Applicability of the M5 to Forecasting at Walmart

The M5 Forecasting Competition, the fifth in the series of forecasting competitions organized by Professor Spyros Makridakis and the Makridakis Open Forecasting Center at the University of Nicosia, was an extremely successful event. This competition focused on both the accuracy and uncertainty of forecasts and leveraged actual historical sales data provided by Walmart. This has led to the M5 being a unique competition that closely parallels the difficulties and challenges associated with industrial applications of forecasting. Like its precursor the M4, many interesting ideas came from the results of the M5 competition which will continue to push forecasting in new directions.In this article we discuss four topics around the practitioners view of the application of the competition and its results to the actual problems we face. First, we examine the data provided and how it relates to common difficulties practitioners must overcome. Secondly, we review the relevance of the accuracy and uncertainty metrics associated with the competition. Third, we discuss the leading solutions and their implications to forecasting at a company like Walmart. We then close with thoughts about a future M6 competition and further enhancements that can be explored.     

Quality and cost? The evolution of Walmart's business strategy and human resource policies and practices in China and their impact (1996–2017)

This study responds to calls for more in‐depth and qualitative studies, the return to a focus on external factors, and the inclusion of business strategy and industrial relations in human resource management (HRM) research, as well as more research in the retail sector in the Chinese context. We examine the coevolution of the business strategy and HR strategy of Walmart (China) in the last two decades and identify tensions in the context of intensifying competition in the Chinese retail market. We highlight the interactive effect of business and HR strategies through a historical lens. Our study reveals a shift from the original employee‐oriented win–win strategy through rent sharing between the firm and the employees to a win–lose strategy through the introduction of more cost conscious HR policies and practices. Findings of our study challenge the conventional wisdom that firms adopt either the cost or quality strategy and, along with it, the suggestion of matching the quality strategy with employee‐oriented HR policies and practices, and cost leadership with a transactional approach to HRM. We argue a cost and quality business strategy may be adopted, which requires the support of employee‐oriented, rather than cost‐oriented, HR policies and practices.     

How policy is shaping the macro healthcare delivery supply chain: The emergence of a new tier of retail medical clinics

The healthcare industry continues to face substantial pressure to simultaneously improve costs and patient centricity. Much of the focus to date has concerned policy interventions capable of improving these performance measures for traditional healthcare providers, such as hospitals. But recently, nontraditional healthcare providers like Walmart Health and Amazon have made forays into the industry by establishing retail medical clinics (RMCs). These efforts constitute a redistribution of how services are organized across the macro healthcare delivery supply chain. While RMCs stand to bring innovative models of service delivery to patients, the policy environment can both enable and inhibit their involvement in the industry. We develop a framework that explains how structural and conduct regulations have historically influenced demand for and supply of healthcare services. We then describe how these regulatory factors can support nontraditional healthcare providers as they launch innovative service delivery models aimed at efficiency and customer centricity.     

Transnational corporations’ localization strategies via retail attributes: Focus on Chinese market

We explored the localization strategy of the transnational corporations (TNCs) in China by employing retail store attributes within the fast-changing Chinese retail market to select stores. We applied the multinomial logit (MNL) model based on McFadden’s (1974) random utility theory to proceed with this study. A questionnaire survey was conducted in nine areas in China. Surveys targeted people who had used Tesco, Walmart, and RT-Mart. 950 questionnaires were distributed, and 909 valid samples were obtained. The analysis results indicated that RT-Mart and Walmart, top players in the Chinese distribution industry, showed higher customer satisfaction in all sectors than Tesco, and statistically, all variables were significant. Customers of RT-Mart and Walmart were more satisfied compared with Tesco's customers in all variables, such as product quality, price, location, convenience, atmosphere, and staff service. In comparison to RT-Mart, Walmart had lower prices, fewer branches and convenience facilities, and lesser brand awareness, but the model estimates indicated that customer satisfaction was high regarding product quality, atmosphere, and employee service. In this study, various behavior factors were reviewed in consideration of consumer selection of stores; this aspect is significant because we have added attributes pertaining to the brand in our study.     

Absorptive Capacity,International Business Knowledge Transfer,and Local Adaptation: Establishing Discount Department Stores in Australia

This article examines the ways that Australia's largest retail firms accessed and adapted external knowledge flows, largely from the USA, to develop discount department store chains from the late‐1960s onwards. In doing so, it extends work on retail internationalisation by focusing on the importation, rather than the exportation of business models. The three firms – Coles, Myer and Woolworths – exhibited differing degrees of absorptive capacity in identifying and commercialising knowledge flows. This was reflected in fluctuating levels of success, the scope of store networks and relative positioning in the Australian market. Further, the role played by informal associations between managers in non‐competing firms in different markets during the development of discount department stores in Australia advances the case for socialising analyses of business knowledge transfer more broadly.     

沃尔玛物流配送对我国连锁超市发展的启示

连锁超市由于在降低成本、扩大规模、提高竞争能力等方面的独特优势,已成为超市的主流和方向,而大型连锁超市有别于一般的连锁超市,无论从规模还是经济条件,都更适合借鉴一些大型的国际化连锁超市;通过阐述沃尔玛超市与国内连锁超市的物流配送现状,分析了沃尔玛物流配送的成功关键,提出了一些可借鉴性的经验以解决国内大型连锁超市商品成本高的问题。