Walmart vs Carrefour

Entering an untapped international market can strengthen a business tremendously—but what if the costs outweigh the benefits for the market itself? China has long been an important player on the global stage, but recent advances in manufacturing, natural resources, and energy production have catapulted the expansive country to the forefront of international trade. Currently the world’s fastest growing major economy, China is set to eclipse the United States as the world’s largest economy by 2016. Among various domestic and international plays, one of China’s most fascinating uses of its

Sears and Wal-Mart are both nationwide retailers, but their similarities are only skin deep. Sears started to lose its dominance in the early 1980s. In an attempt to boost the dwindling market share, Sears started to issue proprietary Sears Card, which gave customers payment flexibilities. A new slogan focusing on the "softer side of Sears", and a revised product mix, were created to appeal to the middle-class female shoppers.

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

Inventory from China is now reaching 18 billion dollars, and has increased 20 percent over the past two years. Currently over 5,000 suppliers have steady alliances with Wal-Mart. Not only does this benefit U.S. customers by keeping prices down, but it keeps the Wal-Mart corp. very well received by the Chinese people. A large portion of the world's population is located in China being a respected company in this part of the world will greatly increase sales. Wal-Mart is, however, responsible for 10 percent of the countries trade deficit to China.

3) Do those same sources of cost advantage enable Walmart to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in China? With a localized demand, localized supply base, and localized distribution in China also provided domestic stores with an edge in establishing a strong regional dominance when foreign retailers found it hard to leverage national presence in a regional market. In China, however, the constraints on a foreign retailers operation directly limited the regional expansion of Walmart stores and the efficient use of distribution centers since they were so spread out. Would have to spend more on distribution costs and given the slow speed of transportation did not enable Walmart to lower its prices. Walmart also faced a problem with lack of an information technology network with suppliers, making purchasing and distribution difficult. Also, consumers in China were very different than those back home, which added pressure to the operational costs and directly threatened its ability to set the price low as possible. People in China did not buy in bulk and that is what Walmart specialized in, so shopping patterns did not fit. Diminished economies of scale and interrupted supply chain meant higher costs in satisfying Chinese consumers. Everything that Walmart thrived in and was able to do to cut costs, they

A resource based view can help determine, and maintain a competitive advantage for Wal-Mart. In order to gain a clear understanding of their advantage, or lack thereof, it is vital that Wal-Mart determine what resources they have available to them. Once these resources are identified they must capitalize on them, and ensure that they provide them with a sustained advantage, and not a temporary advantage. For instance, Wal-Mart might find that there is a manufacturer that is not being used to their full potential, and is able to provide them with fast production and quick delivery of items for a great price. It would be beneficial for Wal-Mart to take advantage of this opportunity, as well as build a long lasting relationship with this manufacturer that will carry them both into the future.

For my compare and contrast, I chose Savemart and Lassens Natural Food and Vitamins. Savemart is a large chain grocery store, and I went to their branch in Kingsburg. Lassens is a small grocery store line with only about 8 locations in California, and I went to their branch next to Woodward Park. Kingsburg is a rather middle class town, while the area around Woodward Park is more upper class, so when I was going into each of these stores, I was already expecting a price difference as one of the biggest difference in the two. But the most notable thing is that, it was a battle of quality versus quantity between the two stores.

I think this response varies dependent on the business that I am opening. For instance, if I was opening a clothing store for after-hour events (Happy Hour, clubbing, etc) I think it would be better to open a store near a lot of bars or local clubs versus opening my store near a mall. I think that when you open a business, you should open one near to where your business compliments other businesses, not always where your competition is. The only exception to where I would open my store near to where my competition exists is in the case of Walmart vs Target. In their case, although they are ultimately the same type of store, the customer experience is very different (price, quality, service,

Today’s economy and the increased unemployment rate have made the average American household drastically change their spending habits. The average household has to function on surviving with less. Which brings me to my topic. We have become a savvier shopper; ultimately looking for the establishment can offer the most for our money with out sacrificing quality. We have become “bargain shoppers”. When I think of a discount store two major companies come to mind Target and Wal-Mart. The merchandise and services provided are pretty much comparable. Many of its customer population shops there for two simply reasons one is out of loyalty and the other being it’s a preference.

At Walmart I found some discounts. One discount was soap, which was only for $4.00. Another discount was water, which was only for $2.00. These discounts in other stores are a bit expensive to buy, but these discounts from Walmart are very very cheap. At first I actually thought that Walmart would have more expensive things than Walgreens, but it turns out I was wrong.

3.4 Political Factors: Politian’s in China are attempting to avoid any acceptance on a leadership role in the world economy. They claim that China is still behind other countries in technology and has much lower power per capita GDP compared the world’s leaders; US. (Leo, 2010). Due to these 2 factors, lack of technology and economic developments, this presents more opportunities for international businesses. The reason being why China maintains to be an eye-catching destination for international markets.

The government of china is very keen to encourage foreign investors, because foreign companies are regarded as relatively good corporate

The main advantage of doing business in China is the fact that China has emerged as one of the world’s strongest economic forces, driven by the shear number of

WalMart's approach to global expansion exemplifies the journey of self-discovery many corporations who have a stable, profitable domestic base of operations go through as they attempt to enter new markets globally. For WalMart this meant confronting the exceptionally high level of ethnocentrism in their organization while also using their analytics-based prowess to better understand cultures, not just costs and profits (Ming-Ling, Donegan, Ganon, Kan, 2011). The intent of this analysis is to define how WalMart overcame a significant series of challenges and successfully launched into China, overcoming an ethnocentric mindset and tendency to rely too much on analytics alone in guiding global expansion.

China is a very noteworthy nation with regards to worldwide trade. China is positioned as World's fourth biggest market according to USnews.com in its annual best countries rating and its tremendous populace of exceptionally citizenry with a drive for entrepreneurship gives businesses inspired motivation to remote organizations to join its market (US News, 2015). In any case, similar to other foreign markets, one can find aspects making China appealing to American partnerships the same amount of as there are different variables that make the market less alluring for American enterprises. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the variables in connection to its potential for an American business trying to venture into the Chinese market