Walmart International Startegy

Executive Summary

• Walmart: one of the largest and aggressive retailers

• Competitive advantages: Corporate workforce and culture, advanced IT, low cost, high volume strategy, Distribution centres- cross docking, Supplier relationship

• Transferability: mature/ Western market suitable as better IT, EDLP transferred anywhere, need to establish new vendor relationship, partnership with local companies having similar corporate culture.

• Walmart International: Stores in 15 countries and departure from Germany, Indonesia, South Korea and Hong Kong.

Introduction

Walmart was established in 1962 by Sam Walton in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart is one of the largest and aggressive retailers in the world with 8,500 stores under 55 different banners in 15 countries. It boasted annual sales of around 405 billion dollars for fiscal year 2010.(4) The retail divisions include: Walmart stores, Sam's club, supercentres, neighbourhood markets, International and Walmart.com. Specialty divisons include Tire and Lube express, Pharmacy, Vacations, Used Fixture auctions and Optical. Walmart employs more than 962,000 associates in the USA and 282,000 internationally.(9)

Walmart strategy: ‘Give People high value, low prices and a warm welcome.' The company was founded on three basic beliefs: Respect for the individual, service to customers and strive for excellence. (1)

Competitive advantages

Competitive advantage denotes a firm's ability to achieve market and financial superiority. A strong competitive advantage is driven by customer needs and aligns the organization's resources with its business opportunities.(1) Walmart's competitive advantages:

Distribution capabilities: Walmart has its own distribution centres (DC) already in