Wal-Mart Stores

Team Librarian Consultation


Wal-Mart Stores

Assignment:    Wal-Mart Stores:  company analysis of Wal-Mart with an emphasis on industry analysis and, in this company's case, global retail; need general industry environment including economic, sociocultural, and technological environments; trends; changing patterns in the past decade, competitiveness of the industry, its attractiveness for investment, and the company's position in the industry.    (MGMT 430, 1 May 2003)
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Foster Business Library Databases:

    The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of business databases on its homepage; see under Business Databases; see also the four folders at the top of that list for lists of Foster databases by topic:  Books, Articles--Full Text, Articles--Citations and Abstracts, and Company and Industry.   For more information on the three dozen Foster business databases, click here.   For more information on which of the three dozen Foster business databases to use, click here.   For more information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, click here.   For information about responsible database usage, click here.

  • Hoovers Online:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Hoovers Online offers information about 14,000 public and private companies worldwide, with links to company homepages and annual reports, charts, company capsule, competitors, divisions, earnings, financials, Fortune and Forbes rankings, history, industry information, insider trading, mission statements, news links, press releases, officers, patents, products, SEC filings, splits, subsidiaries, etc. Most information on this site is free and available on the Web (not just through the Foster Business Library homepage) but, via the Foster homepage, UW students and faculty can access the more detailed Subscribers information (on campus and from home). To connect with Hoovers Online's list of non-U.S. public and private companies in 70 countries, click here.

    See the Hoovers Online Company Factsheet for Wal-Mart as well as the extensive Full Overview for Wal-Mart, with Financials and a long list of competitors, in Hoovers Online, in the Discount & Variety Retail industry. See also the company's Competitors, comparing the company with its top three competitors.

  • Investext:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases; also listed under Company and Industry. Investext contains indexing and the full text of company and industry research reports prepared by leading Wall Street firms, as well as regional and international brokerage and financial firms. All reports are in PDF format. (This database is available widely on campus and may be accessed from home via the U.W. connectivity kit or via the Libraries' proxy server.)

    A company search for WMT produced a list of over 1,500 reports; an industry search for Retailing, over 26,000 reports. A keyword search for Discounters produced a list of 46 reports.

  • Lexis-Nexis Academic:   To find company information, go to Business and then to Company Financial where you can obtain financial and other data for companies. Information is available from twenty different sources (each of which must be searched separately). Included among the sources is Hoovers Online, with members' access to company profiles. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, particularly company 10-K annual reports, are a particularly rich source of company as well as industry information. Use your browser's Find command (or Control-F) to locate references to particular terms of interest in 10K filings such as trends, strategy, competitors, industry, etc. (This database is available widely on campus and may be accessed from home via the U.W. connectivity kit or via the Libraries' proxy server.)

    Go to Business and then to SEC Filings to obtain the 10-K annual filings for Wal-Mart, using the ticker symbol WMT. A search for 10-K filings for this company retrieved over sixty reports or parts of reports.

  • EIU Online:   One of the world's top sources for country intelligence, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) employs 500 analysts who research almost 200 nations. The Foster Business Library provides access to their Country Profiles, Country Reports, Country Commerce, and Country Finance in print editions and this database provides online access to these publications, often in both HTML and PDF formats. Go to Client Access to obtain country information.

    A search in Viewswires for Wal-Mart produced a list of over 600 articles.

  • Euromonitor Market Research Monitor:   This database provides global consumer market information, with demographics, trends and developments, market background, market sizes and forecasts, market shares, key players, and company profiles. This database provides over 1,800 reports with market data and detailed company profiles, including market shares, brand information, company strategy and SWOT analyses of the companies, for many countries. For eight major countries (Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States), in-depth industry information is also available. Euromonitor also publishes important print titles in the Foster Business Library reference collection including European marketing data and statistics, International marketing data and statistics, and World consumer income and expenditure patterns.

