Abstract
Walmart, being one of the biggest retail chains of the world, cannot afford inefficiency in its stores. Employees are wasting time checking inventory levels and misplaced products on shelves. It increases the cost and time of the company. The firm is also struggling due to the poor work performance of the employees. The work burden is a significant concern for the management. Thus, an appropriate solution or change is needed immediately. A Bossa Nova robot is a useful technological intervention, which can enable the automated process in stores. The management has to test these robots in a few stores initially and adopt the technology completely in all Walmart Stores.
Keywords: Innovation, Change, Technology, Robots, Work Performance
Introduction (Background)
The contemporary business era needs innovation and change. Organizations are looking to transform the business process and culture to be relevant and lucrative in an intense rivalry. In the retail industry, the management intends to shape the work process that can enable business sustainability and advantage. Technology has played a vital role in the retail industry.
Interestingly, online and technology trigger brick & Mortar retail models. The most important thing for the management of the company is to identify the changing needs and come up with prominent solutions. In the internal business process, employees are the primary stakeholders of the company to identify these problems and implement solutions proposed by the management.
Walmart, a prominent retail chain in the United States of America, is in the limelight due to recent innovations in the internal business process. These innovations are associated with the change of the work process. In Walmart stores, the company has the busiest employees, especially in the inventory. The firm deals with thousands of employees in different stores. With time, the firm management has identified an issue or problem in the inventory department. The inventory management must have to make some changes and replace old work traits with advanced technology.
The firm management is quite motivated in changing the process and replacing things. The purpose of innovation and change is to improve the work process and bring efficiency to be more profitable in the retail market. Also, employees have to get the advantage in stores, as the intention is to reduce the work burden and make them productive.
The study emphasizes change and innovation. These are two prominent topics covered in the course. Of course, first, the management has to find the issue or problem in stores to propose the appropriate solution.
Problem Statement
Out of stock items, tracking the inventory, and placing things are time-consuming activities in the Walmart stores. Employees in the inventory sections are struggling to get all things in order in their busiest work routines. Tracking products and rearranging them in the stores has become a significant challenge. Jobs in Walmart stores have been perceived tough, and it also contributes to the increasing employee turnover. Customer traffic in the Walmart store is still increasing, and it is putting the burden on inventory employees. Desperately, the company needs a change in stores to reduce the employee burden and improve the tracking process. The firm deals with an immense range of products in stores. Now, it is the best time to think bigger and come up with an appropriate solution (Winick, 2018).
Project Goal
The goal of the project is to identify the problems in the internal business process of Walmart and propose a plan to make changes. The project goal is realistic and straightforward, as several alternatives are to be navigated by the company management. Identifying the current business practice of the company in the competitive retail market is necessary for this project, as it can help to derive some insights to move further in the change process. Another project goal is work improvement, which can create a good impact on both employees and the organization. Through streamlining the efficient internal business process, the firm aims to get a competitive advantage over the other rivals. Companies like Amazon and many others are using technologies to improve the work process and facilitate both customers and employees (Robischon, 2017). Thus, the goal is to create the space to drive innovation and get rid of these problems in stores.
SWOT Analysis of Walmart
Solution
The appropriate solution to the problem is introducing robots in the stores. The company has to invest millions to adopt the technology and let robots work for the company. The new robotic technology can observe humans in humans and complete tasks in no time. The most important thing for the company is to scan the shelves through these robots. These robots will alert store managers about these empty shelves. It is a robust and broader artificial intelligence, which may change the process in stores (Nichols, 2018).
In the busiest shopping season of the year, these robots will scan and check items. These tall robots will be working like humans. The inserted camera will help to scan mispriced, mislabeled or misplaced items (Driscoll, 2017).
Amusingly, these robots will be the information source of employees to make better inventory decisions in no time. The firm is expecting extraordinary performance due to this technology intervention. For Instance, in the current store or business practice, employees or store managers run up and down to check the stock level. Sometimes, even the store manager does not know that the store is out of stock regarding some essential items.
Robots can work more efficiently than humans, as according to observations, humans or store managers are not efficient when checking details of inventory levels. The firm wants the speed, and Robot can bring it to the company. It will be a great innovation, which is a solution to the mentioned problem. It can improve customer service and employee performance. Making things more accessible and more straightforward in the store can enable the productive environment, which is needed in the competitive environment.
In the competitive environment, companies are triggered by technology to gain and sustain the sustainable competitive advantage. Including Bossa Nova Robots is a kind of disruptive innovation for Walmart, which can create an immediate impact. The idea has been tested in a few stores (Green, 2018).
However, disruptive innovation must be initiated in all Walmart stores. Tracking products and arranging misplaced or mispriced products are problems which could have been resolved way before. However, it is still the best time to implement this solution. Including Bossa Nova robots in the store can help the company check aisle three times a day. These robots can check more than 150,000 products in a day (Vanian, 2018).
Captivatingly, the management has to change people’s perception. It has to make the robot part of the store. Instead of making people curious in stores and spending time gawking at them, the company needs to keep it simple or ordinary. The firm wants people to ignore them, which can help them to do their job effectively (Mlot, 2018).
The innovation and change are necessary for Walmart to emerge as a tech-savvy company. However, to make the change happen, the management has to create urgency in the stores. Employees will be trained to work with these robots. Employees and robots have to do their jobs in a better way now, and it is all the company aims in this contemporary era.
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that Walmart management is motivated to execute the change or innovation. However, the firm must come up with a proper contingency plan to face possible threats and weaknesses. The big lesson, which has been learned from this content, is the identification of change needs. Being a top retailer, Walmart planned brilliantly to sustain the business and get an edge over other rivals in the competitive retail market. Finally, Walmart reached the best solution to get rid of problems in stores.
Reference
Driscoll, K. (2017, October 30). Walmart using robots to stock shelves.
Green, D. (2018, March 25). Walmart reveals why it has robots roaming the aisles in 50 of its stores.
Mlot, S. (2018, March 26). Walmart Rolls Out Robot Shelf-Scanners to More Stores.
Nichols, G. (2018, June 21). Walmart store-scanning robot gets big boost. R
Robischon, N. (2017, February 13). Why Amazon Is The World’s Most Innovative Company Of 2017.
Vanian, J. (2018, March 26). Why Walmart Is Testing Robots In Stores—and Here’s What It Learned.
Winick, E. (2018, January 31). Walmart’s new robots are loved by staff—and ignored by customers.
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