Wal-Mart Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Wal-Mart - Research Paper Example For small businesses operating locally the entrance of Wal-Mart would have a series of disadvantages: at a first level, Wal-Mart could provide to consumers products that would not be available through local stores (Hill & Jones 2007). In fact, in Wal-Mart consumers would have the chance to choose among a high range of products; as a result, consumers would prefer to visit Wal-Mart, instead of local stores, for their shopping. Moreover, Wal-Mart, as a megastore, is able to keep the price of its products low (Hill & Jones 2007). The owners of local stores are often unable to decrease the price of their products/ services due to the fact that their sales are at a relatively low level, at least compared to the sales of megastores (Hill & Jones 2007). Wal-Mart has been already accused as leading many owners of small businesses to stop business activities, a fact that is related to the non-potential of these individuals to lower the price of their products (Kotler & Armstrong 2009, p.410). In other words, local businesses would be forced to close in the case of the entrance of Wal-Mart in their market; such decision would be unavoidable mostly due to the following two reasons: local stores would not be able to provide to consumers the high range of products available at Wal-Mart. Also, local stores could not offer their products at the price that Wal-Mart does. The advanced technology available at Wal-Mart could also lead to customer service of high quality, at least compared to local stores (Armstrong et al. 2009, p.380). A problem of unfair competition would possible appear in the above case. At this point, reference should made to the study of Guy (2007) where the following issue is highlighted: before allowing the establishment of a megastore in their town, the authorities of a small town would primarily check whether the structure/ design of their town allows such plan