Wal-Mart's Global Supplies Brought From China Case Study

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Segment 1 – Wal-Mart’s Revolutionary Power

1. How much was Wal-Mart’s sales figure quoted in the beginning of the segment?

Wal-Mart recorded $256 Billion in sales and is the first company on the planet to record such a figure on sales.

2. How many Americans stream into Wal-Mart on a weekly basis?

On hundred million customers stream every week into Wal-Marts 3400 stores.

3. How does the Telxon unit help Wal-Mart better understand its customers’ buying behavior/patterns?

The Texlon unit is a device that helps to keep track of products. It can record the sale price, the number of available stock and as well as the history of a product. This information helps in forecasting sales and future planning. All the information is stored …show more content…

What hourly wages were quoted for the Chinese workers?

The hourly wages for Chinese workers in Hay’s company Hayco is quoted at 50 cents. Other Chinese companies pay as little as 25-30 cents an hour.

2. What percentage of Wal-Mart’s global supplies come from China?

Wal-Mart has 6000 global suppliers and 80% of those suppliers are from China.

3. How does Wal-Mart push the risk of inventory costs onto its suppliers? Be specific.

Wal-Mart gives Chinese suppliers the specifications for Wal-Mart products. Wal-Mart teaches its suppliers on how to meet its specifications by giving them information about the price, quality and delivery schedule. Wal-Mart also keeps a very low inventory and has a fast turnaround. This forces its suppliers to speed up its production.

Segment 5 – Taking the Hits

1. What was the basis of the trade complaint filed by Five Rivers?

The basis of the trade complaint filed by Five Rivers was against Chinese manufacturers for dumping high end TV’s onto the American market. Five rivers believed that this practice was putting Americans out of jobs as the Chinese manufactures were selling at below free market cost.

2. Whose side did Wal-Mart take?

Wal-Mart chose to side with the Chinese