International Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International Business Strategy - Essay Example Wal-Mart is known to be slow in internationalization. It has been flopped in Germany already. Its endeavour into India is full of strategic risks. 2. Wal-Mart has entered into India with a 50-50 partnership with Bhartia, a legendry retail brand. This has minimized Wal-Mart’s own business freedom. 3. Government policies in India have not allowed Wal-Mart to use its brand name and logos. It is a mere back-end supporter, not a retailing brand there. Thus, Wal-Mart is facing a great and risky business challenge in India. It has to be careful enough not to deviate from cultural regulations and norms as it is already facing reservations from patriotic political parties and local retailers being only foreign. Any more deviation might repeat what happened in Germany. To be successful, Wal-Mart has to merge into the national culture so as not to present the image of an alien to the Indian clientele. Introduction Wal-Mart is a U.S based Multinational Corporation, which operates chains o f warehouse stores and discount departmental stores in the U.S and 15 other countries. The company is listed on the NYSE, and is reported to be the world’s largest public corporation by revenue (Forbes Global 2000 as cited in Hayden et al, 2002). Wal-Mart has 8500 stores in 15 countries and has been mostly successful in its venture into the global market. Once asked if Wal-Mart was trying to take over the world, the reply from one of the senior heads from Wal-Mart, with a smile on his face was, â€Å"I don't think so, and all we want to do is grow†. This has been evident from the aggressive growth and expansion strategy adopted by Wal-Mart both within and outside the U.S. It has been expanding with massive momentum, with the strategy of â€Å"Always Low Prices Always† and has taken over the retail industry in many countries. However, it has stumbled in its smooth expansion in countries like Germany, where Wal-Mart became a text book case of â€Å"how not to ent er a foreign market† (Peng, 2009). The success of Wal-Mart in its home country, and a variety of other markets like Argentina, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, Japan, Mexico and Puerto Rico do not seem to have translated into the German market and therefore, Wal-Mart’s expansion plans must be carefully evaluated before giving them a green signal. Wal-Mart knows that venture into India will not be an easy feat because of the market dynamics. Analysis of Wal-Mart Business Strategies To understand Wal-Mart’s position in international business, an analysis of its internationalization, entry and corporate strategies is must. This analysis is as follows: Firm Motivations for Internationalization Internationalization has always been a risky move. Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany or its initial struggle in Mexico clearly indicates that expansion abroad should be carefully evaluated to see whether going abroad is warranted. Source: Global strategy by Mike Peng Wal-Mart falls in cell 3 and may be termed as slow as it internationalizes. The company is still in exploring locations in U.S. In 2010, it opened about 600 international stores, while only about 150 in U.S. However, its pace of internalization is slower than some of its competitors, like Carrefour in France, or Metro in Germany. According to John B. Menzer, Wal-Mart India’