Environmental Scan and Economic Analysis of Wal-Mart

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// Environmental Analysis involves scanning of the internal and external environmental of the Organization. To start with such kind of paper; we must analyze all the external and internal forces affecting the Company. But before writing such an analysis; we must give a brief introduction, wherein, we introduce the topic.//

Introduction

This paper gives a detailed analysis of micro and macro environmental factors, which affects the market strategy of Wal-Mart. An analysis of external and internal environment and identification of opportunities & threats is extremely important for the survival of a firm in the long run. Environmental scanning or analysis assists the companies in the monitoring of changes in environmental forces. Internal forces consists of company location, financial capability, company image, human resources, production facility and R&D. Internal forces are inherent to the firm and can be controlled by the management. External forces have two components such as macro and micro environment. The microenvironment consists of the suppliers, marketing intermediaries and customers, while macro environment consists of the demographic, socio-cultural, technological, political and legal environment.

Environmental analysis assists the company to gain competitive advantage which further helps the company to compete in the international market in an effective manner. The forces trends affects the marketing strategy of the company in great way, so there is a need to conduct an in-depth environmental scanning for minimizing the negative impact of these forces and trends in an effective way. Environmental analysis assists the company to cope up with the changes occurring in the international market. This paper describes about the non-economic factors, long term strategic plans, competitive analysis, strength & weakness, mission and vision statement of Wal-Mart which assist the reader to gain in-sight about the prominent aspects required for environmental analysis.

// After giving a brief introduction; we'll now analyze different trends and forces affecting the Organization. There are basically three forces we are going to analyze. These are changing technology, economic changes and socioeconomic environment.//

Analysis of the Forces and Trends

There are basically three forces and trends which affect the marketing strategy of Wal-Mart such as changing technology, economic changes and socio-cultural environment. These are as follows:

Changing technology: In the fast changing environment, technology is a key factor which affects the marketing strategy of any company in a great way. Like other companies, Wal-Mart is also spending a huge amount of money in order to cope up with the changing technology. These changes substantially influence the purchase process of the company. Innovations and changes are taking place in the technological environment in a great way which affects the marketing strategy of Wal-Mart. Those companies, who have a competent force for the formulation of counter strategies with regard to the changes taking place in the technology, compete in a more efficient way as compared to the other companies. These changes have significant impact on the buying behavior of consumer. Therefore, it is necessary for Wal-Mart to be vigilant regarding these technological changes.

Economic changes: This force also influences the marketing strategy of Wal-Mart in a great way. In present scenario, most of the industries are suffering from the changes taking place in the economic environment. The recession of the market influences the marketing strategy of Wal-Mart and many other retail chains in a great manner which affects the profitability and business portfolio of these organizations. The rates of various products and services are increasing in a great way which affects the pricing strategy of the organizations. The growth rate, poverty rate and employment rate, inflation rate and income distribution also affect the growth strategy of Wal-Mart in a significant way. Wal-Mart and other retail chains are also affected by these changes of economic recession.

Socio-cultural environment: Socio-cultural environment also affects the marketing strategy of Wal-Mart in a great way. It consists of attitudes, norms, beliefs, values and lifestyle of individuals in a society. These forces can change the market dynamics and marketers can face both opportunities and threats from them. The taste and preferences of the customers are changing according to the trends and patterns existing in the market. The propositioned beliefs and value system of customers also affects the marketing strategy of Wal-Mart in a great way (Boone & Kurtz, 2006).

// The above discussed forces were microeconomic indicators. Moving on, we'll now focus on macroeconomic indicators. //

Macroeconomic Forecast of Economic Indicators

Environmental analysis assists the organization in developing a promising strategic planning, which further helps the decision making team in executing the strategic plans in an effective way. Macroeconomic forecast of economic indicators assist the organization to perform effective environmental analysis, which further helps in the development of the competent strategic planning. The capacity of macroeconomic forecast can be stated in terms of effectively ...