Wal-Marts 1 WAL-MARTS PROBLEMS IN

Wal-Marts Problems in International Market Patiporn Kitlertphiroj University College of University of Denver

Wal-Marts 2 Abstract Wal-Mart, the biggest retailer in the world, is spreading its power throughout the world, starting with nine countries in Asia, Europe and South America. The

expansion has planed for more in the near future. With its attempt to penetrate hypermarket culture in every country which it enters, many severe problems are come into play. Acquisitions and joint venture with local businesses became a problem in nationalism country. Thus, strict governments rules and regulations blocked business operations. Misreading competitors and late in entry destroyed location opportunities the same as harmed relationship with local suppliers. Inadaptable to local culture become a big problem in global business. Moreover, low wages, unions and sex discrimination brought Wal-Mart to be an evil in employees perspective.

Wal-Marts 3 Literature Review Wal-Mart is the largest Discount Store in the United States. Its magnitude is not only recognized domestically but also expanded to International Market. The

company believes that one day this one will replace the United States position when the trend down (Molin, 2004). With this goal Wal-mart is encouraged to expanding stores into nine countries around the world and more in its plans (About Wal-Mart, 2001). Being number one in the United States does not always guarantee for being number one elsewhere in the world. There are many problems that Wal-Mart is now facing in this highly competitive business world. Finally, many references illustrate various problems and causes Wal-Mart faced while expanding into International market. The three basic belief and two keys rules that differentiated Wal-Mart from the rivals were proposed in The Wal-Mart Culture (2004). Gilman, 2004; Jones, 1998 and Menzer, 2001 describe the reason why Wal-Mart expand its intensity to international market. They believe that in the future this division will replace the US market. However, expansion through world market does not seem easy to Wal-Mart, it also faced some problems both from external and internal. Sources tend to agree that Wal-Mart itself has less consideration in international market when compare with competitors (Groeber, 2002; Wal around, 2001). Another reference states that it was misreading the competitors (Molin, 2004). In addition, other sources state that culture difference is another problem that Wal-Mart was overlooked (Lewis, 1998; Anderson, 1994). Even though Wal-Mart has close relationships with American suppliers, it fails to make connection with local suppliers (Bianco & Zellner, 2003; Lohr, 2003). Wal-

Wal-Marts 4 Mart tired to use the same standard and concept as in United States but unfortunately one concept does not fit all. Moreover, Gilman (2004) and Zellner, Schmidt, et al. (2001) agree that Wal-Mart is too concentrated in expanding their concept. Another external factor that comes into play is government regulations. Both Groeber (2002) and Molin (2004) agree that these restrict regulations lead monopoly market in some countries. Although some source states that one of the biggest problems of Wal-Mart is Human Resource Management (HRM) (Biddle, 2004), sex discrimination is the most controversy topic not only in the United States but also in the international market as well (Rock, 2001). As a result of private consideration in expanding hypermarket culture into international markets, Wal-Mart faces management problems as well as external problems, which causes severe problems to Wal-Mart in the global Market.

Wal-Marts 5 Introduction The world economy has undergone a radical transformation in the last two decades. Geographical and cultural distances have shrunk significantly with the

advent of airplanes, fax machines, global computers, and world televisions satellite broadcasting and most important the internet. These advances have allowed business corporations to widen substantially both their markets and their supplier sources. In the business world today, people refer to Globalization. Globalization is about worldwide economic activity - about open markets, competition and the free flow of goods, services, capital and knowledge. It has made the world economy more

efficient. As global companies enter local markets, local companies enter global ones. The resulting competition increases product quality, widens the range of available goods, and keeps prices low. Consumers everywhere are the big winners from the globalization process. Globalization actually creates more diversity, not less. While it expanded into international markets, making products and services universally available, it also increased consumer choice. The good news is that the globalization means a much larger market for goods and services. The bad news is that these companies now face a greater number of

competitors. Environmental deterioration presents many opportunities for companies that can create more effective means of protecting or cleaning up the environment. Infrastructure neglect provides huge opportunities for companies in the construction, transportation, and communication industries. Economic stagnation favors companies that are good at lean production and lean marketing. Low labor skills challenge educational and training companies to design more effective programs for upgrading human skill.

