Wal-Mart in China
In the United States, Wal-Mart has become the leader of all retail stores and is the largest retailer than any other dominating the industry with stores in the international market. The company operates in 27 countries including Canada, and the United Kingdom (Farhoomand, & Wang, 2008; Wal-Mart, 2014). Wal-Mart was founded in Rogers, Arkansas by Sam Walton (Wal-Mart, 2014); and throughout the years it grew into a successful business. When Mr. Walton created Wal-Mart, he defined his business in three distinct objectives: individual respect, customer service, and strive for excellence (Hayden, et al., 2002). At that time, he utilized the “pricing philosophy” as one part of his corporate management strategy; this technique involved selling high quality, brand name products at the lowest price and has remained the same since Mr. Walton first opened the store (Farhoomand, & Wang, 2008; Hayden, et al., 2002, p. 16). Wal-Mart became a departmentalized, discount retail business and although the company launched its business in small-towns it expanded into larger cities (Farhoomand, & Wang, 2008; Hayden, et al., 2002).
To accomplish his corporate aforementioned goals, Sam established two distinct rules; the first, the “Sundown Rule” in which an associate must logically provide an answer to a request or question from a customer or supplier within 24 hours (Hayden, et al., 2002, p. 16). Second, the “Ten Foot Rule” in which “an associate must greet, smile, and attend to a customer in a store when within 10 feet of them” (Hayden, el al., p. 16). Unfortunately, opening a Wal-Mart in China was not as successful as the corporate managers hoped for; therefore, this paper provided a synopsis in the above paragraphs of the Case study, Wal-Mart Stores: Everyday Low Prices in China written by Farhoomand and Wang. In the following paragraphs this paper will