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Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3

Company Overview ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Wal-Mart .................................................................................................................................................. 4

Tesco ......................................................................................................................................................... 4

Role of innovation in sustaining business success and growth .................................................................. 4

Comparison with other large retail stores- Why Wal-Mart is better? ....................................................... 8

Innovation and Intellectual Property .......................................................................................................... 8

Entrepreneurial Practices........................................................................................................................... 10

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................. 11

References .................................................................................................................................................. 12

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Introduction

Business is categorized into two main groups: one is the local business, whereby the corporate
involved does their transactions within the borders, the other category of business is the
international business; this involves the transactions being done across the borders. Cooperates
that operate across the borders are referred to as the multinationals. They are mostly
developed from one country or region and with time, they extend to other regions (Potter,
2011).

There are those companies that operate across the borders. They are known as multinational
companies. They are, therefore, said to have a worldwide approach to the world's finest
markets and products. In this paper, three of these kinds of companies will be discussed: these
are Walmart and Tesco retail stores. Although these companies are all multinationals, they
differ in one way or another, for example, they use different types of strategies to run their
operations, some of these strategies include cutting of the costs, the cost of labor, the cost of
raw material, charity work.

The business strategies for these multinational companies must be based on the international
marketing system for them to compete in the global competition. This is because the business
operating methods differ from country to country, therefore, it is necessary to understand the
different cultures and languages and also the political and legal systems and by doing, this a
company can attain global commercial success, creativity, and innovation. Looking at each
company's strategies in detail, this paper will identify the most effective and appropriate
strategies to be applied in the operation of a multinational company (ALDI, 2009).

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Company Overview
Wal-Mart
With its headquarters based in Bentonville US, Wal-Mart Company was established in 1962 by
Sam Walton. The company started to trade its shares in the New York Stock Exchange in 1972
thus making it generate a significant amount of capital that is used in its expansion strategies.
Based on the effective leadership of Robson Walton and Doug McMillon, the chairman and the
president respectively, the company has established more than 8,500 stores in 15 countries
thus making it to effectively face off it competitors including Tesco and Target Companies. Due
to its strong brand image and strong promotional and advertisement strategies, Wal-Mart has
continued to enjoy high sales and sustainable profitability.

Tesco
In the UK the largest food retailer is Tesco. It has around 2,318 stores across the world in
different locations. In the UK itself, it has around 1,878 stores spread widely across different
parts of the country. Tesco also operates in Asia and Europe. The company headquarters is in
Hertfordshire, in the UK. The online website of the company that is Tesco.com is a completely
owned subsidiary providing complete service through the online service. It also has two other
different online platforms tesco.net and also tescodirect.com. Tesco gives its customers the
option for both online and offline services. Tesco has both the type of customers external and
also internal. The company has over 326,000 employees across all the stores of the company in
the whole world.

Role of innovation in sustaining business success and growth

The growth of the international Wal-Mart business outside the US is described by Duke as
phenomenal and accelerated in the context of building new department stores and serving the
dynamic needs of a diverse line of customers (Daniel, 2012). It is claimed by the Walmart
organization itself that innovative leadership, concerned management, and a deep
commitment to saving the public's money have together given this business a global reputation

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due to which it is still in the process of progress (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, n.d.). It is claimed that
since the beginning, Sam Walton who was the founder of Walmart had the habit to surround
himself with people who had innovative ideas and did not hesitate to bring the toughest ideas
into life by appropriately implementing them (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, n.d.). The consensus is that
innovation is one of the key determinants of competitive advantage and this idea is fully
respected at Walmart which invests extra efforts into integrating innovation in its
organizational design or structure.

Tesco is also utilizing practices that are creating innovation and creativity in the organization,
with the help of leadership, customer satisfaction, and employee training & development to
introduce innovative ideas to retain and attract more customers and improve organizational
productivity.

Role of employee empowerment in fostering a positive workplace environment

The widespread success and solid reputation of this organization show that employee
empowerment is effectively integrated into its organizational structure since the beginning.
That is why from the very start the leaders at Walmart used to encourage fellow workers to
propose the most innovative ideas to most arduous tasks by maintaining an open
communication line. Many other organizations hesitate to implement the idea of employee
empowerment because they fear such a step may rob the managers off of their authority and
leadership qualities. But the truth is that research has established the relationship of employee
empowerment with organizational efficiency and job satisfaction (Johnson, 2011).

Strategic corporate governance capabilities of Tesco personal finance include the company's
long term initiatives on meeting its sustainability-related obligations and empowering
stakeholders to be more involved in corporate governance practices. As a result, corporate
responsibility has become the cornerstone of all strategies and plans.

Importance of analyzing the effects of management practices on the workforce

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It is a real secret to none that to satisfy the customers, the employees have to be satisfied first
because they are not only one of the most stakeholders of an organization but also they work
quite hard to accomplish many laborious tasks. The leaders and managers at Walmart
acknowledge this fact the employees cannot be expected to produce their best unless they are
intrinsically and extrinsically motivated and ensured of promotion and development. Poor
remuneration of employees is a pervasive feature of struggling organizations that fail to
establish themselves as mainstream businesses. The secret of Walmart's successful
management is that it believes the employees to be very important stakeholders (Greenwood,
2008) because "they are closely integrated with the firm" (Crane, Andrew and Matten, 2004, p.
224).

Management practices have an impact on customer services and this is recognized by Tesco so
that the organization’s success or failure is partially determined by such factors as mobilization
of resources to meet customers’ changing patterns of demand and minimizing costs at the
operational level.

Role of open communication to improve organizational commitment

Walmart has long been "one of the largest retailers in the world" (Daniel) and its strategies for
expanding business include "recruiting and developing employees who can lead the company in
the future" (Daniel, 2012). The managers at Walmart also realize that in such situations where
instructions are not properly explained to the employees, the entire organization could be
exposed to consistent pandemonium. This is why empowering employees serves as one of the
best solutions because it also spares the businesses the need to employ an army of managers,
especially when resources are limited and the budget is tight.

Tesco is also paying attention to the empowerment of employees so that employees can take
better decisions in situations where the instructions are not properly explained or given.
Communication is the major aspect of any business organization and so for Tesco.

Importance of training employees and developing their talents

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This long line of success in the context of customer satisfaction, profitability, and business
growth is reflective of timely investments made in conscientiously training employees.
Research stresses that along with innovation, training also forms an important indicator of
competitive advantage and both innovation and employee training form hallmarks of Walmart
stores around the world (Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2011, p. 270). Organizations many times
fail to make it to the mainstream market because they do not make proper investments in
training and developing employees which is very important for improved productivity,
profitability, and customer satisfaction. But, the management at Walmart not only makes
considerable efforts to select and retain the best talented people but also invest money in their
further training to develop their raw talents.

Tesco has invested huge resource in training & development of employees, according to Tesco
employee’s development is very essential for meeting organizational goals and success. Tesco
has improved concerning to achieve this by being the first superstore to have its apprenticeship
training programme recognized.

Importance of sharing growth plans and management strategies

Another great thing about Walmart's leaders is that they do not hesitate to share the wonderful
leadership and management qualities. It is very generous of the Walmart leaders like Mike
Duke to pass on the secrets of effective management to aspiring businessmen (Daniel, 2012).
An important benefit associated with revealing important plans and strategies before the public
is that such trend helps organizations in winning the trust of the customers they provide
services to and this also helped the Walmart Corporation immensely in crossing all the hurdles
to effectively reach the peak position where it stands for many years now.

The leadership style at Tesco tends to be less democratic or more autocratic. This might affect
innovation and motivation to a certain extent. Retail bank managers have been noted for
aggressive customer service though it has helped very little by way of change at the levels of
motivation and innovation.

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Comparison with other large retail stores- Why Wal-Mart is better?
Save other mediums like good communication, empowerment, business ethics, employee
training, and innovative management practices through which Wal-Mart managed to gain
enormous popularity and such a vibrant pool of diverse customers, research proves that this
American corporation is also better than the rest in the context of its advertisement,
promotion, and distribution policies. This is because Wal-Mart has massive buying power and
everyday new advertisements are watched by millions of people around the world which
popularizes low-priced products and in this way, people are told that they have good saving
options even in the present expensive times. Not only Wal-Mart can provide quality products at
low prices to the customers but also "there are tough negotiations with buyers" (Michael, 2012)
which helps drive the product costs further down.

Innovation and Intellectual Property

Intellectual Property may be defined as a creation that involves innovation and personal
creativity of the person who has brought a product into being. Therefore, laws that have been
created seek to protect the rights of the creator of the work to the economic exploitation of
that work. Similarly, patents and trademarks are vital for businesses in protecting their
innovations and creations and ensuring that the benefits in the marketing potential of the
product are directed only to the patent/trademark owners.

Intellectual Property in the UK

Intellectual property relates to the creation of the mind: literary and artistic works; inventions;
symbols and names used in trade. The Intellectual property falls into two categories, namely;
industrial property and copyrights (Cornish, 1999). Intellectual property rights, on the other
hand, are the legal provisions in the law that result from intellectual activities in areas such as
industrial, literarily, scientific and artistic works.
It is also necessary to consider that protected intellectual rights are items of trade, which
implies that some people may own, sell, or even buy them. As such, such rights are intangible
as well as non-exhaustible in terms of usage (Holderness and Mike, 1998)

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Patents

A patent refers to an exclusive right given to an individual or a firm for an invention for
something. In this case, an invention refers to the act of providing a product or a process that
result in newer ways of doing something (Law Commission, 2013, p. 10). An invention may also
give a new technical solution to the way of doing some things. Patents, therefore, protect the
owners of the inventions, which in most cases extend to a limited period of 20 years.

Trademarks

A trademark refers to that specific symbol, which identifies particular products as being peculiar
to a certain enterprise or a specific person. The trademark referred to in the definition may be
one word or a combination of the same, the use of letters, as well as numerals. They may also
entail symbols, drawings, three-dimensional symbols such as the shapes and packages for
products, and audio signs like vocal sounds or music (Law Commission, 2013, p. 13). Other
elements of a trademark may include the use of colors or fragrances that form distinguishing
elements of a product.

Copyrights and Related Rights

A copyright refers to the protection granted to the owners and inventors of literary or artistic
works. For instance, copyrights cover artistic works such as literary works that include novels,
plays, poems, newspapers, reference works, and computer programs (Law Commission, 2013,
p. 13). Others in the same category may include computer programs, films, databases, musical
compositions, as well as choreography. Copyrights may protect the owners of artistic works like
paintings, photographs, and sculptures.

The UK Law Regarding Intellectual Right’s Ownership

The contemporary UK patent issue falls under the jurisdiction of the Patents Act of 1977, which
puts the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) under the direct control of such matters (Law
Commission, 2013, p. 25). The law identifies a patent as a monopoly power that grants
commercial exploitation of any form of innovation in return for its disclosure.

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Open innovation Example

Methodologies of Open Innovation or even practices of benchmarking in the retailing business,

this instrument might be of great significance and supportive. Wal-Mart and Tesco growing
their direction and to create more Open Innovation relations, trying to familiarize themselves
with the demands of the industry (Guerra, 2013).

Entrepreneurial Practices
An entrepreneur has a keen sense of idea and opportunity. Author defines that ‘Turning
opportunity into ideas and putting these into widely used practice’. Yet again, Porter, defines
‘Companies achieve competitive advantage through acts of innovation. They approach
innovation in its broadest sense including both new technologies and new ways of doing things’
(David, Nicholas and Martha, 2012). We know that entrepreneurship in the early phases is
characterized by certain traits and characteristics which set it apart. These sets of
characteristics identify and profile the surrounding environment of the entrepreneurial
business and define the very context that bounds the working and operations and planning and
thinking of an entrepreneur at an operational and strategic level. These characteristics can be
succinctly summarized as follows:

1. Opportunity Recognition
2. Innovation
3. Risk-taking
4. Limited resourcefulness
5. Lack of prior market knowledge & information
6. Lack of manpower resources

The first three characteristics from the above list, i.e. opportunity recognition, innovation, risk-
taking Opportunity recognition trigger the entrepreneurial process. It entices and incites the
entrepreneurial interest in a venture, thus as such, it cannot be termed as a barrier. The last
three characteristics i.e. limited resourcefulness, Lack of prior market knowledge & information

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and Lack of manpower resources do, however, stand as barriers to the growth of the
entrepreneurial business (Frederick and Crane, 2012).

First of all, limited resourcefulness implies scarcity of man, material, financial and technical
resources. An entrepreneur is always faced with a scarcity of resources in realizing his
entrepreneurial venture. For example, an entrepreneur who wishes to test his idea, a product
or a service idea, will need financial and technical and financial resources to reach his target
audience and get their feedback on his idea, service or product.

For that, he needs financial resources which he usually does not have. How can these
limitations be overcome? An entrepreneur would normally use time, energy and creativity to
overcome these barriers. Entrepreneurs do not have financial resources to launch extensive
branding and promotional campaigns to attack his/her chosen market targets. Instead of
money, entrepreneurs use Time, Energy and Creativity to reach his target market.

Example

Tesco Metro stores, to supplement out-of-town superstores; the launch of the Clubcard loyalty
programme, which doubled the company's sales growth; mounting an effective challenge to
high street chains like W.H. Smith in the sale of newspapers, magazines and books.
Technological innovations at the point of sale like customer operated scanning were
introduced. Customer care was given prime importance: e.g. 4500 new jobs were created to
assist customers to pack bags, unload trolleys, fetch forgotten items and replace damaged
goods. Stores in key locations were made 'all night open'

Conclusion
Summing up, this much remains clear from the above discussion that Wal-Mart managed in
transforming itself into a multi-billion dollar company and is enormously successful today
because the leaders and managers working here always tried to produce innovative ideas that
attach considerable importance with both employees and customers. The employees are
considered an absolute asset for the organization which is why responsible people with
authority at Wal-Mart try to inculcate a sense of belonging in them to improve their service

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behaviors and to make them feel secure and relaxed while at work so that they can deliver their
best to meet innovation practices. There is an established relationship between organizational
culture and service behaviors which is why extra brainwork is invested at Wal-Mart in making
every employee feel valued, participative, and motivated because satisfied employees mean
satisfied customers.

References
ALDI, 2009. [Online]
Available at: http://www.ALDI.co.uk/index.htm

Cornish, W., 1999. Intellectual property: Patents, Copyright and Allied Rights.. London: Sweet & Maxwell.

Crane, Andrew and Matten, 2004. Business Ethics- A European Perspective: Managing Corporate
Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of Globalization.. Oxford: Crane, Andrew, and Matten, Dirk.
Business Ethics- A European Perspective: Managing Oxford University Press.

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Daniel, F., 2012. Head of Wal-Mart tells WFU audience of plans for growth over next 20 years..
WINSTON-SALEM JOURNAL.

David, Nicholas and Martha, 2012. Entrepreneurship.. s.l.:s.n.

Fortier, A., 2011. THE ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT.. [Online]
Available at: http://www.livestrong.com/article/234111-the-advantages-disadvantages-of-employee-
empowerment

Frederick and Crane, 2012. M Frederick G. Crane. Marketing for Entrepreneurs: Concepts and
Applications for New Ventures.. s.l.:s.n.

Greenwood, M., 2008. Classifying Employees as Stakeholders.. [Online]

Available at: http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/mgt/research/working-papers/2008/wp4-08.pdf

Guerra, J. N., 2013. Retailers’ Assessment: Guidelines for Open Innovation Partnerships. Dissertation.,
s.l.: s.n.

Holderness and Mike, 1998. Moral rights and authors’ rights: The keys to the Information age.. Journal
of Information, Law and technology.

Jackson, Schuler and Werner, 2011. Managing Human Resources.. s.l.:Cengage Learning.

Johnson, M., 2011. Workforce Deviance and the Business Case for Employee Engagement.. The Journal
for Quality & Participation, pp. 11-16.

Law Commission, 2013. Consultation Paper No 212: Patents, Trade Marks and Design Rights: Groundless
Threats. [Online]
Available at: http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/docs/cp212_patents_groundless_threats.pdf

Law Commission, 2014. Patents, Trade Marks and Design Rights: Groundless Threats. [Online]
Available at: http://lawcommission.justice.gov.uk/docs/lc346_patents_groundless_threats.pdf

Michael, 2012. What makes Wal-Mart successful?. [Online]

Available at: http://cheek0o.hubpages.com/hub/What-makes-Wal-Mart-successful

Potter, M., 2011. Tesco to outpace growth at global rivals. [Online].

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, n.d. History Timeline.. [Online]

Available at: http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/heritage/history-timeline

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, n.d. Our Story.. [Online]
Available at: . http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/

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