Wal-Marts 6 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., is a national discount department store chain operating primarily in small towns throughout the United States. The use of new information technology enabled Wal-Mart to know what customers were buying and to tell manufactures what to produce and where to ship the goods. Company Background Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the largest retailer in the world, the worlds second-largest company after Exxonmobil and the nations largest nongovernmental employer. WalMart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in various retailing formats in all 50 states in the United States. The Company's mass merchandising operations serve its customers primarily through the operation of three segments. The Wal-Mart Stores segment includes its discount stores, Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets in the United States. The Sams club segment includes the warehouse membership clubs in the United States. The Company's subsidiary, McLane Company, Inc. provides products and distribution services to retail industry and institutional foodservice customers. It is now has more than 4,700 stores including some 1,475 discount stores, 1,750 combination discount and grocery stores and 538 membership-only warehouse stores (SAMS CLUB) (Bianco, 2003). With net income of approximately US$8 billion on sales of US$247 billion (Income Statement, 2004), Wal-Mart was the subject of countless newspaper features and journal articles praising its dominance and success. Nearly 75% of its stores are in the United States (Wal-Mart International Operations, 2004), but Wal-Mart is expanding internationally. The International segment includes all of its operations in Asia, Europe, and South America which are comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico, and United Kingdom (About Wal-Mart 2004).

Wal-Marts 7 Organizational Culture Wal-Mart satisfy itself on its strong culture, with various references to Sam Waltons personal life story, the history of the company and how Waltons personal values become core beliefs for the company. Wal-Mart public information showed that its customer-focused culture shoot from the companys pursuit of low prices products and authentic customer service. Walton had three basic beliefs on which the company was build which are respect for the individual, service to customers, and strive for excellence. In addition, there were two key rules that supported these three basic beliefs: the Sundown Rule (attending to requests the same day they were received); and the Ten-foot Rule (offering greetings whenever one was within 10 feet of a customer) (The Wal-Mart Culture, 2004). This Waltons philosophy leads Wal-Mart different from the rivals with aggressive hospitality - striving to be the most friendly, giving better service over what customers expected, and generally exceeding customers expectations. Moreover, Wal-Mart good concept also involved stores offering customers a variety of name-brand goods at deep discounts that were part of an everyday-low-prices strategy. International Penetration Another vehicle for company growth was aggressive international expansion. The International Division was sat up to manage oversee growing opportunities (About Wal-Mart, 2004). This division is one of the high growth rate departments in the company. Wal-Mart said in financial report (2003) that sales of International Division had reached more than forty billion dollar and growth rate was more than fifteen percent compare to the previous year. Moreover, the operation profit increased fifty five percent from the year 2002. This division is believed that if trend in the United

Wal-Marts 8 States goes down in one day, this international market will be replaced that position. John Menzer, president and CEO of the International Division says that We need to be the growth of Wal-Mart some day when the United States slows down (as cited in Molin, 2004). Within thirteen years in International Market, Wal-Mart has expanded its store throughout global market. There are almost a thousand stores in nine

countries around the world. Not all stores are newly established by Wal-Mart itself; joint venture or buy local companies also the strategies that it uses in order to expand into each country. In the mid-1990sWal-Mart started introducing its designation to the world by joint venture with Cifra, A.A. de C.V., Mexicos largest retailer. This created Mexico became the first member of the International division in 1991. In June of 1992, operations in Puerto Rico was started with the opening a Wal-Mart store in Fajardo. In 2002, Wal-Mart acquired Supermercados Amigo, a local supermarket chain, in order to make connection with local suppliers on the island. Store opening in Brazil confirm expanding plan of Wal-Mart to South America market. The operation began in May 1995 when a Sans Club opened in metropolitan area of Sao Paulo. Nine years after that Wal-Mart Brazil is present in four states Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and Parana. This year it will acquire Bompreco, a leading supermarket and hypermarket chain in northeastern Brazil. The next stop of South America

operation was at Argentina. Wal-Mart Argentina began in august 1995, three months after Brazil. It started with the opening of a Sams Club in Avellaneda. Today, WalMart runs into 11 supercenters and one distribution center. The acquisition of

