Preview

Philips versus Matsushita: The Competitive Battle Continues – Strategic Analysis

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
818 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Philips versus Matsushita: The Competitive Battle Continues – Strategic Analysis
WAL –MART STORES:
“EVERY DAY LOW PRICES” IN CHINA

Prepared by Fabula Plancher

September 25, 2013
Professor
Dr. Brenda Richey

Summary of the Case The Arkansas based company Wal-Mart had been attempting to gain a foothold in China since 1996 and has encountered a variety of problems in doing so. Initially, the company was hindered by Chinese business regulations which were saturated with layers of bureaucracy and forced the US retailer to go slowly. Meanwhile, its chief competitors were bending the rules to their advantage and making greater progress in establishing a secure foothold in the world’s largest consumer market. Wal-Mart was faced with logistical difficulties, regulatory hurdles, and an apparent need to adjust their business model to better fit the Chinese consumer culture. The result was a very challenging business environment that would put the retailer’s business model to the test.
Should Wal-Mart use its “every day low price” strategy in China? Wal –Mart should not “ everyday Price strategy in china because No I don’t think wal mart should use every day prices strategy in china because of different culture. First wal-Mart faced was that of molding their domestic business model to fit the Chinese consumer culture. In the United States, Wal-Mart had seen great success by targeting smaller communities that were underserved by their chief competitors K-Mart and Woolworths. The basic format involved building a store in a rural location and then driving out competitors by making it impossible to compete with the retail giant’s exceedingly low prices. Once they had achieved dominance in a market, they would maintain their hold by offering a wide variety of goods at the lowest possible prices. The intent was to bring brand names out of dense population centers and into the smaller markets without bringing the associated costs. One thing the case mention Wal mart come with the strategy

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The evolution of Wal-mart from the early 1960s to the present day has set a benchmark that few can achieve. Wal-mart executives have been successful nationally as well as globally. The knowledge and expertise in economics have made Wal-mart a global giant. The research completed is the final recommendations by the members of research team C and will address questions regarding global competition and issues of the organizations ability to expand or reduce current operations.…

    • 1511 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Frontline offers two harshly contrasting images: one of Circleville, Ohio, where the local TV manufacturing plant has closed down; the other -- a sea of high rises in the South China, Shenzhen. For Wal-Mart, China has become the cheapest, most reliable production platform in the world, the source of up to $25 billion in annual imports that help the company deliver everyday low prices to 100 million customers a week. But while some economists credit Wal-Mart's single-minded focus on low costs with helping contain U.S. inflation, others charge that the company is the main force driving the massive overseas shift to China in the production of American consumer goods, resulting in hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and a lower standard of living here at home…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Costco vs. Wal-Mart

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages

    With $401.2 billion revenues, the retailing giant, Wal-Mart, has been ranked as the 2nd place of 2009 Fortune 500 companies. This company is seen as the most successful business in the world today but also viewed as the vital indicator to observe the status of financial crisis recovery. Wal-Mart has won market share during the recession by offering customers lower prices as its successful marketing strategy. Moreover, Wal-Mart is long for expanding its kingdom all over the world. In 2005, Taiwan once was one of Wal-mart’s plans to join the overseas expansion, nevertheless, Wal-mart veered round to China at the last minute.…

    • 1269 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    walmart case summary

    • 713 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Wal-Mart’s founder Sam Walton wanted to “bring big-city discounting to his corner of the rural American South,” offering low prices every day. The strategy was simple, sell cheap, so the company worked very hard to lower costs by buying directly from manufacturers and always increasing workers’ productivity. After Walton’s death, the company went on with an accelerated new technologies and globalization of its operations. From 1995-1999 Wal-Mart alone gained 25% of productivity of the US economy. Also, by 2004 it became the largest importer from China in the world (10% of all China’s exports.) With this huge market power, Wal-Mart was able to exert lots of power over its business partners and employees. They…

