Wal-Mart first opened in Rogers, Arkansas on July 2, 1962. Wal-Mart was built on the principle of “The Lowest Prices Anytime, Anywhere”. What started out as a simple discount store became the largest retailer in the world with 11,000 stores worldwide with a net sales of $482.2 billion. Wal-Mart works to bring value to its customers and to create opportunities for everyone. My preceptor was Dr. Lorrie Williams and she was one of three pharmacists in charge of the Wal-Mart pharmacy that I interned at for my Introductory Pharmacy Practice Experience. She had many roles within the pharmacy. Her primary roles were to check the prescriptions before being filled to ensure that it is the correct drug being dispensed and to ensure there is no tampering …show more content…
Each drug was not necessarily in the same type of container and many drugs were not in a solid form. I had to know what form each drug was in and then figure out how they were measured in the various containers. The system used by Wal-Mart allowed the technicians to scan drug containers to then print a label, bottle the correct amount, and insure that the correct drug was selected. The scanner would not allow you to use the incorrect drug unless there was a system error. I also stocked drugs into their correct positions within the pharmacy. During midday, the prescriptions begin to arrive slower. I would be left with few prescriptions to fill, so I tended to learn what the pharmacist was doing or learn more of what the technicians did in their …show more content…
The representative wanted to talk about the benefits of using a particular drug for seizures. In our Pharmacy Health Care and Behavior course, this is known as the traditional method of marketing to providers. Drug companies use marketing strategies toward health care providers to promote their drugs, which influences how patients are prescribed medications. The drug representative went on to discuss giving clients a coupon for the drug. This coupon would allow the clients to receive a one month supply of the drug. There were some concerns that my pharmacist had with the use of the coupons. One concern was with what would happen to clients when they are unable to afford a refill and in Pharmacy Health Care and Behavior, one of the factors dealing with a client being prescribed a medication is price. Another concern was the fact that the process for using the coupons was inconvenient for the pharmacy itself. In the end, my pharmacist did not believe it to be beneficial for the clients or pharmacy to use the coupons.
Wal-Mart does its best to provide service of the best quality, with the utmost integrity, and at the lowest possible prices. Wal-Mart pharmacy caters to its clients to ensure that they are comfortable receiving and using their medications. Wal-Mart also offers different plans and programs for patients with different needs. Their pharmacies have a
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).
Founded by Sam Walton in 1962 as a discount city store in Bentonville, Wal-mart was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on October 31, 1969 as an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. Within five years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas and reached $12.6 million in sales.Wal-Mart further expands outside America and operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the UK as ASDA, and in Japan as Seiyu. It has wholly-owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the UK.Presently listed on NYSE, Wal-Mart began trading stock as a publicly-held company on October 1, 1972. According to the 2007 Fortune Global 500, Wal-Mart is the world's largest public corporation by revenue and the largest private employer in the world and the fourth largest utility or commercial employer, trailing the Chinese army, the British National Health Service, and the Indian Railways.Wal-Mart reached a sales milestone in 1979 with 276 stores and 21,000 employees, it reached $1 billion in sales. Having only been in existence for 17 years, the company achieves the quickest ever ascent to the $1 billion milestone.Through out the 1980s, Wal-Mart grows rapidly and by its 25th anniversary in 1987 there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates. The year 1987 in particular is marked by the completion of the company's satellite network, a $24 million investment linking all operating units of the company with its Bentonville office via two-way voice and data transmission and one-way video communication. In 1988, the founder Sam Walton stepped down as CEO and was replaced by David Glass though he remained as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The y...
In 1962, Wal-Mart opened their first store in Rogers, Arkansas. In 1970, Wal-Mart's first distribution center and home office in Bentonville, Ark. open and Wal-Mart went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Just nine years from that, Wal-Mart's annual sales exceeded one billion dollars. In 1988, Wal-Mart super centers opened across the country. In a merely three years from that, Wal-Mart opened their own store in Mexico City, Mexico; making Wal-Mart an international corporation. Not even sixty years has past, and yet, Wal-Mart is over-powering our country.
Wal-Mart’s competitive environment is quite unique. Although Wal-Mart’s primary competition comes from general merchandise retailers, warehouse clubs and supermarket retailers also present competitive pressure. The discount retail industry is substantial in size and is constantly experiencing growth and change. The top competitors compete both nationally and internationally. There is extensive competition on pricing, location, store size, layout and environment, merchandise mix, technology and innovation, and overall image. The market is definitely characterized by economies of scale. Top retailers vertically integrate many functions, such as purchasing, manufacturing, advertising, and shipping. Large scale functions such as these give the top competitors a significant cost advantage over small-scale competition.