Woolco in 1994 brought Wal-Mart to Canada which is now present in 231 discount department stores and 5 Sams Clubs. China was the first country in Asia that Wal-

Wal-Marts 9 Mart choose to enlarge its market share. It was first enter in August 1996 with the opening of supercenter and Sams Club in Shenzhen (Wal-Mart Inter 2004). Wal-Mart website claimed that As a harbinger if Chinas economic reform and the fastest growing coastal city in China, Groeber proved to be the best location for WalMarts investment (2002). In January 1998, Wal-Mart had first entry in Europe market with the acquisition of Wertkauf hypermarkets in Germany. Later in that year, Wal-Mart also acquired Interspar, another German hypermarket chain. It has invested in modifying these stores since then and now, Wal-Mart operates the total 92 supercenters in Germany. Later that same year, Korea became a member of Wal-Mart international operation. The company expanded by acquisition and conversion Makro stores, a discount store chain. Moreover, the company also established its first new construction project in Seoul, which opened in July 1999. One month later, ASDA, Britains best value retailer, became part of the Wal-Mart family. And in the year 2000, The first time for Wal-Mart to have name appeared on a UK store which is ASDA-Wal-Mart Supercenter (Wal-Mart Inter, 2004). The latest place outside U.S. market that Wal-Mart entered was Japan. In March, 2002, The Company gained a minority interest of The Seiyu, Ltd., one of Japans top retailers. Today, 37.8% of its stock was hold by Wal-Mart and it was planed to retain the option up to nearly 67% by year 2007(Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2004). The expansion in number of store is a continuous plan of Wal-Mart. Accordingly, top management had consistently informed the press of the importance of Wal-Mart expansion plans in foreign markets indication that between one third to half of its growth in the following years should come from outside the saturated US market

Wal-Marts 10 (Jones, 1998). The overseas expansion of Wal-Mart, therefore, was seen as part of a long-term strategy of becoming a dominant force in international retailing. Problems in expansion to International Market The larger Supercenter hypermarkets put in fresh foods. The Neighbourhood Market stores supply a smaller food, pharmacy, health and beauty, offering for convenience-oriented customers. This standardization of format types has helped the expansion and branding of Wal-Mart in international as well as U.S. markets. WalMart, the number one retailer in the world, would not have been possible to expand its market without a strong retail proposition. This plan is based on low price strategy, wide variety of goods, customer service, and community support. Indeed, Wal-Mart can play with low price strategy because of its competitive gross margins and high inventory turnover. Low costs are achieved by economies of scale, purchasing power, close vender relations, effective information systems and efficient supply chain logistics. The concept works on the global and regional level with the goal being to lower costs, improve quality, lower prices and increase volume. The rapid rise of Wal-Mart to the position of the Worlds largest retailer occurred in a relatively short time frame. The company believes that there is no choice but to expand rapidly abroad. Menzer confirmed with Business Week in September 3, 2001 that The United States is 37% of the worlds economy, which leaves 63% for International. If we do our job, International operations should someday be twice as large as the United States. Thats a big challenge, but that is the opportunity in front of us. Someday the U.S. will slow down, and the international will be the growth vehicle for the company. (p.15).