    A search in this database, in titles, for Wal-Mart Stores, produced two reports, the most recent dated January 2002. This report is extensive, with history and development, retail business information, operating structure, geographic coverage, market share, strategic evaluation, strengths and weaknesses, and future prospects for the company.

  • Lexis-Nexis Statistical:   Under Business Databases on the Foster Business Library homepage. Statistical Universe is an index to statistical data in commercial, international and U.S. government publications. Try the Power Tables for quick access to tables of data in GIF format.

    A search in this database for the subject Discount Stores retrieved thirty tables.

  • Compact Disclosure:   Information on over 10,000 public U.S. corporations, including ownership, size, current and 5-year summary financial data, earnings, directors and officers, annual cash flow, ratios and stock price information. Updated quarterly. Note the various backfiles which must be accessed separately. This CD-ROM database is available only in the Foster Business Library.

    Complete financials for WMT are available in this database and its backfiles.

  • Mediamark Reporter:     CD-ROM version of Mediamark Research, a tool for market research, with information on demographics, product and brand usage, and advertising media preferences based on survey responses from a sample of over 25,000 consumers in the United States. Print copies of Mediamark Research are available in over 20 volumes in the Foster Business Library reference collection, call number HF5415.3 .M43, dated spring 1998; the online version offers year 2000 data. Search tips for using this database are available by clicking here. Available only on PC #19.

    Demographics of purchasers at Wal-Mart may be found by searching for the company name, with products found under Drug Stores, Household Goods, Automotive, and Department Stores.

Web Resources:

    Unlike library databases, these Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the UW Connectivity Kit or the UW Libraries Proxy Server for authentication. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.

  • Wal-Mart Stores:   Public company homepages are often (but not always) an excellent source for information about the company, with links to annual reports, company news, product details, information about corporate goals and culture, company financial information, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and company history. Look for the Investor Relations and About Us areas on the company homepage for company information. Go to About Wal-Mart for company history, research information, company officers, company culture, etc. See Investor Information for financial information, economic impact, stock performance, and annual reports back to 1972 (unlike most companies, who offer only the past three years or so).

  • Company Research (Business Week):   Business Week offers information on 4,000 companies in its Careers section (so some of the information is aimed at job-seekers), with a Corporate Snapshot, a Vault.Com Scoop, a Wetfeet.Com profile, as well as Business Week articles about the companies (some of which are available only for subscribers but are also available in the Foster Business Library database ABI/Inform Global). See the links to information on Wal-Mart. See also the 2002 Industry Outlook for Retail.

  • Wake Up Wal-Mart.Com:   The "Change Wal-Mart Association is affiliated with the UFCW," the UFCW being the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, an organization critical of Wal-Mart's anti-union stance and its wage and benefits policies. See their Wal-Mart Facts and Research.

  • Industry At A Glance:   This U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics site is a good source for information and data about U.S. industries. See Retail Trade. See also the Occupational Outlook Handbook general information on the Department, Clothing, and Accessory Stores industry. And, finally, see the Annual Benchmark Report for Retail Trade and Food Services (92 pages in PDF format).

  • Ernst & Young--Industries:   This Ernst & Young site, while trying to sell their products and services, also provides some free information about seven industry sectors:   Energy/Chemicals/Utilities; Financial Services; Health Sciences; Industrial Products; Real Estate/Hospitality/Construction; Retail & Consumer Products; and Technology/Communications & Entertainment. See their Retail & Consumer Products industry information, including Trends and a Library of downloadable documents about this industry from Ernst & Young.

  • Yahoo! Finance:   This site is excellent for company and investment information as well as an excellent source for financial ratio comparisons with industry, sector and S&P 500. See the company profile for Wal-Mart as well as the Ratio Comparisons for the company, its industry, its sector, and the S&P 500.

