CASE 2: WALMART PART 3: PLANNING

Question 1
How does managerial planning for project impact take place at different levels within the
organization?
Planning is a significant management function of every structure. It is the process of determining
in advance what should be accomplished, when, by whom, how, and at what cost. Simply saying,
planning is the process of determining the organization's goals and objectives and making the
provisions for their achievement. It involves choosing an option of action from available
alternatives. Managerial planning is the practicing the strategic plan; it combines resources to
achieve the overall objectives and missions of the organization. Managerial planning focuses on
the activity of a specific unit and involves what needs to be done, by whom, when, and at what
cost. In different levels of organization, when the top management decides a decision, the orders
will communicate according to structure hierarchy. Each level of manpower will obliged by
different type of task, which is from strategic, tactical and operational. This applies to every
project, as well as Project Impact. When vice chairman decides to commence the project, his
order will pass down accordingly (Waldron, Vsanthakumar, & Arulraj, 1999).

Question 2
Using the concepts of strategic management and core competence, explain why Walmart is
scaling back on cheap chic fashion apparel in its remodeled next-generation stores?
Strategic management can simply refer to a set of decisions and actions used to formulate and
execute strategies that can provide a competitively bond between an organization and its
environment to achieve organizational goals in the end; and core competence is something the
organization in advantage than its competitor. By these concepts, Walmart is scaling back on
cheap chic apparel due to be 15 percent reduction of stock-keeping units. This decision can leads
to Walmart store be more selective about products to carry and higher volume of sales hence
Walmart and its environment can bond more competitively. By this, Walmart can own greater
market share and enforce its position among retail industries. Walmart also possessing another
advantage than its competitors which is Walmarts retail price is lower than any retail store in
U.S. As the economy depressed, more consumers were visiting to Walmart due to its cheaper
merchandise. As a result, Walmart could gain more potential user and turn them into loyal
customers.

Question 3
What started the decision-making process that led to the overhaul of Walmart U.S. stores?
What common errors in decision-making could thwart the success of project impact?
Situation is where economy crisis depressed in U.S. can actually tell to lead the overhaul of
Walmart stores in U.S. Be specific, a strategic plan called as Project Impact which is derived
after the crisis stated that, a nationwide remodeling and refurbish efforts targeted to enhance
Walmart shopping experience and to double sales. At last, this golden opportunity set off the
vice chairman of Walmart stores, Eduardo Castro- Wright took charge of the obligation. Despite
in this, Walmarts management concluded that better atmospherics could evolve price-level
conscious into loyal Walmart customers. Common errors in decision making could be ability
type bias. Sometimes the condition in such the upper management was culpable of an
overconfidence bias. This is when upper management has a higher confidence of their
capabilities and successes than their actual skills and experience will support. Overconfidence
will disguise someones view and perspective hence lead to decision error. Another common
error will be information type bias. It occurs when biases and distort relate to how management
analysed information. For instance like anchoring bias in their decision making when managers
rely too heavily on the piece of information in making their final decisions. Another is
confirmation bias which managers only using data and information that only support their
decision. They failed to oversee the whole piece of surrounding (Lombardo, 2010).

Reference:
Lombardo, J. (2010). Common Biases and Judgment Errors in Decision Making. Education
Portal. Retrieved from http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/common-biases-andjudgment-errors-in-decision-making.html#lesson

M. W. Waldron, J. Vsanthakumar, and S. Arulraj. (1999). Improving the organization and

management of extension. FAO Corporate Document Repository. Retrieved from
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w5830e/w5830e0f.htm