Wal-Marts 11 As of this consideration, Wal-Mart use the short cut of expansion by joint venture and acquisition the local retailer chains. Menzer also confirm this idea in Gilman (2004) that We just had too much on our plate at the time So we bought Woolworth in Canada. And we had a joint venture going in Mexico. We also bought Pace (wholesales clubs) from Kmart, We got through that in about six months. However, Wal-Mart might well be both Americas most admired and most hated company. Wal-Mart definitely increases the overall GDP of the United States, but its monopoly also detestation. Employees low payment, sex discrimination, restriction in suppliers, and small business destroyer are the example reasons that make WalMart be an evil in retailer business. But it seems that Wal-Mart does not recognize this, it still using the same way of doing business in the global market. Along with this misstep in oversea operation, it was later destroyed and brought big problems to Wal-Mart itself. Furthermore, Wal-Mart did not give much significant to

International division when compare to its competitors. Wal-Marts growth was achieved primarily in its US home market and only 8.9 percent of its 1999 sales came from international markets. This proportion is considerably less than its competitors which have sales of 30 percent (Groeber, 2002). External Problems Late Entry Even though Wal-Mart already expanded into nine countries and has planed for more, it is still much behind its competitors. Many European retailers such as

Carrefour and Ahold have a couple of decades more international experience than Wal-Mart. Carrefour, a giant Frances retailer, is one of Wal-Mart main competitor in Global retailers. While Carrefour had already entered in 31 countries, Wal-Mart had

Wal-Marts 12 only nine (Wal around, 2001). The advantage of first come first serve is obviously in this case. Better locations were already reserved by Carrefour. New comer like Wal-Mart has to bring other strategies to persuade the customer to go shopping at its store. Overlook Competitors Wal-Mart should realize that it is new in globalization, in contrast, it strongly believes in its strength which is size and prices. Large scale of stores was brought to judge its intensity. Although, Wal-Mart accustomed to enjoy its power in the United States, but this extraordinary rule cannot fit all. At the time of Wal-Mart entry, the competitors were already powerfully investing in store automation. Molin (2004) reported that misreading of the competitors and the cultures lead Wal-Mart made numerous bad decisions in international business. Destroy Small Businesses When Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer, it is obsessive about numbers. It is number one, after all, and it wants everyone to know. In global business world, only larger size cannot imply that Wal-Mart is better and successful. In fact, Wal-Mart also came under criticism for its impact on small retail businesses. Independent small shops have to went out of business after this giant chain stores come into play. Some research said that after Wal-Mart has been in town for eight to ten years, that town is just a ghost town. This phenomenon is not happening only in the United States, but it also has the same consequence in everywhere that this giant chain store comes into play. In some countries, Wal-Mart has banned from local communities because it obliterates local business. In short run Wal-Mart is like a custodian but when look cautiously, it is a killer.

Wal-Marts 13 Joint Venture and Nationalism There are both advantages and disadvantages in Joint Venture or acquisition of local businesses. These arrangements helped Wal-Mart understand a new market and avoid problems with local distributors. Partnerships are also the best sources of information on local sales trends and retailers performance data. Moreover, these strategies facilitate market presence and allow quicker market penetration. However, the acquisition of local chain retailers in some countries can make people feel that they will occupy by the foreigner. This also effect in purchasing banned from local customers. Especially, in the country that people are nationalism such as Germany. The acquisition of Wertkauf and Interspar mislead the establishment in Germany that soon after caused huge number of problems to Wal-Mart. Culture Different The biggest barrier that Wal-Mart is facing when trying to grow in Global market is the opposition at the local level. The company is seldom accepted from community groups when it opposes plans to build new stores. It is not only the protection for local business itself but also the differentiation in culture. The retail giant had some problems with consumers and has had to make some adjustments. Some research says that Wal-Mart is behind the locals in their knowledge of taste. One of a good example is the difficulty of Sams clubs in Brazil. The Brazilian consumers never pay for a membership fee and they do not have much room to store a big volume of purchases (Lewis, 1998). It is undeniably that Wal-Mart had to change its strategies in order to fit this culture. Another problem in culture different is data collection. I receive calls all the time from U.S. retailers looking for data on local market trends, but the data just does not exist the way it does in the U.S. Walter Frascgetto, an

