Intercultural Management

Executive Summary

This paper is written to better understand how the selected companies perform and define the strategies that they implement globally.

This report firstly provides an analysis of Wal-Mart, including an overview of Wal-Mart, external environmental conditions, internal value chain analysis, internal resources and capabilities, generic strategies adopted by the companies due to its core competencies, and followed by a conclusion. This is followed by an analysis of another company—Carrefour with the same analysis sequence of Wal-Mart.

Contents

Executive Summary
1. Introduction
2. An overview of Wal-Mart
2.1 External Environmental Conditions: Generally favorable but changing.
2.2 Internal Value Chain Analysis: Excellent use of value chain activities.
2.3 Internal Resources and Capabilities:
    Excellent tangible resources and capabilities
2.4 Generic Strategies
2.5 Conclusion
3. An overview of Carrefour
3.1 Internal Value Chain Analysis: Excellent use of value chain activities.
3.2 Internal Resources and Capabilities
3.3 generic strategies
3.4 Conclusion
List of References

1. Introduction

This paper is written to better understand how the selected companies perform and define the strategies that they implement globally. The scope of this paper focuses on analyzing the first two largest retailers (Wal-Mart and Carrefour) in global retail industry. The limitations of this paper lie in the word limit and writer’s experience in globally large companies.

2. An overview of Wal-Mart

The first company that is analysed here is Wal-Mart. When Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City store in 1962, he instilled in his employees a philosophy composed of four basic beliefs: excellence in the workplace, respect for the individual, outstanding customer service, and always having the lowest prices.   The company has stayed true to these principles since 1962 and they have lead to an extreme competitive advantage...