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Wal‐Mart is the largest retailer in the world, and one of its drivers of financial success is its focus on efficient and effective supply chain management (SCM). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate what service providers could learn from these SCM best practices.

Wal‐Mart's best practices in SCM were investigated through a literature review of secondary data.

Wal‐Mart's best practices in SCM were categorized into four segments: strategic concepts, logistics and distribution, information technology, and supplier collaboration. These practices were then applied to the healthcare industry.

Wal‐Mart's best practices were only applied to one service industry (the healthcare industry). Future research could apply these practices to other service industries such as higher education and the airline industry.

Most service providers can add value to their services by learning from some, if not all, of Wal‐Mart's best practices in SCM.

Very little past research has focused on applying the best practices in SCM of a traditional retailer or product provider to service providers. Insight into Wal‐Mart's best practices can add value to many service providers.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to assertiveness research and assess the differences in assertiveness as it relates to gender, national culture, and ethnicity.

The data for the study are from 231 undergraduate students majoring in business at one of four academic institutions: three in the USA and one in the Republic of Vietnam. Students completed the 30-item Rathus Assertiveness Schedule.

This research suggests that individuals who are alike in level of education and status demonstrate similar levels of assertiveness, regardless of gender, national culture, or ethnicity. However, differences were seen as the data show white American males to be the most assertive, with African American females next. White females ranked third, followed by Vietnamese females, concluding with Vietnamese males.

Although the sample size is small, the intent of this research was never to have the subjects represent the general population in terms of the variables used. Instead, the authors attempted to control for gender, culture, and ethnicity variables by using a sample of college students who were similar in relation to education and social status. Future research could more fully research the findings from this study which suggest that African American women are more assertive than all other groups with the exception of white males.

This study also gives credence to the suggestion that the global manager, in order to become more effective, needs to fully understand employee differences as represented by gender, national culture, and ethnicity.