Wal-Marts 14 Arthur Andersen partner based in Mexico City, supported (as cited in Anderson, 1994). As a result, the retailers were forced to strongly rely on their own physical observations. House Brand and Price Differentiate Everyday Low Price, an ideal strategy of Wal-Mart, is now facing a looming challenge. Although Wal-Mart always claims that its sells cheaper, the prices are not so different. If the customers want to buy a small amount of goods, they prefer a convenience store that closer and easier. Similar to Argentinians, they are going back to smaller neighborhood shops when the price differential between Wal-Mart and Convenience store is only 5% to 15% (Maas, 1998). Furthermore, most of cheaper products are from Wal-Marts manufacturing goods. The appearances are same but different in qualities. Nevertheless, some of house brand products cannot penetrate into local customer since they are imported from the United States and has only English language on the labels. Suppliers Relationships with suppliers were a major problem for Wal-Mart in International Market. First of all, the company tired to apply the same standards it used in The United States with local suppliers. But the relationship among retailers and

manufacturers was quite different from the USA. In America, Wal-Mart is the biggest retailer. All suppliers have to follow its rules and conditions. The prices and

standards are set from Wal-Mart only. This is why Wal-Mart can buy and sell cheaper. However, Wal-Mart was banned from the manufacturers in some countries, when it attempted to sell many products at price below cost. And this reaction was sometimes extreme. Some local suppliers neither refused to give special discount nor

Wal-Marts 15 to sell products to Wal-Mart. Also, some producers rejected delivery system; they refused to send goods to Wal-Mart distribution center. Even a discount in exchange was ignored. This, combined with irregularity of delivery by suppliers and problems with inventory control, lead shot in products on the shelf. Furthermore, Wal-Mart has been known not only for setting the tone with its venders for buying and selling, but often for only dealing directly with vender by passing sales representatives. A research says that more than 100,000 independent manufacturers representatives initiated a public information campaign to fight WalMarts effort to remove them from the selling process, claiming that the company eliminated manufacturers right to choose how it sells its products. In addition, the largest retailer also using its market power to force suppliers to become more efficient. Sam Walton told Nations Business in April, 1988 that Our suppliers must commit to improving their facilities and machinery, strive to improve employee productivity. Yet, in an attempt to keep cutting costs, Wal-Mart is tough on its suppliers. If you are good with data, are sophisticated, and have scale, WalMart should be one of your most profitable customer, said a retired consumerproducts executive (Bianco and Zellner, 2003). On the other hand, it is easily to get dumped if the prices and qualities are not meet standardize. Venders have to shift their operations to China or elsewhere in order to get lower cost, if they still want to be Wal-Marts accounts. The evident demonstrates that Manufacturers have been forced to lay off workers after Wal-Mart cancelled orders when another vender cut its price a few cents more (Lohr, 2003). These bad reputations make Wal-Mart become one of the most jeopardy customers. Despite a decade of effort, Wal-Mart still have not create a strong supply chain in the international marketplace.

Wal-Marts 16 Government Regulations In the business world, dealing with government rules and regulations is unavoidable. When Wal-Mart is in the United Stated, it is so powerful but in

elsewhere, it is just a foreigner. This problem became clear when Wal-Mart entered into China. China has population above one million and has cities up to 170 cities. But despite some early successes, Wal-Mart was plagued by problems that defy quick solutions. The examples of these problems are supply chain, strong local and foreign competition, and lots of governments red tape. Everyone knows that rules and regulations of Communist countries are very strict and limited. The Communist government has boxed foreign retailers into selected countries to limit competition. Moreover, some selected products are controlled and nominated by local suppliers only. For instance, liquor and tobacco must be bought locally, and Chineses favorite vegetables have to be bought nearby too (Groeber, 2002). Even though Wal-Mart has had outlets in China since 1996, it has yet to open a store in a booming city. Molin claims that the company only operates 34 stores there and like other retailers entering the country, has run into red tape in its expansion efforts (2004). This evidence demonstrates that Wal-Mart struggling to operate in China. Internal Problems Unique culture and concepts One of the reasons that failed Wal-Mart internationally is when it attempt to transport the companys unique culture and retailing concept to each new country. Gilman (2004) asserts that in Wal-Mart overseas expansion, it has been trying hard to launch the supercenter concept. But not every concept matches all over the places, or

