Introduction
The coronavirus pandemic is a global phenomenon that literally shut down businesses and forced people to stay locked indoors for fear of contracting the virus. Subsequently, the pandemic was a rude awakening for institutions without any disaster management strategies as most of them were forced to close their doors and declare bankruptcy. Compared to these organizations, Walmart, one of the largest consumer retail companies in the US, faced a different set of issues because the virus had unprecedented implications for the organization’s business. Although Walmart was not prepared for a disaster of such magnitude, it leveraged its resources and the collective minds of its brilliant leadership and stakeholders to regain stability and meet consumer needs. Therefore, this report features a case study on Walmart because of the unique strategies the organization adopted to mitigate its business from the impact of the virus in the face of diversities.
Walmart is one of the world’s most established organizations, operating hypermarkets in thousands of locations globally. As a result, the organization controls substantial amounts of resources and handles transactions worth billions daily (Bhatti et al., 2020). On that account, setbacks that impact the global business landscape have a devastating destructive potential on internationally established organizations like Walmart. The retailer’s online product sales jumped by 74% during the first three months of the pandemic because more people were locked indoors and preferred having their goods delivered right to their doorstep (Sheth, 2020). Moreover, many people adopted panic spending habits, allowing them to over-purchase essential items like toilet rolls and supplies, thus interfering with the organization’s stocked inventory.
Therefore, contrary to other business owners who lost most of their customers, Walmart experienced a significant upsurge in business activity, which came close to overwhelming its supply chain and logistics setup. Additionally, the virus contributed to significant issues in product production and distribution due to market imbalance and a shift in consumers purchasing products as more consumers opted to purchase products online and preferred door-to-door deliveries. However, ensuring the health and safety of its personnel was one of the unique challenges the organization faced since the virus posed a critical risk to its employees, who occasionally interacted with people, thus impacting the organization’s labor force (Sulaiman et al., 2020). Fortunately, its leadership committee embarked on several resolutions to protect shareholders’ investment.
Some of the strategies the organization leaders proposed and adopted to secure its business environment include purchasing brands like Jet.com to leverage their power and resources, opening up new stores, implementing an emergency leave policy across all its institutions for workers, and limiting the number of hours individuals shopped in their stores. Despite being effective, providing its 1.4 million workers with paid leave that could extend for more than 26 weeks in case of illness and limiting the number of shopping hours was met with significant criticism by the formal authority since it would limit the organization’s revenue and returns (Nassauer, 2020). However, most stakeholders, especially employees and retailers, agreed that the measures were critical to prevent the spread of the infection and allow all employees to deliver on their objectives as required.
Recommended Strategies to Resolve Associated Dilemmas
The main source of conflicts in the adopted strategies to mitigate the organization against the impact of the pandemic is the increased worker leave plan and shutting down stores. Nonetheless, the ideas are not openly welcomed by all parties because they go against the interests of investors who deem the organization more stable with more cash flow and financial resources. Thus a reliable approach to negotiating and resolving this conflict is allowing ideas from both sides to be heard so that they can agree on a solution that will benefit both parties (Jang et al., 2018). For instance, workers should be asked about their take on abolishing the leave policies and whether they could compromise and work for extended periods when not on leave. On the other hand, leaders in the administration should acknowledge the opinions of all shareholders and consider revising their leave policies. For example, providing individuals on leave with a certain percentage and not the full amount of their hourly wages can reduce the total expenditure on the program. Similarly, decentralizing Walmart’s business structure can assist the organization in achieving harmony since it will designate planning responsibilities to managers and administrators in various regions (Jang et al., 2018). As such, the organization will be able to operate its stores for limited periods in areas severely impacted by the virus and open as usual in other areas.
Conclusion
The coronavirus pandemic came as a setback to business organizations worldwide. However, some organizations were quick to adapt and continue with activities despite facing aggravated challenges. Walmart is a perfect example of one such organization because it experienced implications that were different from any other. Apart from its supply chain disruption, the organization received an unusual number of customers and had to acknowledge the health risks posed to its workers. As a result, its leaders sought to reduce store service hours and provide employees with paid leaves, among other resolutions that produced mixed reactions between shareholders, investors, and employees. However, this report recommends bringing together shareholders, leadership, and all representatives to agree on a middle-ground or decentralization to allow regional control over organizations. Eventually, the organization will identify an approach that maximizes benefits for all involved parties.
References
Bhatti, A., Akram, H., Basit, H. M., Khan, A. U., Raza, S. M., & Naqvi, M. B. (2020). E-commerce trends during COVID-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Future Generation Communication and Networking, 13(2), 1449-1452.
Nassauer, S. (2020). Walmart’s Coronavirus Challenge Is Just Staying Open. WSJ. Web.
Sheth, J. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on consumer behavior: Will the old habits return or die?. Journal of business research, 117, 280-283.
Sulaiman, M. A. B. A., Ahmed, M. N., & Shabbir, M. S. (2020). Covid-19 challenges and human Resource management in organized retail operations. Utopia y Praxis Latinoamericana, 25(Esp. 12), 81-92.
Jang, D., Elfenbein, H. A., & Bottom, W. P. (2018). More than a phase: Form and features of a the general theory of negotiation. Academy of Management Annals, 12(1), 318-356.