...INB400 – International Organization and Management Term paper Wal-Mart’s culturally and institutionally flawed entry into the German retail market Joakim Holsten Leren s105710 Julianne Øien s106222 Mirko Wichmann s145433 Lara-Caterina Buggert s145400 Eloise De Bont s145611 22 pages Table of Contents Introduction 2 Case presentation 2 The Wal-Mart concept 3 Institutional challenges [to be deleted] 4 Cultural challenges [to be deleted] 4 German market 5 Theoretical Background 5 The cultural perspective 6 The institutional perspective 9 Case Analysis 12 The cultural perspective 12 The institutional perspective 15 Recommendations 19 Cultural 19 Institutional 20 Limitations 22 Cultural 22 Institutional 22 Conclusion 23 References: 25 Introduction The purpose of this paper is to address and analyze the challenges Wal-Mart faced during its entrance into the German market in the late 1990s. We have analyzed this with the following problem in mind: “Which aspects, both cultural and institutional, led to Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany and what should they have done instead?” We will approach this problem by outlining theoretical frameworks for analyzing cultural and institutional aspects of a company. We will then employ said theories in order to analyze the case of Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany. Finally, we will come to a conclusion concerning what they should have done as they entered into the German market...
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...Guidelines for Analyzing Cases Problem and Issue Identification 1. What are the central facts of the case? What assumptions are you making about these facts? 2. What is the major overriding issue in the case? What major question or issues does this case address that merits study at this point in the course? According to this case, the major issue is the conflicts between Walmart and local manufacturers. Because of the low price in Walmart, local manufacturing business cannot survive in the market. Also, production process in Walmart creates many environment problems. Meanwhile, importAlso, to produce low cost merchandise, Walmart provides extremely low wages and benefits to labors, which put workers in a hard condition. taking advantage of illegal immigrants. •Gender discrimination against women. • Most sued company in America in respect of lawsuits. 3. What sub-issues or related issues are present in the case that merit consideration now? Analysis and Evaluation 1. Who are the stakeholders in the case and what are their stakes? What challenges, threats or opportunities are posed by these stakeholders? From government perspective, US government gain good reputation. Walmart, as a US company, brings many good reputations. For Chinese government, it is a good supplier to Walmart. Walmart creates many job opportunities in China. However, Walmart harms nature environment in China. From owners perspective, The Walton Family earns a lot of money...
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...Barbara Kay 229858 Business Ethics Unit III Assignment Wal-Mart was founded on the vision of Sam Walton of Bentonville, Arkansas. It is the largest retailer globally and in the United States it generates over 2 percent of the gross national product. This retail giant was started as a company that would provide low prices for consumers daily. It has succeeded in that mission but through the years of growth and economic success Wal- Mart has had some critics related to business practices based on business ethics. Wal- Mart has had numerous class-action lawsuits for practices that have been interpreted as unethical business practices: employees working without compensation, sexual discrimination, healthcare benefits, illegal aliens, the role of unions, and child and other labor laws. All of these practices have been written about and have found their way in the court system. This case analysis will attempt to answer questions based on the framework of business ethics. 1) Are the ethical issues that Wal-Mart faces really different from other large retailers? Based on the number of case studies in the text provided as well as what are on the business news the challenges that Wal- Mart has encountered in the pursuit of meeting stakeholders expectations are similar to other large retailers. Wal-Mart has many internal and external stakeholders. As a publically traded company the stockholders are expecting a return on their investment and for the company to be profitable...
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...do the perspectives in Part A assist us to better understand the power of Wal-Mart? In preparing your answer you need to consider Wal-Mart’s relationship with its organizational environment. The list of a variety of successful multinational corporations recorded in the pages of history is unending and in part B of this assignment, one of the world’s most successful corporations, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will take centre-stage in the discussion of a corporation’s relationship with its organizational environment. The chosen perspectives of Modernism and Post-Modernism discussed earlier in part A will be elaborated further, with respect to Wal-Mart. Subsequently, a brief discussion on how Wal-Mart exercises power and authority and experiences resistance and obedience from its employees and partners will be carried out. From since the humble beginnings of a five-and-dime store in 1962 henceforth, Sam Walton’s Wal-Mart has transformed into one of the most successful retailers in the pages of history and in the world today. Wal-Mart is by far the world’s largest corporation today and it is a company that has become a household name that most Americans are familiar with, a company with stores that offer everything a person could need at low or discounted prices. (The global 500 2002; Belsie 2002) The success of Wal-Mart’s can be critically attributed to the corporation’s ambitions and objectives in helping its customers and people to save money, in order to live better. (Wal-Mart Corporate...
