For two companies with which you are familiar, compare and contrast Essay - 1

For two companies with which you are familiar, compare and contrast the main operations processes in terms of their volume, vari - Essay Example It began its operations back in 1962, and has been aggressively expanding in U.S. The company was able to introduce its full line grocery in 1988 (Varley, 2005). The company has through many struggles emerged as the largest grocery retailer in U.S. Currently, it is reported that the company sales are even higher than the combined total sales of its three competitors in U.S. i.e. Kroger, Safweway, and Supervalu. Volume Wal-mart produces tones of various products yearly. The company has diversified sources and centres where its carries its production. Yearly, it is estimated that the company spends $335 billion buying and transporting its merchandise globally (Pride, Hughes & Kapoor, 2011). This ability to produce in large volumes has allowed this company to lower its cost of production thus enabling it to sell at a lower price than its competitors’. Tesco too is widely known for its bulk production system. The company engages itself in what appear to be a multinational grocery and general merchandise retail (Keupp, 2007). This clearly shows the large number of goods the company produces. The company produces large volume of goods which has led it to open thousands of stores in over 14 countries all over the world. Variety In order to increase their competitive advantages, both Wal-mart and Tesco have hugely diversified their products. For instance, Wal-mart offers variety of services including retail goods, pharmacy, financial services, wireless, and also photo lab services. The company offers retail goods in various categories, for example, customers can purchase electronic products like digital cameras, laptops and computers in Wal-Mart stores (Mullins & Walker, 2013). In addition to home furnishing, the company also offers baby products, sporting goods, and grocery items. Wal-mart, offers to its customers financial services like credit card, debit cards, bill payment and also money transfer. Customers can also purchase money orders, gift cards and also cash cheques at various Wal-mart stores. This strategy adopted by Wal-Mart to offer a variety of goods to customers has enabled it to attract a large pool of customers not only in its home market in U.S. but also in the overseas markets. On the other hand, Tesco Company unlike its rival Wal-Mart has slightly taken a different line of specialization. The company started as a simple grocer, but with time it has been engaging in clothing sector, finance, insurance services, software business, internet shopping business, sale of DVDs, and mobile phone sales (Mullins & Walker, 2013). Its specialization in all these products has given it a higher competitive strength in UK compared to other rivals who usually specializes mainly on grocery. Variation in Demand variation Variation in demand has numerous implications that can be seen in the company’s characteristics. Wal-mart has constantly maintained low levels of demand variation. It has successfully maintained a variation of as lo w as 5% in its demand for a very long period (Varley, 2005). This has been possible for the company due to its effective strategy of focusing on how to lower prices of its products. This has given it a relief to maintain a very stable demand either during peak seasons or off peak periods. On the other hand, Tesco mainly records a medium level of demand variation with a range of between 10 to 20 % variation in its demand. This is brought about by the changing capacity, anticipation of what the customers might demand,