Wal-Marts 17 even in Brazil. Most of Brazilians are living in very small places and have tiny storages, definitely, they have no room for the bulky merchandises. Without a doubt, this supercenter concept does not fit in this country. In spite of adjust or create new concept, Wal-Mart pays no attention to the culture different, and still enlarge its own culture from one to another countries. As a result, the giant distributor failed in making profit. The popularity in larges sales volume does not make any meaningful impact on sales. Its good to introduce global standards but you also need to adapt to local practice, said in Zellner, Schmidt, et al. (2001). Wal-Mart seems not to consider in this theory. It insists that any problems do not reflect the culture of the company as a whole. Together with its hypermarket expansion, Wal-Mart also introduces its private labels, for example, Sams choice and Great Value. These brands were initially used for more than a thousand items of products selling in its supercenter stores. Wal-Mart indicates a desire to stamps its brand on every store. Not every new cross- border retailer can be a retail giant outer its home. The mistake of exporting its culture wholesale, rather than adapting to local market, leads Wal-Mart failed in Germany market. Who else can lose $300 millions a year in Germany and Barely notice? (Wal around the world, 2001). We screwed up in German, Mr. Menzer admitted with Economist. Our biggest mistake was putting our name up before we had the service and low price. People were disappointed (as cited in Wal around the world, 2001). Most of Wal-Mart overseas problems were avoidable.

Wal-Marts 18 Human Resource Management With the world becoming a global village, highly visible international company like Wal-Mart is going to continue facing significant challenges as it is now dealing with social issues: fairly and unfairly in employment. Wal-Mart remained a unionized company, working continually to repel organizing attempts in the United States and around the world. Some say that it is a very big discount store which will do anything just about to get bigger. Wal-Mart employment problems are easily seen from the headlines: Illegal immigrants mopping its floors, Sex discrimination, Low wages lead worker strike, etc. One of the biggest problems is likely to come from unions and community groups. Even though no one can force to have union in Wal-Mart, these problems still hurt the company itself. The unions complain that Wal-Mart stores take advantages from the stuffs. Only on their income, they were not being able to pay for health insurance and other benefits. Wal-Mart workers generally gave the company high performances, but they never get proper pay and benefits. In fact, they got a very low pay one.

Moreover, employees did not get pay from overtime working. In February 2004, Wal-Mart was judge to pay workers for their overtime hours. This ruling was brought by employees who were forced to work overtime between 1994 and 1999, without pay (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2004). Thus, Wal-Mart is trying to reduce the numbers of full-time employees to facilitate the workers in joining unions. This helps WalMart to eliminate unions basis (Biddle, 2004). Due to rapid growth of Wal-Mart, the biggest problem is its lack of human capital. Wal-Mart was argued that it cannot claim to be an international company when the managers in the foreign countries do not even speak the language of that country.

Wal-Marts 19 The company solved this circumstance by decentralize management authority from headquarter to International operation. Individual country leaders were given more freedom to run the business, especially in the areas of operations and merchandising (Zellner, Schnidt, et al, 2001). However, Wal-Mart cannot maintain employees quality as in the United States. Local employees, including managers, lack of

experiences in the company culture; they are slowly adjusted. Last but not least, sexual discrimination is another eternal controversy topic of Wal-Mart. Women employees are often overlooked or ignored when it came time to promote. Available data showed that, the percentage of women employed by Wal-

Mart decreased from 76 per cent to 64 per cent since 1996 (Rock, 2001). Some of women stuffs about being told that they were unsuited to management because the working hours are too long, and they should be home with their children. Besides when employees were promoted to higher-level jobs, there was an expectation that they would be moved to other stores, districts or regions, as much as business need required (Rock, 2001). As a result, women employees are the first abandon choice since they are inflexible. In his 1992 autobiography, Sam Walton discussed the changes he had made to his original management philosophy of requiring managers to be extremely flexible: May be that was necessary back in the old days (that one had to be ready to relocate on a moments notice to move into management), and maybe it was more rigid than it needed to be. Now, though, its not really appropriate anymore for several reasons. First, as the company grows bigger, we need to find more ways to stay in touch with the communities where we operate, and one of the best ways to do that is by hiring locally,

