Course Project Tasks: Using the financial information gathered in Week 1, address the following questions or issues: Select three items from the income statements that you feel would be important to a

Running Head: ANALYSIS 0

Company Analysis: Walmart vs. Amazon.com

Jessica Arroyo

2-22-2021

South University

Company Analysis: Walmart vs. Amazon.com

Key Characteristics

In recent years, Walmart and Amazon.com have been considered one of the most successful businesses in and out of the United States. While Walmart operated in the retail industry, Amazon.com has focused more on electronic commerce, which has contributed to the latter's significant prosperity. First, the food retail sector in the United States is a substantial contributor to the national economy, making the industry important. Walmart has close to 11,510 stores which play a core part in the overall operations of the company. Moreover, Walmart's retail participation involves providing goods at low prices, including different services and an assortment of goods. Additionally, the three business segments that present Walmart's retail industry operations include Sam's Club, Walmart International, and Walmart US.

On the other hand, Amazon.com carries out its electronic commerce activities based on cloud computing functions. Founded by Jeff Bezos, Amazon deals with several products, such as consumer electronics, books, videotapes, industrial supplies, beauty products, and other industrial items. Additionally, Amazon deals with online operations that involve the application of artificial intelligence aspects. In the United States, Amazon.com is considered the largest e-commerce player, with a significant revenue of $386.1 billion in 2020. Compared to Walmart, which registered a revenue of $524 billion in 2020, it is evident that Walmart made more in revenue than Amazon (Macrotrends, 2021).

Commitment to Corporate Governance

Today, many businesses take social and environmental responsibility seriously and execute these duties differently. For example, Amazon considers corporate governance a crucial part of its business operations. According to Amazon.com (2021), the organization takes significant consideration and focuses on customers because they are the industry's most important parties. Secondly, Amazon.com also makes investments and other financial decisions based on long-term factors instead of short-term firm profitability. The e-commerce company also explores wise spending options to ensure they keep their lean culture and continuous enhancement of a culture that is cost-conscious (Amazon.com, 2021). Another characteristic of corporate governance in the firm entails focusing on the hiring and retention of highly qualified personnel for long-term performance.

On the other hand, Walmart also displays a significant commitment to corporate governance. The company's corporate governance considers the process important because it contributes to the creation of value. Walmart (2021) explains that the firm instills essential to respect and value for integrity, excellence, service, and individuals that influence its operations. The firm has a Board of Directors, which has crafted important directions for effective corporate governance. As an illustration, the board plays a vital role in Walmart's corporate governance process (Walmart, 2021). In this sense, both Walmart and Amazon.com display a high commitment to corporate governance.

Main Competitors

The retail and electronic commerce industries experience one of the most notable competitions in business operations. Both Walmart and Amazon face significant competition from other companies. For example, Amazon faces competition from several multinational organizations, including Walmart, eBay, Alibaba, and Rakuten. On the contrary, Walmart's main competitors include Home Depot, Costco, Amazon, and the Kroger Company (Pratap, 2020). However, despite the increased competition, Walmart and Amazon.com still manage to record high revenue.

References

Amazon.com. (2021). Corporate Governance. Retrieved 21 February 2021 from https://ir.aboutamazon.com/corporate-governance/default.aspx.

Macrotrends. (2021). Walmart Revenue 2006-2021. Retrieved 21 February 2021 from https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/WMT/walmart/revenue.

Pratap, A. (2020, August 23). Top Walmart Competitors in the US. Retrieved February 2021 from https://statstic.com/top-walmart-competitors-in-the-us/.

Walmart. (2021). Governance. Retrieved 21 February 2021 from https://corporate.walmart.com/esgreport/governance.