2IntroductionTo meet the requirements of the Field Exercise Report, I visited the Wal-MartSupercenter located at 4700 North 27thStreet in Lincoln, Nebraska. While there, I met with JoshHoage, an Assistant Manager at the location. Wal-Mart is well-known, as it is the largest retailerworldwide. Wal-Mart began operating in 1962 with just one location in Rogers, Arkansas. Today,there are over 11,000 stores operating throughout 27 countries (Walmart Corporate - We savepeople money so they can live better, n.d.). As Wal-Mart operates from day to day, I learned thatthe company relies largely on the material that has been discussed in MBA 675.Processes, or activities involving inputs and outputs, are present inside the operations ofWal-Mart. Workers, management, equipment, and facilities are examples of inputs of theprocesses occurring at Wal-Mart. The outputs provided by the processes are the goods andservices that Wal-Mart provides to its customers. External and internal customers and suppliersare present. In Wal-Mart’s situation, external customers are the customers who purchase goodsfrom the retail stores. External suppliers of Wal-Mart are the suppliers who provide product toWal-Mart. Employees of Wal-Mart may serve as both internal suppliers and customers.Most would agree that at least ten critical decisions of operations management exist. Theten decisions discussed in course MBA 675 relate to Service and Product Design, QualityManagement, Process and Capacity Design, Location, Layout Design, Human Resources and JobDesign, Supply Chain Management, Inventory, including Material Requirements Planning andJust-In-Time, Intermediate and Short-Term Scheduling, and Maintenance Management. Whilemeeting with Mr. Hoage, I discovered that Wal-Mart’s operations utilize each of the ten decisionareas each day.