1. Nature of Business Environment Wal-Mart offers a wide variety of products at competitive prices to add value and reduce costs, making it the strongest company in the retail industry. Over the years, Wal-Mart has attracted the attention of many analysts due to its enormous international success and its ability to appeal to a broad demographic of shoppers. Wal-Mart is a discount retailer founded by Sam Walton in 1962. This company has grown into a retail giant with over 11,000 stores worldwide from Canada, Brazil, Argentina, the United Kingdom, and China. When Walton initially founded Wal-Mart, his business strategy was to make everyday products available to everyday consumers at affordable prices. Wal-Mart's business strategy always remains the same: its main goal is to provide its customers with what they want, when they want it and where they want it. This convenience is what has made Wal-Mart an internationally recognized brand. Wal-Mart is a huge retail powerhouse that is able to maintain its competitive advantage by cutting costs and maximizing shareholder wealth. Wal-Mart's strength comes from its in-depth and diverse supply chain, recognized as one of the best corporate management control systems. The company competes by offering low prices made possible through complete supply lines that allow managers to seek the lowest prices when determining which goods should fill store shelves. Wal-Mart's ability to efficiently utilize supply chain management has given them a competitive advantage over competitors such as: Target, Costco, Kmart, Real Canadian Superstore, Dollarama, etc. All of these rival companies have similar business structures to Wal-Mart: Costco is a warehouse store offering wholesale......half of paper......availability, promotions, and stocked inventory. Wal-Mart needs to put its website on the same platform as its supply chain management. Wal-Mart is starting to get noticed by completing user surveys. It recently renewed its website for the Christmas holidays, redesigning the layout and increasing the quantity of products offered. Plus, it recently offered free shipping with no minimum order amount. Wal-Mart's supply chain management system must ensure that not only individual stores have the required inventory, but that warehouses designated for online shopping also have it to meet the demands of online shoppers. As with any management accounting tool, companies are always looking to continuously pursue perfection in the business process. Wal-Mart is no different in continually seeking to improve its supply chain management system.