Wal-Marts 20 developing managers locally, and letting them have a career in their home community - if they perform. Second, the old way really put good, smart women at a disadvantage in our company because, at the time they werent as free to pick up and move as many men were. Now Ive seen the light on the opportunities we missed out on with women. (p.78) Conclusion Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer and the largest company in the world based on revenues, ignoring profits (income), assets, and market capitalization. While Wal-Mart has been tremendous successful running its business in the U.S. market, it also enforces expanding throughout in the international market. However, the achievement in the U.S. market cannot always guarantee that Wal-Mart will also success in anywhere else. There are several reasons, which are presented in this paper, giving the reason why Wal-Mart does not do well in the global market. Both external and internal problems which Wal-Mart is facing with at this current situation are the primary reasons. The external problems are late entry, overlook competitors, destroy small business, joint venture and nationalism, culture different, house brand and price differentiate, suppliers, and government regulations. On the other hand, the internal problems which it still confronts in the operation systems are unique culture and concepts, and human resource management. These critical problems provide the difficulty for expanding in this new market and competing with its competitors in the global market. It is critical for Wal-Mart to analyze these external and internal problems and find the solution to overcome them, so that this will help to create the opportunity for

Wal-Marts 21 it to glow in the market and be the globally competitive in the future. Moreover, expanding to the unfamiliar market which contains a different culture, environment, and pattern, the company needs to be flexible to adapt the new environment in order to survive and accomplish in its market.

Wal-Marts 22 References About Wal-Mart. (2004). Retrieved April 6, 2004 from http://walmartstores.com. Anderson, F. (1994). U.S. Discounters Head North and South of the Border. (Cover Story). Discount Merchandiser, 34, (9), p64. Bianco, A., Zellner, W. (2003). Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful? BusinessWeek, (3852), p100. Biddle, R. (2004, Mar. 28). Wal-Mart:Bully or Benefactor? Megachain an Economic Godsend in Many Areas Daily News, pV1. Financial Report. (2003). Retrieved May 12, 2004 from http://financeyahoo.com Gilman, H. (2004, Apr. 5). The Most Underrated CEO Ever. New York Times, (7), pp. 242-248. Groeber, J. (2002). A New Frontier. National Real Estate Investor, 44, (11), Income Statement. (2004). Retrieved April 27, 2004 from http://financeyahoo.com/ q/s?s=WMT&annual. Jones, T.Y. (1998). The biggest of the big. Forbes 500s Annual Directory. Retrieved March 31, 2004 from http://forbes.com/forbesglobal/98/0420/0201054a.htm Lewis, L. (1998). Brazillian beat. Progressive Grocer, (2), p12. Lohr, S. (2003, Dec. 7). Is Wal-Mart Good for America? New York Times, pg.4.1. Maas, Pablo (1998). Concept Check. Business Latin America, 33, (46), p6. Molin, D. (2004). A bullish Wal-Mart: Targeting New Countries, Smaller Formats. Retrieved April 7, 2004 from http;//0web3.infotrac.galegroup.com.bianca. penlib.du.edu/itw/infomark/. Rock, J. (2001, Sep. 17). Can Wal-Mart Succeed in Foreign Soil? Weekly Corporate Growth Report, (1158), p11537.

Wal-Marts 23

The Wal-Mart Culture. (2004). Retrieved April 26, 2004 from http://walmart.com. Wal around the world. (2001). Economist, 361, (8251), p55. Wal-Mart International Operations. (2004). Retrieved April 26, 2004 from http://walmart.com. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (2004). Retrieved April 12, 2004 from http://hoovers.com Walton, S. (1992) Made in America. New York: Bantam Books. Zellner, W., Schmidt, A.K., Ihlwan, M. & Dawley, H. (2001). How well Does WalMart Travel? BusinessWeek, (3747), p82.