The Marketing Environment: Wal-Mart Corporation Wal-Mart is one of the world's greatest resources for most people. It provides consumers with a place where they can virtually go to get everything they need, from car repairs, to groceries, to prescriptions, even to the latest toys and electronics. That said, this document refers to the different forces that influence business: competitive, economic, political + legal + regulatory, technological, cultural + social, demographic and natural forces. While there are technically seven, we will focus on competitive, political, technological, and natural forces. Competitive Strength Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer and second largest corporation. It is the largest private employer in the United States and Mexico. Wal-Mart is the largest food retailer in the United States, with about 20% of the food and supplies retail trade, and the largest seller of toys in the United States, with about 45% of the trade toy retail, having surpassed toys. "R" Us in the late 90s. Wal-Mart has 1,929 stores which in 2005 accounted for approximately $155,477,000,000 in sales. Wal-Marts' 2006 revenue was estimated at $315.654 billion, net profit of $11.231 billion, and employs more than 1.8 million workers.1 Wal-Marts' main competitors are Kroger Co. #2 in annual sales, Albertsons' Inc. #3, Safeway,Inc. #4 and Costco Wholesale Group #5. Now, even though Wal-Mart leads in total sales, the No. 2 and no. 3 lead with the total number of stores. The Kroger Co. has 3,302 with Albertsons in 2,476 stores nationwide. Wal-Mart's total sales for that year alone were beating its 2nd place competition alone by more than $80 billion... middle of the paper... In summary, there is no way around these forces . and exist in the business world. If you want to have a successful business, adapt to these forces and understand each and everyone. Be prepared for events and have adequate responses to combat them and deal with these factors successfully. References __________________1 Information Service, Food Marketing Institute. Excerpt from source: Directory of Supermarket Chains, Grocery Stores and Convenience Stores 20062 Gregg Spotts, Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart3Gogoi, Pallavi, Online Workweek. Retrieved 07/20/2006 from http://libsys.uah.edu:3206/ehost/delivery?vid4Barbaro,Michael, New York Time,. Retrieved 6/2/2007 from http://libsys.uah.edu:3206/ehost/delievry?vid5Jayne O'Donnell,. United States today. Retrieved 02/02/2007 from http://libsys.uah.edu:3206/ehost/deleivery?vid