  • National Retail Federation:   This organization is the world's largest retail trade association, including department, specialty, independent, discount and mass merchandizing corporations in the U.S. and in 50 other nations. See their monthly retail industry pulsetakings, the Retail Executive Opinion Survey. It also publishes STORES magazine, with annual listings of the Top 100 Retailers, Top 100 Specialty Stores, and Top 200 Global Retailers (the last of these is in PDF format). There is also a search engine for STORES. Wal-Mart was at the top of the 2002 and 2003 rankings.

  • Advertising Age:   This site offers an extensive amount of information about the advertising industry, including a section called Ad Age Dataplace, in the left menu, with information on such topics as measured ad spending by category and reports on Web traffic and advertising. See the list of 100 leading national advertisers for 2001; Wal-Mart is ranked #54. See also the list of 2001 Megabrands; Wal-Mart discount stores is ranked #18. And see the list of top Top Global Marketers, (18 PDF pages), where Wal-Mart is ranked #58.

  • Business Updates:   According to Robert Berkman, "This portal collects timely headlines from online news sites and a selection of blogs via the use of RSS feed technology. Business Updates currently provides news headlines on more than a dozen popular, narrowly defined business topics as well as news about and from 15 large corporations." Among the fifteen companies covered is Wal-Mart.

  • Porter's Five Forces:   This site is from QuickMBA, with a good summary of Porter's five forces. "QuickMBA is an online knowledge resource for business administration. Our goal is to help you to quickly find the business knowledge you need, when you need it, wherever you may be. Topics are presented as frameworks and summaries in the various subjects of business administration, as taught in the world's top MBA programs. QuickMBA is operated by the Internet Center for Management and Business Administration, Inc. No registration is required." See also their SWOT Analysis page. For similar pages, see Business Resource Software, Inc.'s pages on the Michael Porter Five Forces Model and SWOT Analysis. Finally, see Porter's homepage.

Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

    The Foster Reference Collection is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster.

  • Global, Inc.: an atlas of the multinational corporation.
    This large heavily-illustrated, map-rich paperback covers the foundations of globalization, the history of multinational corporations, global corporations by industry, the impacts of multinational corporations on employment and wages, taxes, technology, capital, culture, environment, and standards, and the governance of multinational corporations.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: G1046 .Q1 .G3 2003.

    See Wal-Mart on pages 118 and 119.

  • International marketing data and statistics.
    Demographic trends and forecasts, economic indicators, labor force, trade, energy, environment, consumer expenditures and market size, and retailing information for the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania; companion volume to European marketing data and statistics.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA42 .I56. 2003.
    Also available     online.

    See Department Stores on pages 427 and 430 and Discounters on pages 426 and 429.

  • Statistical abstract of the United States.
    Information about many industries as well as demographic information; check index for references to tables. The sources for each table are often a valuable source of additional information.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA202 .U56 2001.
    Also available online.

    See index page 956 for Department Stores.

  • European marketing data and statistics.
    Demographic trends and forecasts, economic indicators, labor force, trade, energy, environment, consumer expenditures and market size, and retailing information for European countries.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HA1107 .E87 2002.
    Also available online.

    See Department Stores on pages 280 and 287; see also Discounters on pages 278 and 285.

  • Standard & Poor's industry surveys.
    This three-volume set provides 30-page profiles on 52 industries with a focus on the current economic environment, trends, regulation and outlook for each industry. Major companies in each industry are profiled, with references to sources of additional industry information.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC106.6 .S74

    See the industry survey, dated November 2002, for Retailing, General in volume three; Wal-Mart Stores is one of the companies featured in the Comparative Company Analysis at the end of the survey.

  • Business: the ultimate resource.
    This 2,200-page single volume is "designed to offer a wide range of insights, information, and practical guidance on every aspect of management" via 2.5 million words of text from 200 contributors, with 700 illustrations and 150 maps, in seven major sections including best practice, a management library, business thinkers and management giants, a business dictionary, a world business almanac, and a guide to business sources.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD38.15 .B878 2002.

    See the Industry Profile for Retailing on pages 1882 to 1884.