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...Wal-Mart Cross-Cultural Perspectives Timothy Johnson ETH/316 Ethics and Social Responsibility July 3, 2014 Rodney Adams Wal-Mart Cross-Cultural Perspectives The subject of whether ethical and social issues should be a major concern for businesses is frequently debated, expressly in an arrangement of compositions from Larry Summers, Bill Gates, and many others. In recent times, a book called Creative Capitalism was put in print to discuss this very issue. There are varying opinions in regards to the cross-cultural perspectives of cultural issues that affects the organization’s interactions outside the United States. Nevertheless when you see the optimistic influence from the intention of a favorably image conscious Wal-Mart is producing in China, it undoubtedly indicate that individuals advocating for ethical and socially conscious organizations may be as it should be. Even as Wal-Mart‘s national establishment has grappled over the course of one year, Wal-Mart’s global establishment hasn’t performed effectively as well. Propelled by difficulties in China, Mexico, and Brazil, Wal-Mart’s global revenues “grew by a mere 1% in 2013 and its revenue per square feet declined by 4.2%.” (Team, 2014) Now that Mexico is Wal-Mart’s principal global site, austere outcomes from Mexico are an immense consternation for the mega department store. The China market is also crucially imperative to Wal-Mart in regards to enduring perspective, despite the...
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...Case Study: Wal-Mart DeLeon A. Rich Management and Strategy Webster University May 15, 2013 Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Wal-Mart’s Threats and Challenges 2 Priorities of Wal-Mart CEO during the October Address 2 Wal-Mart Board’s Strategic Initiatives 3 Recent Wal-Mart Initiatives 4 Recent Initiatives 4 Comment: Strategy 5 Comment: Personal Relations 5 Wal-Mart’s Social Challenges 5 Conclusion 5 References 5 Introduction Every business organization in the contemporary world continues to face serious challenges and turbulences. Such challenges and turbulences have called on to business enterprises to re-structure and re-engineer their strategic plan in order to establish effective strategic initiatives. Dynamisms and increased competition are some of the challenges that business enterprises continue to face. One example of a business enterprise that has had to re-structure and re-engineer its strategic plan amidst increased dynamisms and competition with Wal-Mart. Late in 2005, Wal-Mart announced a series of sweeping new strategic initiatives. Such strategic initiatives are aimed at enhancing the position of the business within the industry and the market as well as performances. This case study provides an in-depth analysis of Wal-Mart in respect to its current strategy and challenges. Analysis of the threats and challenges coupled with priorities that Wal-Mart CEO, Lee Scott set in the address on “Twenty-first...
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...Cross-Cultural Perspectives Wayne Hawley ETH/316 August 18th, 2014 Tana Romero Cross-Cultural Perspectives Wal-Mart is a global organization with a multinational presence. Wal-Mart started in the United States of America and after obtaining huge success in the U.S., they went global with their brand of marketing and selling products at a lower price than their competitors, in order to help lower income families. Wal-Mart is considered the world’s largest retailer, but this title has not come without issues. Wal-Mart Cultural issues Wal-Mart is a massive retail store chain in the United States, this goes without saying. I would find it hard to believe you could find a single person in the United States that has not heard of or been to a Wal-Mart. Because of their great success in the U.S., it only makes sense they would travel abroad and attempt to bring their services to other countries. Wal-Mart devised and produced a 36 page, global policy for ethics, which states the following: According to "Walmart Statement of Ethics" (n.d.), “Each business organization Walmart operates is expected to have a complete set of policies providing guidance to associates for whatever country they are working in”. “Walmart also publishes several “global policies,” which are designed to give associates a set of rules that are the same for all locations.” “This Statement of Ethics is an example of a global policy.” “If any part of this Statement of Ethics goes against local...
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...EIS Final Project RFID Technology A Comparative Study of E-ZPass and Wal-Mart Công nghệ RFID tại Wal-Mart Jose Malpartida, Sebastian Martinez Matias Moral, Avraj Sandhu, Phillip Wittwer 1. Technology overview RFID, or radio frequency identification, is a technology that allows for communication between two devices by means of radio waves. Thus neither a direct line of sight, nor a physical connection is needed. The first device is a reader or antenna, the second is a so called tag. Readers are more complex and expensive devices, whereas the tags are meant to be cheap and produced in high numbers. Tags can be very simple, for example they could transmit a short id code, similar to a bar code, that is powered by an electromagnetic field. Else, they can be more complex: they could be written to, perform calculations for authentication like a pay-tv chipcard, and contain a power source to increase range. Depending on the application, a major share of effort needs to also be put into an operations infrastructure acting on the data received by the antennas, for example time tracking of employees or billing for payment solutions. History The technology was first developed for military aircraft in the 1950s and 60s to allow identification of friendly planes, as the pure radar signature did not answer this question. The first patents for a RFID tag used to unlock a door touch less were awarded in 1973. In the 1980s first applications for toll collection, as discussed...
