Walmart Graded A+
In 1991, Walmart became an international company when it opened a Sam's Club near
Mexico City. Just two years later, Walmart international was created period since
venturing into Mexico in 1991, Walmart international has grown somewhat erratically.
During the 1990s, the retailer exported its big box, low price model, an approach the
economy expected to be as successful in foreign markets as it was in the United states.
Although Walmart has had success in several overseas markets, this success has been
far from universal. For example, in Mexico, China, and the UK, the company's efforts to
offer the lowest price to customers backfired because of resistance from established
retailers. And in Germany, Walmart could not seem to fit its model to local tastes and
preferences. In Japan, its joint venture had a series of setbacks, many related to buying
habits for which the Walmart model did not respond well. In Mexico, three - answer
In addition, labor advocates and environmentalists have created headaches for the US
behemoth, making continued expansion both cumbersome and expensive. For
instance, in 2006, Walmart faced a strong a public relations campaign from the all China
Federation of trade unions or ACFTU, over Walmart refusal to let its workers in China
unionize. Walmart was eventually forced to concede, perhaps because the Chinese
government also lent its weight to the ACFTU's campaign in its effort to establish unions
in all foreign funded enterprises throughout the country. Despite its public battle with the
ACFTU, Walmart China received the chinahr.com award for best employer for the
FMCG and retail industry, just ten years later in 2016. As Walmart heads into the 2020
decade and continues to expand its global operations, analysts are curious to see how
the company is received and whether consumers opinions in fragmented market
settings - answer
Notwithstanding these challenges, today Walmart international is a fast growing part of
Walmart's overall operations, with 6000 stores and more than 700,000 associates in 26
countries outside the continental US. In two decades, Walmart international has
become a 118 billion U.S. dollar business. If it were a standalone company, it would
rank among the top five global retailers. Walmart international business represents a
solid chunk of Walmart's overall 500 billion US in revenue for the fiscal year 2018. -
answer
With a market capitalization of close to 300 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, Walmart is worth
as much as the gross domestic product of Finland. Three of America's 15 richest
individuals far from Walmart's low profile Walton company, which still owns a 51%
controlling stake. The company's portfolio ranges from super stores in the US to
bodegas in Mexico, the ASDA supermarket chain in Britain, Japan's nationwide network
of seiyu shops, and a controlling stake in South African retailer massmart. Walmart
sources many of its products from low cost Chinese suppliers. If it were a country,
, Walmart would rank as China's 10th largest trading partner, ranking just below the UK,
spending 50 billion U.S. dollars annually on Chinese goods. - answer
In venturing beyond its large domestic market, Walmart had a number of regional
options, including entering Europe, Asia, or other countries in the Western Hemisphere.
At the time however, Walmart lacked the requisite financial, organizational, and
managerial resources to pursue multiple countries simultaneously. Instead, it opted for a
logically sequenced approach to market entry that would allow it to apply the learning
gained from its initial entries to a subsequent ones. In the end, during the first five years
of its globalization from 1991 to 1995, Walmart decided to concentrate heavily on
establishing a presence in the Americas: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Canada.
Obviously, Canada had the business environment closest to the US and appeared to be
the easiest entry destination. The other countries that Walmart chose as its first global
points of entry, Mexico in 1991, Brazil in 1994, and Argentina in 1995, we - answer
The European market had a certain characteristics that made it less attractive to
Walmart as a first point of entry. The European retail industry was mature, implying that
a new entrant would have to take market share away from an existing player, a very
difficult task. Additionally, there were well entrenched competitors on the scene such as
Carre-four in France and Metro A.G. in Germany, that would likely retaliate vigorously
against any new player. Further, as with most newcomers, Walmart's relatively small
size and lack of strong local customer relationships would be severe handicaps in the
European arena. In addition, the higher growth rates of Latin American and Asian
markets would have made a delayed entry into those markets extremely costly in terms
of lost opportunities. In contrast, the opportunity costs of delaying acquisition based
entries into European markets appear to be relatively small. - answer
While the Asian markets had huge potential when Walmart launched its globalization
effort in 1991, they were the most distant geographically and different culturally and
logistically from the US market. It would have taken considerable financial and
managerial resources to establish a presence in Asia. However, by 1996, Walmart felt
ready to take on the Asian challenge and it targeted China. This choice made sense
and that's the lower purchasing power now the Chinese consumer offered huge
potential to a low price retailer like Walmart. Still, China's cultural, linguistic, and
geographical distance from the United states presented relatively high entry barriers, so
Walmart decided to use 2 beachheads as learning vehicles for establishing an Asian
presence. - answer
During 1992 through 1993, Walmart agreed to sell low priced products to two Japanese
retailers, Ito-Yakado and Yaohan, that would market these products in Japan,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Then in
1994, Walmart entered Hong Kong through a joint venture with the C.P. Pokphand
company, a Thailand based conglomerate, to open 3 value club membership discount
stores in Hong Kong. - answer