沃尔玛候任CEO面临五座大山
即将走马上任的沃尔玛新任CEO董明伦
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沃尔玛（Wal-Mart）于周一宣布，公司首席执行官麦克?杜克将于明年早些时候退休，届时将由公司元老董明伦接替他的职位。 身为美国最大雇主元老级的人物，董明伦有着耀眼的履历：现年47岁的董明伦最初加入公司的促销部门，后来曾分别领导公司的物流、配送和行政部门；2005年，他负责沃尔玛国际部；2006年，他成为山姆会员商店（Sam's Club）首席执行官。他目前主要负责沃尔玛的海外业务。 白金翰研究集团（The Buckingham Reseach Group）今天上午发布了一份报告，称董明伦是“很好的选择”，同时还提到了他的海外工作经历，以及负责整合公司采购、配送和促销等部门的经验。 不过，董明伦在沃尔玛出色的工作经历不见得会降低他新工作的难度。有许多挑战正等待他去应对。 1. 工资争议 在沃尔玛的所有麻烦当中，最公开和最具有民粹主义色彩的是公司与其“临时工”之间颇具争议的关系。零售工人抗议沃尔玛时薪过低的活动，从去年10月份开始，一直持续到现在。似乎今年节日季也没有平息的可能；非工会劳工组织“我们的沃尔玛”（OUR Wal-Mart）表示，计划在2013年的黑色星期五进行1,500场抗议活动。员工的怒火最近一次爆发是在本月早些时候。当时，俄亥俄州坎顿市的一家沃尔玛在员工休息室为店铺的员工举办了一次食品捐赠活动。放置在几个塑料盒子上的一条标语中写道：“请捐赠食物，让有需要的同事能够享受感恩节晚餐。”公司发言人表示食品捐赠活动的初衷是帮助面临困境的员工，表现同事彼此之间的关怀。公司之前一直称员工抗议活动是“做秀”，而且始终没有调整员工的时薪。 2. 低迷的销量 沃尔玛或许能够对声誉危机置之不理，却很难对疲软的销量无动于衷。这家公司于本月早些时候公布了第三季度的盈利情况，由于消费者前往店铺的次数减少，导致可比销售额下降了0.3%。从今年早些时候开始，可比销售额便持续下降趋势。第二季度，沃尔玛同店销售额下降了0.3%，第一季度更是下降了1.4%。如此惨淡的表现使得沃尔玛预测今年节日购物季的利润将不容乐观。它预测，美国节日购物季的销售额将相对持平，而公司高管表示沃尔玛将面临有史以来最激烈的竞争。导致这家公司销售低迷的主要原因是，今年工资税提高，就业增长缓慢，使得低收入购物者在购买弹性消费品时更加慎重。 3. 打入大城市 沃尔玛今年的亮点之一是它的社区店（Neighborhood Markets）。这种基于城市的小型店铺可以满足快捷购物需求，能够与一美元商店竞争。今年第三季度，沃尔玛社区店的可比销售额增长了3.4%。目前，沃尔玛更有300家小型商店，并计划在年底达到400家，意味着它社区店的开店速度首次超过了超市。社区店的总面积为38,000平方英尺，仅占沃尔玛超级购物中心的三分之一。目前，小型店铺的商品供应问题仍然悬而未决，同样，小型店铺在不同都市区域能否都能取得成功也是一个未知数。由于沃尔玛一直以来的反工会策略，美国工会反对沃尔玛进入大城市的举动。最近，这家公司经过多年游说，终于获得了在芝加哥开设第二家和第三家店铺的权力，但政客和工会领导人一直在阻止公司进军纽约市。 4. 在与亚马逊的竞争中生存下来 沃尔玛投入了巨资来整合其线上、线下和移动业务，鼓励消费者在其超市内时使用沃尔玛应用。这方面的努力取得了一定的成功。今年第三季度，它的线上销售额增加了40%。预计截止年底，公司的电子商务总额将达到100亿美元，占据总销售额的2.1%。这个数字非常庞大，但相比其在电子商务领域最大的竞争对手亚马逊（Amazon），还有巨大的差距。亚马逊公司上一个财年的净销售额达到了610亿美元。 5. 海外增长 董明伦担任沃尔玛CEO，至少为公司最大的问题找到了一个答案：这家公司在国际市场中的地位。沃尔玛在美国市场已接近饱和，所以向海外业务倾斜也有一定道理，但国际市场的营业利润率和回报率往往相对较低。沃尔玛第三季度的国际销售额上涨了4.1%，达到344亿美元，但墨西哥和加拿大等关键市场的可比销售额却略有下降。沃尔玛一直非常重视全球增长，然而相对于国内业务，沃尔玛的海外业务规模仍很小：国际部门仅占2013年财政收入的29%。而选择董明伦负责沃尔玛收购南非零售商Massmart、英国折扣零售店Netto和中国的一号店（Yihaodian），表明公司将继续开发国际市场，以应对国内增长乏力的现状。 译者：刘进龙/汪浩 |
Wal-Mart announced on Monday that company veteran C. Douglas McMillon will replace chief executive officer Mike Duke when he retires early next year. McMillon has a stellar resume that reflects his veteran status at the nation's largest employer: The 47-year-old started his career in the company's merchandising division and went on to lead the company's logistics, distribution, and administration divisions before overseeing Wal-Mart International in 2005 and becoming chief executive of Sam's Club in 2006. He currently heads Wal-Mart's (WMT) operations outside the U.S. In a report released this morning, The Buckingham Reseach Group called McMillon a "great choice," citing his overseas experience and his work to integrate systems across the company's procurement, distribution and merchandising divisions. But McMillon's impressive tenure at Wal-Mart will by no means make his new job an easy one. Here are some of the challenges he'll face: 1. Wage outrage The most public and populist of all of Wal-Mart's troubles is the contentious relationship it has with its hourly workers. Retail workers' protests of Wal-Mart's low hourly wages started in earnest last October and have continued ever since. There will be no letting up this holiday season; non-union worker group OUR Wal-Mart said 1,500 protests are planned for Black Friday 2013. The most recent burst of outrage came earlier this month when a Wal-Mart store in Canton, Ohio held a food drive in an employee lounge for the store's own workers. "Please donate food items so associates in need can enjoy Thanksgiving dinner," said a sign placed above several plastic bins. A company spokesperson said that the food drive was for staffers who had undergone hardships and reflected just how much store employees care about each other. The company has previously characterized worker protests as "publicity stunts" and has stood by its hourly pay. 2. Depressed sales Wal-Mart may be able to brush off its reputation woes, but it will not be able to dismiss its weak sales quite as easily. When the company reported its third-quarter earnings earlier this month, comparable sales were down 0.3% as shoppers made fewer trips to the stores. Those figures continued a downward trend seen earlier this year when same-store sales dipped 0.3% in the second quarter and 1.4% in the first. The lackluster performance forced the retailer to forecast disappointing profits for the upcoming holiday shopping season -- it expects flat comparable sales in the U.S. -- which its executives have predicted to be "as competitive" as they've ever seen it. The main contributor to stores' poor performance is reluctance by lower-income shoppers to spend money on discretionary goods because of this year's higher payroll taxes and slow job growth. 3. Making it in the big city One of the bright spots for Wal-Mart has come from its Neighborhood Markets stores, which are mini, city-based shops outfitted to accommodate express shopping trips and compete with dollar stores. Comparable sales at these smaller stores grew 3.4% in the third quarter of this year. Wal-Mart has 300 small stores now but plans to have 400 by the end of the year, which means that Neighborhood Market openings will outpace new superstores for the first time ever. But determining how to supply the 38,000 square-foot shops -- which are a third of the size of Wal-Mart's supercenters -- is still in the air, as is the success such stores will have in different metropolitan areas. Organized labor has opposed Wal-Mart's efforts to move into major cities because of the company's history of anti-union tactics. The store recently won the right to open its second and third stores in Chicago after years of lobbying, but politicians and union leaders have long kept the company from entering New York City. 4. Surviving in the Amazon Wal-Mart has invested heavily in merging its online, offline, and mobile commerce operations, a strategy that encourages customers to use the Wal-Mart app while they're in the store. The effort has resulted in some success. In the third quarter of this year, online sales increased 40%, and the company expects its e-commerce to total $10 billion, 2.1% of its total sales, by the end of the year. That's a huge figure, but it represents just how far Wal-Mart has to go to catch its biggest e-commerce competitor, Amazon (AMZN), which brought in $61 billion in net sales last fiscal year. 5. Growth abroad McMillon's appointment as Wal-mart CEO is an answer to at least one of the company's biggest questions: what role it will have internationally. The company's U.S. market is near saturation, so it makes sense to ramp up overseas operations, but international markets typically offer lower operating margins and returns. Wal-Mart's international sales rose 4.1% to $34.4 billion in the third quarter, but comparable sales fell in key markets like Mexico and Canada. Wal-Mart has long put a big emphasis on its global growth, but its overseas operations are still small compared to its domestic business: The international division represented 29% of the company's 2013 fiscal revenue. But by choosing McMillon, who oversaw Wal-Mart's acquisitions of Massmart in South Africa, Netto in the U.K., and Yihaodian in China, the company has indicated that it will continue to try to tap the international markets as a counter to anemic growth at home. |
