Example Of Case Study On Wal-Mart (Canada)

The success of Wal-Mart is attributed to transactional and transformational forms of leadership. Leaders have always operated in a way that is accommodated by transformational leadership as they directly impact on the lives of individuals in the society. This type of leadership focuses on introducing changes and reforms aimed at makes the lives of people successful and fruitful. On the other hand, Wal-Mart implemented transactional leadership since it emphasizes on the transactions between the top executives and the subordinates. The leaders develop a give and take relationship with the workforce as they have the power to reward or punish them. In the process, Wal-Mart Company has always succeeded in meeting its goals and objectives. In other words, transformational leadership has always helped the organization to define its direction and vision properly while transactional leadership guides the company in their daily operations. The application of both forms of leadership has helped Wal-Mart to excel in its endeavors.
Transformational leadership has been significant in the success of the Wal-Mart company. The CEO and other leaders have the opportunity to visit the Wal-Mart stores, and this has transformed the operations of the company. The featured visits have helped the top managers to understand what happens on the ground and face the challenges in a brave manner. The employees also deliver their best so that they can be rewarded when the leaders visits these areas. The associates are motivated when they meet the leaders, and they share their thoughts and opinions that count towards the improvement of the company (Hall, Johnson, Wysocki, & Kepner, 2008).
The leadership of Wal-Mart Company has been in the frontline towards ensuring that project impact become successful. The leaders have always taken bold moves towards the adoption of big decisions that positively impacts on the company. Any actions taken by the company is determined by the customer preferences and feedback. Customer feedbacks helped the executives to launch project impact, but they reversed it after realizing a decrease in sales. This helped the company to transform regardless of the competition from potential rivals. Transformational leadership has always improved the managers’ willingness to take tough decisions (Hall et.al, 2008). The Wal-Mart company benefits from evidence-based decisions aimed at creating a large customer base and improve the sales thus maximizing on the profits made. It is a requirement that all decisions must be attached to logic to do away with assumptions and stereotypes in the business world. The managers of Wal-Mart in Canada have taken a role towards the development of leadership pipeline. The strategy has helped the company to acquire a crop of new leaders that are highly talented to improve the performance and operations at the grass root level. The new leaders play a critical role towards the expansion of the company at all levels.
On the other hand, transactional leadership helped the managers to monitor and improve the daily operations. In the process, the company benefited from the promotion of highly performing employees, the good balance of standards and freedom, and a good relationship with suppliers. When individuals perform well, they efforts are awarded, and this is a big motivational factor. The most hardworking and creative employees are promoted so that they can help the company to meets it goals and objectives within the specified duration. As a result, the executives are encouraged to be capable of delivering the best to the company and also have their ideas that can be implemented to boost the operations of the company. The store managers and the associates are given the opportunity to make autonomous decisions in determining what will be stored in the stock stores. Transactional leadership also led to the creation of a better relationship with suppliers. The managers had the opportunity to interact with the suppliers and use their comments in ensuring that they promoted their activities at large. The supply chain efficiency has been boosted by the good relationship with the suppliers (Hayden, Lee, McMahon & Pereira, 2002).
Wal-Mart applies a corporate takeover strategy as its expansion strategy in the international world. The strategy is characterized by two elements: aggressiveness and power. In Mexico, the company entered through the purchase of national retailers and converting them to their name. Wal-Mart has achieved in converting the national retailers into Wal-Mart stores making it possible to penetrate the new markets. Through the strategy, Wal-Mart was able to eliminate the rival competitors during the entry stage. The financial power of the company has always worked to its advantage. It uses its size and wealth to eliminate the weak competitors in a move that benefits the company. Wal-Mart also utilizes on brand familiarity to ensure that their products and services are familiar with the customers. As a result, the company benefits from increased sales. When they acquire the retail stores, the redesign them so that they can appear like Wal-Mart and attract more customers. These moves have helped the company to emerge as the largest retailer in Canada (Stone, 1997).

Recommendations

Aggressive corporate strategy
Wal-Mart must eliminate its aggressive corporate strategy. In the past, the aggressiveness of the company has caused damage because anti-Wal-Mart groups have emerged to resist their entry in the community (Hayden et.al, 2002). The strategy of invading other businesses and closing them down to eliminate competition should be done away with.

Participation in the local community

The company needs to implement corporate social responsibility so that it can improve the lives of the community. In the past, Wal-Mart has failed to introduce new projects that are aimed at improving the status of individuals within the society. In most incidences, Wal-Mart has only offered cash in charities instead of being actively involved in the projects (Stone, 1997).

Elimination of the anti-unionization policy

The company has always resisted any attempts of their employees forming a union. Due to this, they have received criticism from various quarters as they are considered unfair in their labor practices (Hayden et.al, 2002). The public believes that the company denies their employees the right to form unions so that they cannot have a common voice and a goof platform to raise their grievances.
Conclusion

References

Hall, J., Johnson, S., Wysocki, A., & Kepner, K. (2008). Transformational leadership: The transformation of managers and associates.
Hayden, P., Lee, S., McMahon, K., & Pereira, M. (2002). Wal-Mart: Staying on Top of the Fortune 500 A Case Study on Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Washington DC, THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF POLITICAL MANAGEMENT, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Stone, K. E. (1997). Impact of the Wal-Mart phenomenon on rural communities. Increasing understanding of public problems and policies, 1997, 1-21.