Walmart's Midlife Crisis
885 Words4 Pages
One of the many challenges that marketing managers can face is a form of a company mid-life crisis. Just as people do companies may find that after a certain amount of time, success and growth that they need to reevaluation their priorities and goals. Wal-Mart provides an example of a company mid-life crisis, as its growth after 2005 dropped to 2% and faced a growing set of major competitors. Just a people can turn a mid-life crisis into a positive midlife transition, Wal-Mart can potentially use holistic marketing to successfully adapt to a competitive and dynamic economic environment.
Just as in a person’s mid-life crisis, Wal-Mart has several symptoms which may be attributed to a mid-life crisis. As an example, Wal-Mart has experienced a recent decline in growth, down to a mere 2% for the years after 2005 to 2007, similar to a person’s declining health and productivity as they age (Doheny, 2009, p. 2). Marketing management is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value (Kotler & Keller, 1 - Defining Marketing for the 21st Century, 2014, p. 4). Marketing is much more than just selling a product, and keeping and growing the number of customers is an integral part of a successful marketing strategy (Kotler & Keller, Marketing Management, 2012, p. 4).
Another symptom of Wal-Mart’s mid-life crisis is a healthy growth amongst its competitor’s, similar to a person’s change in social relationships (Doheny, 2009, p. 2). Wal-Mart is experiencing declining demand as compared to its competitors (Kotler & Keller, 1 - Defining Marketing for the 21st Century, 2014, p. 7). Declining demand, consumers choosing to buy the...
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...mpetitive and dynamic economic environment in a way that allows it to gain an edge on its competition, now and in the future.
Works Cited
Bianco, A. (2007, April 30). Wal-Mart's Midlife Crisis. Retrieved from Bloomberg Businessweek: http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-04-29/wal-marts-midlife-crisis
Brooks, D. R. (n.d.). What Happens When a Company Reaches a Mid-life Crisis?
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2014, January 2014). 1 - Defining Marketing for the 21st Century. Retrieved from University of Saint Mary - Engage: https://engage.stmary.edu/learn/mod/page/view.php?id=45535
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2014, January 4). 2 - Developing Marketing Strategies and Plans. Retrieved from University of Saint Mary - Engage: https://engage.stmary.edu/learn/mod/page/view.php?id=45535