[lbo-talk] Wal-Mart at Forefront of Hurricane Relief

Leigh Meyers leighcmeyers at gmail.com
Thu Sep 8 11:56:24 PDT 2005


On Thursday, September 08, 2005 11:06 AM [PDT], Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:


> Leigh Meyers wrote:


>>
>> When I worked for a local department store, scanning inventory,
>> the scanner was satellite linked to a distributor in the central
>> valley(california), not the corporate headquarters.
>>
>> I'm not questioning the vertical intergration of the company, but
>> it isn't as monolithic as all that. Some processes are much more
>> efficient when they are decentralized and WM know that and
>> utilizes it, like most national companies. Otherwise JIT inventory
>> would just be another seemingly good idea that no one ever tried,
>> and most of the LTL trucking companies(although walmart trucks
>> their own) would have gone out of business years ago.


>
> I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Is it that Wal-Mart isn't
> that centralized, or that centralization itself isn't a good thing?
> Because Wal-Mart is that centralized, and given the way they've been
> kicking retail ass, it's hard to argue that it doesn't work too well.
>

I was attempting to clarify the extent of:
> *Everything* is coordinated out of Bentonville;

That's all.

There's a place for centralization, and a place for de-.

When it comes to 99%(+-?) of the logistics and distribution, the "smart money" seems to go with the de-. It appear to be centralized. Until the manager @ HQ emails the manager at the distribution center with a list, and and instructions to do it.

UPS keeps "fast ship" stock for many national companies. Does that mean they are centralized vertically within those companies, or just part of a centralized plan?

Leigh www.leighm.net



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