation, March 4th 2002 www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=hightower).
Partnering with Vendors. In April 2013, Walgreens has entered into an innovative long-term partnership with AmerisourceBergen, one of North’s America’s largest pharmaceutical services companies (“Walgreens and Alliance Boots Announce Strategic,” 2013). The relationship has provided Walgreens and AmerisourceBergen benefits from greater opportunities to improve their service levels and efficiencies, while reducing costs and increasing patient access to pharmaceuticals (“Walgreens and Alliance Boots Announce Strategic,” 2013). Also, Linda Filler, chief merchandising officer at Walgreens, delivers a presentation that she loved partnering with suppliers at the 2015 NACDS Annual Meeting in Palm Beach (Walden, 2015).
Another stakeholder who is important in the strategic planning process for this company would be the government regulators, such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration to name a few. These organizations help determine the laws and enforcement of said laws concerning pharmaceuticals, working conditions for employees and food safety, three things Walgreens is involved in (they offer perishable food items, fill prescription medicine and have hazardous chemicals which employees may be exposed to in the photo lab). Not taking into account the impact these agencies have on the business practices of Walgreens leaves the company open to lawsuits, fines and potential closing of store
Walgreens recently announce it’s intention to purchase Rite Aid, which is ranked number three behind CVS Caremark. Currently, CVS Health has 58% of the market, while Walgreens and Rite Aide have 31% and 10.3% respectively. If this acquisition goes through, Walgreens will have a combined entity worth $130 billion in annual sales. They will have 13,000 stores and will hold 41.3% of the pharmacy market share. This will consolidate the pharma retail industry with only two huge retail chains, thereby turning the US drugstore market into a duopoly. (Bells,
Denver-based Allgreens, a medical-marijuana dispensary, won an action in federal court recently that could pave the way for other cannabis-related business.
According to Smithson, Walmart can expand its markets to new and emerging markets especially in the third world countries, which can significantly increase its revenues. Secondly, the company can reform is employment practices and improve the quality standard and in doing so, attract more customers and improve its brand image. On the other hand, the company faces threats such as the rising healthy lifestyle trend I that the company in most cases does not provide customers with healthy goods. At the same time, the company can capitalize on this aspect and increase its revenues. Aggressive competition from other discount retailers such as Target creates a great threat to the company (Smithson, 2015).
How does managerial planning for Project Impact take place at different levels within the organization?
Walmart leverages the IMS to track products or packages. Because they know when the products are sold, how long did it take for it to sell and where they were sold? They use this information to refine the flow of products. The power is going from push to the pull. The product is not driving the final transaction. The customer is important and the interaction that the customer has with the product in the store is essential as well.
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is a Florida-based grocery chain that has flourished since its inception in 1930. The first store opened in Winter Haven, Florida and to this day Publix has expanded to well over 1,000 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The supermarket chain now boasts over $25 billion in sales annually (Mujtaba and Johnson, 2012). To withstand the test of time and develop such a stronghold on the market, Publix has excelled in its global business community or macroenvironment, as well as its market environment or microenvironment.
Environmental Studies is the academic field, which systematically studies human interaction with the environment in which we live in. It is a broad field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them. Environmental studies takes into account many different factors that help provide an enjoyable, fruitful way of life, such as national policies, politics, laws, economics, sociology and other social aspects, planning, pollution control, natural resources, and the interactions of human beings and nature.
From the manufacturers’ warehouse to the shelves, the business must orchestrate a symphony of the right products to the right places at the right times. Walmart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week in retail outlets, online and on mobile devices. The company is able to offer a vast range of products at the lowest costs in the shortest possible time (Chandran, 2001). The main reason for this incredible growth of Walmart is because its distribution centers are highly automated.