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...Strategic Management 4E11 Final Assignment You must be familiar with Wal-Mart, the US giant discount retailer. For the purposes of this course and drawing on the material we have discussed in class, I would like you to (1) evaluate Wal-Mart’s current strategy, (2) discuss and evaluate the options Wal-Mart has for geographic expansion and (3) discuss and evaluate the options Wal-Mart has for diversifying into another industry (pick one). Following I provide you with ten possible source of information on Wal-Mart and its strategy. You can use more, but do not get lost in research for more and more information. Keep in mind that the most important part of your grade will be the evaluation and critical parts of your paper. In other words, spend enough (more) time and effort in evaluating Wal-Mart’s strategy and expansion options. Possible Sources: 1. http://corporate.walmart.com/ 2. Freeman, R. 2006, The Wal-Mart Effect and Business, Ethics, and Society. Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 20 Issue 3, p38-40 (you can find this from ABI) 3. Ghemawat, Pankaj, 2006, Business, Society, and the "Wal-Mart Effect" Academy of Management Perspectives, Vol. 20 Issue 3, p41-4 (you can find this from ABI) 4. Case on Wal-Mart from Grant, R.M. (2005/8) Contemporary strategy analysis. 5th or 6th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing HD30.28.G72 2005/8 – or any subsequent edition (latest edition is 9th) 5. http://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AWMT&fstype=ii&ei=mRRxUOiwHIOwkAXYpgE ...
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...DR. BASMA KASHMOOLA bUSINESS ETHICS / SPRNG 2014 Case 2 Wal-Mart: The Future is Sustainability The Wal-Mart case was written to give students another perspective on one of the largest employers in the world. Over the years Wal-Mart has faced a large number of lawsuits and allegations of unethical behavior. Students will likely have heard stories of unethical and illegal activities involving Wal-Mart, and should be encouraged to share them in class. However, Wal-Mart has gained significant ground in recent years in regaining its reputation. The company has been a leader of adopting energy-efficient and renewable energy technology, offers a broad selection of organic items, and has improved its employee rights record. Nevertheless, it is still Wal-Mart, the largest corporation in the world, and many people remain hesitant to accept that Wal-Mart has fundamentally changed its ways. After having students read this case, instructors may want to ask whether they believe Wal-Mart is inherently unethical, or whether they are convinced the giant has changed its ways. As Wal-Mart has grown, its strategy has changed. Could its new push into sustainability and social responsibility be driven by profits, not by a real desire to clean up its act? In the 1970s, Wal-Mart’s strategy was to go into secondary markets, meaning communities with fewer than 10,000 residents. The company’s logistical strategy was to grow out from Bentonville, Arkansas in order to gain channel economies...
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...BA 385 Final Case Exercise Part I. The Case. Read through the case called “The Hudson River Clean Up and GE” (Case # 25 in your textbook). Do not do any outside research; stick to the case as it is written up in your textbook. In the table below, identify twenty relevant stakeholders and their stakes. Be specific about what each stakeholder has to gain OR lose by the possible actions suggested in the case. You need only list one stake (describe it if you think it is not clear without a description). *Gain *Lose | |Stakeholders |Stakes | |Stakeholders |Stakes | |1. |Shareholders and Investors |Share value goes down due to huge |11. |Animals live in Hudson River |Better living environment | | | |expense in dredging plan | | | | |2. |Employees |Increased possibility of lay-off |12. |Suppliers and other business |Increased business opportunity | | | |due to huge expense in dredging | |involved in dredging plan | | | | |plan | | | ...