    • 713 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wal-Mart’s business strategy relies on low production costs which it can pass on to its customers. If Wal-Mart were a country then it would be China’s eighth largest trading partner ahead of Russia, Australia, and Canada. Wal-Mart’s non-Chinese owned suppliers operating in China number nearly 5,000 and all of them benefit from a low valued yuan compared to the dollar. The 176 million worldwide customers of Wal-Mart also benefit from the low valued yuan. With nearly 70% of Wal-Mart’s products coming from China a sharp increase in the value of the yuan against the dollar can be devastating for the company as the increased costs for Wal-Mart and would most likely passed on to customers. It could also hurt American customers whom Wal-Mart claims it saves the average household roughly $2,500 dollars every year.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    China is, without a doubt, the fastest growing economy in the world today. Companies from around the world have wanted to tap into China's market to cash in on the tremendous success that it continues to experience. There had been many restrictions for foreign companies who tried to do business in China, limiting the number of foreign companies, and allowing only the big players to come into China. Even then, these big players from around the globe faced more restrictions and rules once they entered China. But things have changed since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001; a new milestone for this country, as well as for other economies. Since then, restrictions for foreign investors and businesses to enter China's market had begun to ease up. By December 11th, 2004, China must remove remaining restrictions on the retail sector in order to comply with the WTO rules. This means it will be much easier for foreign retailers to enter the market, and for current foreign retailers in China to expand (1). Many retailers from all over the world will seize this golden opportunity, and Target should do so too.…

    • 3046 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wal-Mart has shown continued success in their use of information technology with e-commerce, a system that allows managers to view point-of-sale information, and the possible use of RFID chips in the near future. After reviewing the 2005 Harvard Business School study of Wal-Mart, it is evident that this company has been successful in expanding its operations in several foreign markets. Wal-Mart had established itself as the largest retailer in both Canada in 2003 and Mexico in 2004. Through acquisitions, partnerships, and go-it-alone strategies, Wal-Mart began the expansion of large-scale operations in other countries such as the U.K., Germany, South Korea, China and Japan. Wal-Mart was very successful in aligning itself with the Japanese retailer, Seiyu, and integrating their information systems together to show an inventory accuracy rate of 94%, which was the highest in all the countries Wal-Mart was operating in. Wal-Mart also encountered a couple problem areas in the midst of its world-wide expansion. While trying to establish itself in Indonesia in the late 1990's, Wal-Mart was shut down by rioting during the Asian financial crisis at this time. Wal-Mart may have also moved in too quickly on Germany. It is mentioned in the case that Wal-Mart was not prepared for the well-established positions of discounters, the inflexibility of suppliers, and the strength of trade unions in this country. The company was also not familiar with the shopping habits of the Germans or that Wal-Mart's Western company culture may be a bit extreme for the German workforce. Analysts have estimated that Wal-Mart has made an overall profit in their overseas operations year after year, but is still unprofitable in Germany and Japan (despite the apparent success of the Seiyu merge in Japan).…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Steps for Mindset

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    For Wal-Mart to continue its long-running success, the company needs to realize that there are changes that need to take place from time to time. The first step to change the mental models and mindsets is to recognize the power and limits of mental models (Wind, Crook, & Gunther, 2005). If Wal-Mart believes that because they are strong they will always be strong, then they will surely fail. By implementing the first step, Wal-Mart can overcome the negative side of their mental models that they currently see as positives. Not all mental models are negatives. In addition, not all negative mental models start out as such. Some of them are positive at first, but evolve into negatives as a result of the current events and issues. For example, Wal-Mart may currently view all Japanese made electronics as superior. So they may only sell these electronics. Although it may be true…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Globalization of Wal-Mart