  • The ultimate book of business brands.
    This slim paperback covers 50 companies from a brand perspective, with three to six page essays on each company.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD69 .B7 .C722 2003.

    See Wal-Mart on pages 197 to 199.

  • Encyclopedia of global industries.
    Twelve-page descriptions of 125 global industries, with background and development information, current conditions, industry leaders and further reading.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2324 .E53 1999.

    For Wal-Mart, see Grocery Stores, starting on page 906, and Retail Department Stores, starting on page 934.

  • International directory of company histories.
    Studying the history of leading companies in an industry is a good way to learn more about the history of an industry. This set of more than thirty volumes covers over 4,700 company histories worldwide, with each history running just two to four pages; check the company index in the latest volume to locate a specific company history or update as well as any other references to that company in other company histories. There is also an index by industry.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2721 .I57

    See the history of Wal-Mart in volume V, pages 216 to 217, with updates in volume eight, pages 555 to 557, volume 26, pages 522 to 526. See also Wal-Mart Mexico in volume 35, pages 459 to 461.

  • Notable corporate chronologies.
    This two-volume work covers 1,500 major companies worldwide, with one- or two-page timelines marking major events in each company's history.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2721 .N67 1999.

    See Wal-Mart Stores in volume two, pages 1,795 to 1,796, with the company's chronology to 1996.

  • U.S. industry profiles: the leading 100 industries.
    Industry snapshots, outlook, regulations, research, associations, societies, statistics, websites for 100 major U.S. industries.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2771 .U8 1998.

    See Retail Department Stores on pages 554 to 559.

  • Market share reporter.
    Annual compilation of U.S., Canadian and Mexican market share data for companies, products and services, arranged by SIC code, and with indexes by product, company and topic.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5410 .M35 2003.

    See numerous references to Wal-Mart on index page 524.

  • World market share reporter.
    An annual compilation of market share information for worldwide companies culled from thousands of periodical articles; use the company, product or brand indexes in the back of the volume to identify the company that you are researching.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5410 .W67 2001/2002.

    See Wal-Mart on in tables 1335, 1343, 1356, and 1376 on pages 359, 362, 365, and 372.

  • Plunkett's retail industry almanac.
    This almanac offers information about major industry trends, industry statistics, industry information, major companies in the industry, with indexes by state, country, region, etc. The major part of the almanac provides one-page profiles of companies in the industry, with directory information, growth plans and special features, contacts, brief financials, brief salary and benefits data, and women officer-director and advancement information.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5428 .P558 2003.

    See Wal-Mart Stores on pages 3, 5 through 10, 13, 16, and 492.

  • Ad $ summary.
    This two-volume work reports paid advertising expenditures in major media categories for companies and brands in America.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5801 .A18 January-December 2001.

    See Wal-Mart in book II, on page 696.

  • The Advertising Age encyclopedia of advertising.
    In three volumes, this heavily-illustrated encyclopedia includes profiles of more than 120 ad agencies worldwide, essays on 80 leading agencies, detailed articles on 40 U.S. agencies, biographies of 47 major advertising figures, as well as 160 significant corporate advertisers, brands, and campaigns, 20 essays on market research methods, and 52 essays on advertising tools and operations.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5803 .A28 2003.

    See Wal-Mart Stores, in volume three, pages 1621 1623.

  • Red book/Standard directory of advertisers.
    This annual two-volume publication is the most comprehensive source for information on the advertising practices of 24,000 U.S. and Canadian companies spending a minimum of $200,000 on national and regional advertising. Companies may be accessed by 54 business categories or by state, province or city. Entries for companies advertising include SIC codes, business descriptions, statistics, personnel, approximate advertising expenditures, and media. Entries for ad agencies often include the companies and brand names handled and the executive assigned to each account. Volume two includes indexes by product by state or province, by brand name, by SIC code and by personnel. There is also a geographic index volume.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5805 .S7 2002 (volume 1: businesses)

    See Wal-Mart Stores on page 564.

  • Company/brand$.
    This two-volume work reports and itemizes all paid advertising space and expenditures in ten major media categories for companies and brands in America, in several hundred consumer and Sunday magazines, in newspapers, outdoor advertising, television, and radio.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HF5813 .U6 .C68 2001.

    See Wal-Mart in book II, on page 1078.

  • Value Line investment survey.
    This large two-volume investment advice service provides regular reviews of 3,500 company stocks and their expected performance. The arrangement is not alphabetically by company; instead, use the index in a pocket in the front of the standard or expanded volumes to locate which volume your company is in and the issue number in which it appears.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4501 .V26 (Weekly)
    Also available online.

    See Wal-Mart Stores in the standard volume, edition number 11, under Retail Store Industry, page 1692, dated February 2003; see also the general industry summary on page 1671.

  • Mergent industrial manual.
    This two-volume work covers all companies listed on the New York and American stock exchanges, with extensive information about companies, including history, chronology, acquisitions, mergers, spinoffs, properties, joint ventures, subsidiaries, officers and directors, consolidated income and balance sheets for three and two years, respectively, long term debit, options, etc.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4961 .M67 2002.

    For Wal-Mart Stores, see volume two, pages 4710 to 4713.

  • Mergent industry review.
    Statistical data on 3,000 companies in 137 industries, with rankings, key financial information, operating data and ratios, etc.
    Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HG4961 .M68.

    Wal-Mart Stores may be found in the Retail--Discount & Variety Stores section, on pages 398 to 400, in the February 2003 to July 2003 issue.

Foster Business Library Books:

Foster Business Library Corporate Annual Reports:

Foster Business Library Articles:

    In addition to the 800 journals in the Foster Business Library Periodicals Collection, the Foster Business Library offers access to 11,000 full text periodical articles through its full text article databases such as: ABI/Inform Global, Factiva, and Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. These article databases may be found on the Foster Business Library homepage, listed alphabetically under Business Databases or in the Articles: Full Text folder.

    Of these three main sources, all but Factiva are available from any computer on the campus network (as well as from home) via the UW Connectivity Kit or via the Libraries' proxy server. The easiest of these databases to use is ABI/Inform Global. For more information about accessing Foster Business Library databases from off campus, click here. For more information about business databases, click here.

  • ABI/Inform Global:

    This database offers full text articles for over 800 journals. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box. ABI/Inform Global includes journals but not national or Washington state newspapers (though the Wall Street Journal is included). It also does not include valuable trade and industry and other periodicals. Your searches will span the widest possible array of publications by expanding your search to all databases in ABI/Inform. To expand your search to include all collections in this database, click on Select multiple databases, to the right of the search box. Click on all of the databases.

    Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article. For tips on searching this database, click here.

    As an example, a search in this database, in all collections, for CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) produced over 10,000 articles. This search may be combined with other subject searches to narrow and focus the list of articles. Examples include:

    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Business growth), 376 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Competition), 674 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Discount department stores), almost 3,000 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Market strategy), 458 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Ratings & rankings), 238 articles
    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Retail stores), 1,160 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Retailing industry), over 800 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Statistical data), over 400 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart Stores Inc) and SUB(Supermarkets), 260 articles.

    A similar search for CO(Wal-Mart International) produced 135 articles. This term can be combined with subjects such as:

    • CO(Wal-Mart International) and SUB(Acquisitions & mergers), 27 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart International) and SUB(Discount department stores), 63 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart International) and SUB(Market entry), 30 articles;
    • CO(Wal-Mart International) and SUB(Supermarkets), 16 articles.

    There is also in this database a company heading for CO(Wal-Mart.com Inc), with over sixty articles. You can also combine these company headings with any other terms you wish.

Help:

4 September 2003; 8 December 2005.   Peter Stevens, Business Librarian, stevens@u.washington.edu.