In the 1960s through the 1970s, companies realized strong engineering, design, and manufacturing functions were strong market strategy keys to create and capture customer loyalty. As the demand for new products rose in the 1980s, these market requirements were to increase their flexibility and responsiveness to adapt existing products and processes or to develop new ones in order to meet customer needs. As manufacturing improved in the 1990s, managers began noticing material and service inputs involving suppliers and their major impact on an organization’s ability to meet customer needs. As a result of these changes, organizations now find that it difficult to manage their own organizations. First, they must be involved in the management of their network of all upstream firms that provide directly or indirectly, as well as the network of downstream firms, which are responsible for delivery and market service of the product to the end customer. In order to succeed, managers have to realize that they cannot do it alone and they must work together on a daily basis with the whole organizations in their supply chains. Because supply chain management involves all functions within an organization, managers need to know what a supply chain is, why it is important, and the impact of supply chain management on the success and profitability of their organization. Today, Wal-Mart topped the list of the America’s biggest companies on the Fortune 500 list, “with sales of almost $345 billion — more than a quarter of a trillion dollars” (Forbs). Wal-Mart’s supply chain management is becoming recognized as a core competitive strategy.
The Discount Pharmacy possesses good information regarding their market and the target segments that they wish to serve. The Pharmacy will leverage this information to better understand who is served, their specific needs, and how The Pharmacy can better serve them. The pharmacy provides the buyers with drugs at the discounted price. They focus on following
Pharmacy Technicians Despite popular belief, pharmacy technicians are more than laborers; they are special. trained individuals to be successful. Imagine a family member is admitted to the University of South Alabama Hospital with an acute case of pneumonia, which will require oral and intravenous medications. These medications must be precisely prepared and properly delivered. The common perception is that pharmacists prepare medications and technicians simply deliver them.
How does managerial planning for Project Impact take place at different levels within the organization?
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is in the discount, variety stores industry. It was founded in 1945, Bentonville in Arkansas which is also the headquarters of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart operates locally as well as worldwide. It operated 1209 discount stores, 1980 super centers, and 567 Sam’s Club by January 31, 2006. It has also extended its operations to many international countries. It runs its retail stores in two forms: Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart Stores. The Sam’s Club sells assorted product lines such as hardwares, electronics, jewelry, and to mention a few. The Wal-Mart stores also offer similar products in addition to the following: health and beauty products, apparel for women, men and children, household appliances etc (www.yahoo.finance.com). The Vision Statement, Mission Statement, Values and Code of Conduct, Corporate Governance: Directors, Executive Management, Committees and Stakeholder will be the key elements that will discussed in this report as it relates to Wal-Mart. In addition to that, the major trends in the general/macro environment and industry will be analyzed.
The more accurate inventory records ended up saving the pharmacy quite a bit of money since it reduced the incidences of unnecessarily ordering too many medications from suppliers. Thus, the small decision of double counting prescriptions made the pharmacy more cost efficient.
The first Wal-Mart store opened in July of 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas by Sam Walton who believed that the future of retailing was in discounting and to avoid competing with established giants like Sears and Woolworth, Wal-Mart’s stated out of the large cities in the beginning and this strategy help avoid competition, while in rural areas Wal-Mart began growing their customer base by offering ways to save money and shorter travel distance, Sam Walton felt the best way to make customers happy was to provide the low prices every day (Farhoomand, 2006). The company needed to continually find ways to control the operating costs so the savings would then be passed on to Wal-Mart customers in the form of lower prices than the competitors. Walton was opposed to having any kind of employee unions for its company and saw them as a disruption and an inconvenience (Farhoomand, 2006). The continued search for lower prices made him aware of business related travel cost, Wal-Mart executives stayed in low cost hotels when they traveled and the cost related to the services provided by suppliers, Wal-Mart helped suppliers improve operations and efficiency to produce lower cost. Walton wanted the suppliers to correct any nonessential or insufficiencies existing in their business structures as a way of gaining lower prices and higher value products for its Wal-Mart stores. To further push savings Wal-Mart forced cost down by eliminating the middleman and buying directly from the manufacturers. This cost saving also applied to executive salaries Walton felt providing employees with stock options, training opportunities, and allow employees to grow and develop would be a better way to engage and involve them in his vision (Farhoomand, 2006).
The benefits or competitive advantage Wal-Mart derived over the years from its supply chain management practices is also covered. The reason Wal-Mart is ahead of their competition is because they invest in technology in the 1980s. This investment paid off in the long run. Wal-Mart invested heavily in IT and communication systems to effectively track sales and merchandise inventories in stores across the country. They have set up own satellite communication in 1983. Employees at the stores have the ‘Magic Wand’ at hand. These barcode scanners allow you to check the prices of items at that particular store by scanned the barcode on the product. This is especially helpful when there is clearance that isn 't always marked and sometimes clearance items are cheaper than they
The first Wal-Mart was opened in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962. By 1969 it was incorporated into Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and in 1972 went public on the New York Stock Exchange. The company grew steadily across the United States, and by 1990 was the nation's largest retailer. In 1991 and 1994, Wal-Mart moved into Mexico and Canada respectively. By 1997 it was incorporated into the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As of 2005, Wal-Mart has stores in the United Kingdom, and Puerto Rico, and brings in revenue of close to 300 billion dollars a year. In 2006, Wal-Mart invaded the China and India's markets. During the last two decades, Wal-Mart has been able to take advantage of the rise of information technology and the explosion of the global economy to change the balance of power in the business world (Wikipedia, 2006). Today Wal-Mart continues to grow and their success is not only from their sound strategic management planning but also from its implementation of those strategic plans. In other words operational planning has been an important key to their success.
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.