Wal-Mart Essay International Marketing

Walmart’s global experience was the learning foundation for retail giant, having the capacity to see where their plan of action fits in with various societies around the globally (Loeb, 2013). The premise of Walmart's development and achievement will depend on passage techniques, and social understanding in various regions (Karen Robson, 2013). Walmart offer to acquire the South African retail chain, Massmart in September of 2010 (Karen Robson, 2013). In the event the deal went through and the acquisition would represent as the U.S. retail mogul’s biggest acquisition in an emerging market as the first by global retail chain in South Africa (Karen Robson, 2013) .

Wal-Mart is a brand that is well known around the world, especially in the USA. It has gradually developed into the largest retailer in the world. Wal-Mart’s globalization efforts have been happening rapidly. But have they been successful in all aspects of their international expansion or not? This is the main thought that is going to be discussed in this essay. The questions I will be looking at are based on a case called “Wal-Mart takes on the world” from the book of International Business The Challenge of Global Competition eleventh edition – Ball, McCulloch, Geringer, Minor, and McNett. Questions are the following:

Walmart faced strong entrenched competition in Canada and Europe. In these developed countries, they couldn’t gain critical mass through internal growth, so they had to acquire companies that have been in the market already. They acquired Woolco, a money losing operation, applied many of the American business practices, and within a few years, the Canadian operations were successful. They have 317 stores, and they account for more than 35 percent of the Canadian discount and department store market. In Europe, Walmart entered Germany by acquiring the Wertkauf hypermarket chain in 1998 and entered the UK by acquiring the 229-store ASDA group. They the leader and are now losing ground to Tesco. A major problem for Walmart in the European market is overexpansion. Accompanied with the famous “Always low prices” approach, they met large resistance from the competition and regulators. Large price wars began because Walmart was accused of underselling the competition. They struggled to build a strong competitive base in German losing more than $1 billion. They were unable to create a competitive advantage, so they sold their operations to a competitor, Metro. They also faced problems in Korea, so

Well while I believe that they provide service to the customers and obviously they strive for excellence on the idea of low prices and high sales. I believe the first and most important of their rhetoric they fall short of especially in the respect for their employees.

Wal-Mart has preferred to expand internationally by buying existing operations and converting them to Wal-Mart stores. The company entered Canada by purchasing the Woolco chain that was competing with Kmart in that market, and it entered Mexico in much the same way. The company entered Europe by purchasing the Asda stores in the United Kingdom and an operation in Germany that later failed. Wal-Mart entered foreign markets via acquisition for a couple of reasons. The first is that the company relies on real estate as the cornerstone of its business. The second is that as a cost leader, Wal-Mart needed to build up economies of scale that would allow it to enjoy strong bargaining power in these markets immediately. Moreover, moving rapidly into a market minimizing the ability of competitors to register an adequate response.

Within less than 30 years, Wal-Mart had transformed from a small rural retailer in Arkansas into the largest retailer in the U.S. In order to continue this rapid growth, the company had started to pursue international expansion grounded in the belief that the firm’s business model of offering quality products at low prices and great customer service would appeal to consumers everywhere around the world (p.8)[1]. China was of particular interest in going international as Wal-Mart’s top management held the opinion that it was the only market in which the firm’s success story in the U.S. could be repeated (p.2/8). However, in 2005 (nine years after its

The evolution of Wal-mart from the early 1960s to the present day has set a benchmark that few can achieve. Wal-mart executives have been successful nationally as well as globally. The knowledge and expertise in economics have made Wal-mart a global giant. The research completed is the final recommendations by the members of research team C and will address questions regarding global competition and issues of the organizations ability to expand or reduce current operations.

Wal-Mart is an American company that was founded in the year 1962 by Sam Walton. The company operates in the retail industry. Notably, the company operates various chains of stores in the entire world which has made the venture a big success in the retail industry. The efficiency and the effectiveness of the company’s operations have seen it ranked the second largest public company in the world (Copeland & Labuski, 2013). The company has over two million workers which makes the leading private corporation employer in the world. Notably, despite the fact that the company is traded publicly, Wal-Mart is more of a family company since Walton’s family still controls over fifty percent of the company’s shares. The company has expanded its business through venturing into external markets such as China, the United Kingdom, North Korea, South Korea, North America, and so forth. However, these markets have produced mixed results in terms of the level of success and profitability. For instance, the German market and the South Korean markets have turned out to be less favorable for the company.

Walmart’s international operations dwarf that of Costco’s. Given the vast number of stores Walmart has around the world, it seems obvious that these international stores are creating value for Walmart. Despite Costco’s obvious success from its profitable Canadian stores, this company’s international sales sometimes suffer when the U.S. dollar appreciates. Though, the same could be said for just about any U.S. based company operating overseas. Both Costco and Walmart should be thankful

In just over half a century Wal-Mart’s global reach had gone from just one store all the way to 11,450 stores in 27 countries. This is one way of saying that Wal-Mart is a multinational company and that its globalisation is only limited by its host’s country. The current increase in globalisation has accelerated due to the rapid growth of multinational companies such as Wal-Mart.

However, even though Wal-Mart has developed such muscles as a multinational retail company, it has failed in some foreign markets and withdrawn services. Despite the fact that market cultures between Europe and America do not vary much, Wal-Mart got chocked out of the rich German market; the problem caused mainly by cross-cultural idiosyncrasies by the Germans. The same case happened in South Korea in 2006 when Wal-Mart had to bow out of the market that is not as much pro-American system. While in Japan, Wal-Mart failed to influence the market even by their low-pricing strategy due to failure in beating customer prejudice. In these cases, Wal-Mart has learned that the foreign markets are not always like America, thus thorough market study should

Wal-Mart is the number one retailer in the world in both sales and earnings, dwarfing many of its retail competitors. It offers a full assortment of products ranging from clothing to electronics. It currently has 6000 locations predominately within the United States with over $312.4 Billion in net sales during 2006. In addition to its strong domestic presence, Wal-Mart has expanded aggressively to Canada, Mexico, and Puerto Rico with over 1000 locations within those countries. This expansion can potentially create greater economies of scale for Wal-Mart services and merchandise. The synergies created by expansion will also drive profitability in the future by providing goods and services at even lower costs to consumers. In order to enter foreign markets successful, Wal-Mart engages in both joint ventures and acquisitions. By utilizing this method, Wal-Mart intends to leverage foreign retailer's market knowledge with its own core competencies of merchandising and supply chain management (Stilgoe, 2003).

Wal-Mart is arguably the most dynamic corporation in the last 50 years in the United States, if not the world. Arising from its beginnings in Bentonville, Arkansas, it has grown to over 4,400 discount stores, super centers and corner markets worldwide. Wal-Mart continues to expand despite public criticism of its labor practices as well as complaints about their treatment of competitors. The many strengths of Wal-Mart, like their low cost production and marketing practices, will aid Wal-Mart as it continues to grow in the retail

(a) Through the use of relevant examples from the case study, critically analyse the strategic and environmental reasons as to why Wal-Mart engaged in globalisation strategies; and any potential risks associated with such moves.

A. Introduction B. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 1. The Adolescence of Wal-Mart 2. Channel of Distribution 3. The Financial Facts and Figures 4. Unique Expansion Strategy 5. Corporate and Management Culture C. The Competition in the United States D. Wal-Mart’s Global Strategy E. Expansion Target: France General Overview Retail Industry Overview Macro Environmental Analysis External Factors Micro Environmental Analysis Porter’s Five Forces Model SWOT Feasibility Study Recommendation F. Expansion Target: Israel General Overview Retail Industry Overview Macro Environmental Analysis External