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...disadvantages to Wal-Mart of working with unions? Wal-Mart is not known to be union friendly here in the United States. The advantages of Wal-Mart working with unions are most notably the ability to expand into China. With a population of over 1.3 billion people the need to work with China’s union, which our text book notes is a communist monopoly, (Decenzo and Robbins pg 364), is imperative to opening stores there. With this first wave of union employees we can be hopeful that Wal-Mart will start to accept Unions in United States stores and in Canada. Perhaps Wal-Mart can educate the United States Unions on how it would need to be structured in order for Wal-Mart to allow their presence. Wal-Mart being such a large retailer and employer in the United States could potentially revolutionize as well as revitalize the union movement if it would work more closely with it instead of closing stores who speak of unionizing. The disadvantages to Wal-Mart of working with the Unions can include- Higher wages- our text book states that it is common to find 30% higher wages in union businesses. Medical Benefits- Most unions push for medical benefits for its members Loss of the Sam Walton way- By allowing Unions to enter into the Wal-Mart business model the concept of how Wal-Mart does business could change dramatically. Wal-Mart is accustomed to being the Big Dog. They are able to tell suppliers and vendors to change their practices if they want to continue to supply Wal-Mart...
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...Unit 6 Case Analysis Wal-Mart Stores: “Everyday Low Prices” in China GB520-14M Strategic Human Resource Management Introduction The following paper analyzes the Wal-Mart case study regarding the position of their stores in China. It also provides a thorough examination of the struggles faced by the organization to secure their position of their stores in China through an HRM perspective, as well as a set of recommendation. Wal-Mart’s strategies to retain and attract customers are based on a set of fundamental premises envisioned by its founder Sam Walton. These premises are: to provide excellent customer service to its clients, make every effort to attain excellence at all levels, and to always respect the individuals. To accomplish these goals Sam Walton established a rule for its organization, the 10 foot rule, in which every employee is expected to engage with every customer that they find within a 10 feet distance with the purposes of providing assistance with their purchases and provide the best possible customer service experience. The analysis of this case study attempts to point out and explain the challenges experience by Wal-Mart in China and to provide a series of possible recommendations for the organization to overcome such challenges. The goal is to provide them a series of strategies for the organization that will allow it to successfully compete in this market. Analysis of the Situation and Pending Decision Problem Wal-Mart’s founder strongly believed...
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...Is Wal-Mart Good For America? Introduction We all want to do what is best for our families, our friends, ourselves and our country. However, our nation’s number one corporation is under constant ridicule for being a negative part of the American way. Wal-Mart is the overall number one on the fortune 500, over taking Exxon Mobile after a one year slip to the number 2 spot. However Wal-Mart is constantly being ridiculed by media and everyday citizens, its employees included. These opinions are often brought forth because of four major issues; the pay and benefits packages of Wal-Mart employees, the quality and buying of their goods from China, big box corporation killing local businesses ,and Wal-Mart taking jobs away and not creating new, stronger jobs .To answer each question I will use research from many different mediums, financial statements, and my personal experience as a three year Wal-Mart employee, and present facts and numbers that would be crucial in making an educated decision, following this information I will present what I believe is strong and weak about Wal-Marts current way of doing business, and then offer my solutions to answer these questions and answer the big question. Is Wal-Mart good or bad for America? Does Wal-Mart Treat Their Employees Right? As a Wal-Mart employee, I have gotten to see how things are ran, how we receive the goods, how they are taken to the floor, how it is stocked, and cleaned. I have been an overnight stocker at one of the...
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...Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 21, Number 3—Summer 2007—Pages 177–198 The Causes and Consequences of Wal-Mart’s Growth Emek Basker W al-Mart plays a large and ever-growing role in the U.S. economy. As of January 31, 2007, Wal-Mart operated more than 3,400 U.S. Wal-Mart stores along with more than 550 Sam’s Club locations. Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the United States, with 1.3 million employees, and the largest retailer in the United States. In 2004, Wal-Mart handled 6.5 percent of U.S. retail sales (8.8 percent if automobile sales are excluded); this number has since increased. Wal-Mart is the top U.S. seller of apparel, groceries, and music, among other products, and is the top retailer in most states. Wal-Mart’s 2005 revenues exceeded those of the next five U.S. retailers combined; these are Home Depot, Kroger, Sears Holding Company (which includes Sears and Kmart), Costco, and Target (Schultz, 2006). Wal-Mart currently accounts for 28 percent of Playtex’s sales, 25 percent of Clorox’s, 21 percent of Revlon’s, 13 percent of KimberlyClark’s, and 17 percent of Kellogg’s (Weinswig and Tang, 2006). Wal-Mart also accounts for over 15 percent of U.S. imports of consumer goods from China. More than 120 million U.S. consumers shop at Wal-Mart every week, and 84 percent of Americans shopped at Wal-Mart at least once during 2005 (Pew Research Center, 2005).1 Wal-Mart is also the largest retailer in the world. From a global perspective, Wal-Mart’s sales are...
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