Compose a 1000 words assignment on wal-mart: strategic management and strategic competitiveness. Needs to be plagiarism free! As Vijaya (2010) points out, globalization enhanced cross border transaction of money, labor, ideas, and cultures. and as a result, Wal-Mart could take advantages of cheap labor and raw material available in overseas countries. Furthermore, globalization benefited the firm to strengthen its workforce by recruiting expertise from around the world. Naturally, availability of cost effective expertise, labor, and raw materials assisted Wal-Mart to increase its productivity by reducing total production costs as well as operating costs. Thus, economical production process enabled the company to offer ‘low prices’, which was the major factor contributed to the organization’s rapid market growth. Globalization also fueled export and import activities and hence propelled circulation of money. Another major impact of globalization is that this process significantly improved international relations and increased interdependence among global nations. Hence, the company could easily enter overseas markets and utilize their resources. Similarly, technological advancements also played its role in making Wal-Mart the world’s largest public corporation by revenue. Technological improvements have notably assisted the company to cut down the number of employees and thereby reduce its total expenditure. It must be noted that today the company generates a notable portion of its sales revenues from internet. Internet has also benefited the organization to improve its operational efficiency. Finally, technological changes have added value to Wal-Mart research and development activities, which in turn assist the company to keep in pace with the changing market trends. Strategic Competitiveness While analyzing Wal-Mart using the Industrial/Organizational model of above average returns, it seems that the corporate could achieve above average returns in many ways. Firstly, the organization has a potential external environment. It is obvious that since Wal-Mart has global presence, it can effectively spread its risk factors and business losses. In addition, it operates under retail industry which is the world’s largest market. While evaluating Wal-Mart’s competitor environment, it is clear that the firm is the industry leader and hence it has an edge over its competitors. Undoubtedly, retail industry’s structural characteristics, including supremacy to discount stores and low cost marketers, would assist Wal-Mart to earn above average returns. The organization follows a low price strategy. Obviously, Wal-Mart has adequate resources such as potential workforce, skilled personnel, and technologically improved production facilities to execute its low price strategy well (Walmart, 2012). The company’s experienced strategic management team is capable of implementing its operational strategies effectively. Unlike the above model, the resource based model of above average returns uses an internal perspective to explain a firm’s strategic competitiveness. It is obvious that Wal-Mart has numerous potential sources including finance, human capital, and materials. In addition, the firm has the capability to use an integrated set of various resources to perform a particular task. This capability greatly benefits the organization to economically and efficiently utilize its various resources.