Some analysts thought a fast-food slowdown would never happen, but it is here and a lot of economists and business leaders are trying to make sense of it.

KFC, McDonald's, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, and many other similar fast-food retailers are reporting significant sales slowdowns and it should be very concerning to all business leaders.

Starbucks, in particular, experienced a notable drop in same-store sales for the latest quarter, sending its shares plummeting by 17% on Wednesday. Joining the fray, Pizza Hut and KFC also reported shrinking same-store sales figures. Even industry stalwart McDonald's acknowledged the challenging landscape, adopting what it terms a "street-fighting mentality" to retain value-minded consumers.

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The news that Walmart is shutting down its healthcare clinic business is shocking on many levels but also goes to demonstrate the power of strategic discipline from a business acumen perspective.

Just a few months ago, Walmart was talking about expanding and growing to meet the emerging needs of patients and vertically integrating services into products through its network of pharmacies and stores that sell over-the-counter products.

So, what changed, and what business acumen lessons can be learned?

The Press Release

Walmart’s press release contained some interesting insights:

“BENTONVILLE, Ark., April 30, 2024 — Back in 2019, we launched Walmart Health Centers. During our five-year journey, we made meaningful impacts with patients while continuing to learn, pivot, and evolve. While our mission to help people save money and live better remains, today we are sharing the difficult decision to close Walmart Health and Walmart Health Virtual Care. Through our experience managing Walmart Health Centers and Walmart Health Virtual Care, we determined there is not a sustainable business model for us to continue.”

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If you are listening carefully to the business news, you will have heard the experts talking about the impacts of a “soft landing” and how that will affect business performance from now until the end of the year. 

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Just a few days after I shared a blog post on the incredible leadership lessons I have observed from hotel General Manager @tomboyer which include his team going above and beyond the call of duty because it was the right thing to do, I had one of the worst hotel experiences in my life.

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There is significant confusion in the business world between Operational Excellence and a Low-Price Strategy. Based on our years of experience designing, developing, and implementing simulation-centric business acumen learning journeys, I want to share some insights and ideas about the differences and how these differences can be used for better strategic execution and decision-making.

The Confusion

Part of the confusion is simply a matter of semantics and wording. In the game-changing book, “The Discipline of Market Leaders (Tracey & Wiersema),” the authors propose there are only 3 different “Value Propositions” that a company can offer to its customers; Product Leadership (building and selling the most innovative products), Customer Intimacy (developing a strong relationship with the customer and offering world-class service and customization), and Operational Excellence (driving costs out of the system of business so you can complete on low price).

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