At Walmart’s annual shareholders meeting, president and CEO Mike Duke outlined four strategies for building the “Next Generation Walmart.” He said Walmart is poised to deliver on Sam Walton’s vision of giving “the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.”
The strategies are: (1) become a truly global company, (2) understand the business challenges that retailers will face and solve them, (3) play an even bigger leadership role on social issues that matter to its customers, and (4) keep its culture strong everywhere.
In order to be a more global company, Duke discussed the need to serve customers as a local store, share best practices, and leverage Walmart’s global supply chain. He stated that over the next five years Walmart will create 500,000 jobs around the world. Duke also discussed the importance on price transparency and low pricing, and being a company that stays strong globally.
The company also announced that its board of directors approved a new repurchase program that authorizes the company to repurchase $15 billion of its shares. This program replaces the previous $15 billion program, which was announced June 5, 2009, and had approximately $4.7 billion of remaining authorization. Under the program, repurchased shares are constructively retired and returned to unissued status.
Photo Credit: Huffington Post
