LABEL Issue V
WALMART’S FAILURE IN GERMANY AND
SOUTH KOREA: AN ANALYSIS
Wal-Mart is
the most successful retailer of the world,
with an estimated 35 million shoppers per
day. It has the largest number of stores
market couldn’t even make a dent in their
economy.
Management Hubris
around the world. With a gargantuan
The
revenue of US$469.162 billion (FY2013)
masterminding Wal-Mart Germany to
and mammoth employee force of 2.2
an American who didn’t speak a word of
million, it surely can call itself global. They
German.(Kay Hafner)
understand the tricks of the trade. But the
conglomerate has its fair share of failures
and heart breaks. Its strategy was not
successful
in
Germany:
the
largest
economy of Europe and in the competitive
market of South Korea. It had to pull out
its operations in both the countries in the
year 2006.We present a competitive
analysis and the slew of reasons for which
Walmart did what it did.
Most
company
of
the
gave
the
job
American
of
employee
management practices just didn’t fit in to
the German context. For example, each
employee
before
the
shift
had
to
participate in a morning exercise. Every
employee had to chant “WALMART,
WALMART”
along
with
others.
In
America this could be used to inspire
loyalty and boost morale .But in Germany,
it was a pure annoyance for the employees.
It was fiendish for them.
GERMANY
Germany
is
Walmart’s stringent ethical code also
Europe’s
most
vibrant
caused frustration among its German
economy. Wal-Mart decided to build its
employees. Wamart used to spy on its
initial presence in Germany through
employees. Actually spying on employees
acquisitions. In 1997 and 1998 Walmart
and reporting them back to the employer
acquired two companies - Wertkauf and
may be an acceptable practice in the U.S.,
Interspar in Germany. Walmart’s decade
but the Germans hate it. The reasons can
long operations and ambitions to rule that
be traced back to their post war history
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