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As the world’s largest retail store in the world, Walmart wants to be in every market that they can be prosperous in. They know they rule the United States market, so why not try to expand overseas and dominate those markets as well. Now that they have reached limits on expansion here in the U.S., the next step was to test the water in other nations. As they began to go international, there were many critics saying they will never make it because their business practices and culture wouldn’t work in other countries. Yet the company’s globalization efforts progressed at a rapid pace. Its more than 4,263 international retail units employ more than 660,000 associates in 15 international markets. Their international sales have made up over 24.7 percent of the company’s total sales. This is expected to increase substantially over the next decade. (International business 13th edit, pg. 251)…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wal-Mart, an American corporation boasting “Everyday Low Prices” has expanded and outsourced to include the employment of foreign labor and suppliers to meet their corporation’s demands. In doing this, there are several benefits to utilizing cheap Chinese labor. By using Chinese factory labor, the Wal-Mart Corporation is able to provide goods at low prices, increasing their appeal to the consumer. Also, by using cheap labor in other countries, Wal-Mart expands their corporation worldwide, including opening stores in those countries where the company employs cheap, foreign labor. By using Chinese labor, Wal-Mart is able to maximize its corporation’s profits overseas to the United States, where the price range is much higher. In addition, Wal-Mart’s use of foreign labor benefits the poor, foreign countries, such as China, who seek overseas companies to provide jobs and increase their countries’ capita of export. While there are a number of benefits to utilizing Chinese labor, there are numerous amounts of drawbacks. The consumers of Wal-Mart do not approve of the exploitation of the cheap foreign labor, as the conditions and reality of the factory worker’s’ employment and treatment by the factories that produce goods for Wal-Mart are brought to the public’s eye. Also, Wal-Mart, in utilizing Chinese labor, has outsourced many work opportunities for Americans to China. In addition, Wal-Mart depends heavily on Chinese suppliers, allowing Wal-Mart’s supply to become vulnerable to the consequences of fluctuation in the Chinese market and economy.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ethical Perspectives

    • 1302 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Over the past decade, Wal-Mart has become the biggest retailer on the planet. Of all the Fortune Global 500 companies, Wal-Mart is the largest and most successful employer in the United States as it employs 1% of America’s workforce. In China, Wal-Mart has about 250 stores in 133 cities. It is the only customer for a network of contractors and subcontractors throughout southern China. In both the United States and in China the ethics of their business practices have been questioned.…

    • 1302 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The first article that I read for this assignment was review was about issues with Wal-Mart and China. I chose this because I do a lot of business for and with Wal-Mart and have done investing in businesses that are based in China. A majority of the products that are sold in Walmart stores today are made in China. They are one of the largest companies in the world and need to have access to a supplier that can keep up with their global need and at a cost that has favorable margins to the company. This is not what the founder; Sam Walton would have wanted you to believe of his company in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. “One of Sam Walton 's earliest imports from Asia was team spirit. Enthused by a factory cheer he witnessed in 1975…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The first article reviewed for the Business Ethics across Cultures article review was about issues with Wal-Mart and China. Almost every product that is sold in Wal-Mart stores today are made in China although that is not what Sam Walton would have wanted you to believe in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. “One of Sam Walton 's earliest imports from Asia was team spirit. Enthused by a factory cheer he witnessed in 1975 at a Korean tennis ball plant, Walton instituted his own "Wal-Mart Cheer," still a staple of the company 's corporate culture. He liked the dramatic device for its "whistle while you work philosophy." Wal-Mart was not the first retailer to “cash in on low-wage Asian labor” (PBS, 2005) he followed in the footsteps of other big name department stores such as K-mart and Target. Although Wal-Mart was not the first in Asia, Wal-Mart certainly was the most business savvy, constantly “moving around to chase lower wages” (PBS, 2005).…

    • 1524 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Matusitz, J., & Leanza, K. (2009, June). Wal-Mart: An analysis of the globalization of the Cathedral of Consumption in China. Globalizations, 6(2), 187-205.…

    • 3172 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walmart Case Study

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages

    A. The Wal-Mart distribution system in China was quite different from distribution system in United States. In United States 90% of the total store sales passed through Distribution Centers (DC) while only 40% of Wal-Mart China’s sales were supplied via its DCs. Fresh products such as bread, fish, vegetables and fruits, some electronic goods and high value items were supplied directly to Supercenters (SC) by suppliers. Another feature of Wal-Mart China’s distribution system was that the incoming shipments from suppliers arrived in diverse range of trucking and loading configuration while Wal-Mart outsourced standardized trucking fleet for all of its DC-DC and DC-SC shipments. The shipments from…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays