Opportunity for Expansion - the Case of Wal-Mart Essay

Opportunity for Expansion - the Case of Wal-Mart - Essay Example The expansion of a firm in the international market is often considered as the most effective method for increasing organizational competitiveness and ensuring a long – term growth. In practice, this strategy can be risky, especially if it is not carefully planned. The level at which opportunities for expansion need to be used by organizations for improving their market position is reviewed in this paper. Reference is made to a specific organization, Wal-Mart, a major competitor in the global retail industry. Currently the firm operates in about 27 countries (Wal-Mart 2012, corporate website). Despite its success, the firm tries to secure its market position through continuous expansion; in US market, where the firm is based, the chances for further growth seems to be limited. The expansion in the international market seems to be the firm’s only chance for achieving a long – term growth. 2. Expansion in new markets – Wal-Mart 2.1 Background Wal-Mart is a l eading firm in the international retail market. The firm’s stores are dispersed globally, making Wal-Mart one of the most powerful competitors in its industry. The firm was first established in 1962, in USA (Wal-Mart 2012, corporate website). ... In 2010, the firm planned to increase their international stores, approximately by ‘600 stores worldwide’ (Tice 2010). For the US market, the establishment of just 160 new stores was considered as sufficient for responding to customers’ needs (Tice 2010). In 2012, the firm plans to invest a high amount of money, about $750 million (CBC News 2012), for expanding its operations in Canada. The above investment involves in the ‘renovation and expansion of the firm’s existing stores creating 14,000 new jobs across Canada’ (CBC News 2012). It should be noted that in 2011, the firm had developed a major plan of expansion in the US market, adding ‘hundreds of small stores across US under the name Wal-Mart Express’ (Bustillo 2011). This is an effort for expansion in the internal market, as combined with the expansion internationally, which is considered as quite important for standardizing the firm’s performance in USA. The opportuni ties of expansion given to Wal-Mart, as described above, are analyzed below; reference is made to appropriate theory but also to the practical implications of the particular initiatives. Also, the potential effects of these strategies on the organization’s performance are discussed, as they can be estimated by using the figures presented in the firm’s financial reports for the last 5 years, a period during which the firm’s efforts for expanding internationally have become intensive. 2.2 Evaluation of the firm’s current expansion strategies 2.2.1 Organizational expansion in theory The decision of organizations to expand their activities internationally can be based on different criteria. According to the ‘monopolistic advantage theory’ (Luo 1999, p.27), organizations may decide to expand in the global

Asian American and Asian communities in U.S Essay

Asian American and Asian communities in U.S - Essay Example One of the very important reasons is that of something called as â€Å"Asian parents Syndrome† (Online Education Articles, n.p). It has been an observation that Asian parents generally have higher expectations of their children. It is because of these expectations that many college students feel the need to achieve greater success. Asian parents cannot simply compromise that their children are not the best among everyone, and therefore, this drives the children to work harder (Online Education Articles, n.p). Asian culture and its expectations therefore enable the Asian students to work harder. Another factor, which plays a very important role, is that of maternal expectations of children. The study conducted by Stevenson group was based on Japanese and American students and mothers. When children did not perform well in school, almost 42 percent of American mothers were satisfied with their child’s performance. Contrary to that, only five percent of Japanese mothers ra ted the performance to be satisfactory. American mothers were also willing to accept a child’s low performance. Therefore, the study concluded that such American attitudes provided an excuse for the children for not working very hard. Such attitudes continue throughout life, therefore, American students might not perform better in colleges. Asian students are very adaptable to levels of hard work (Wray, pp. 57). Historically, Asian students have been driven to work harder. Educational achievements had become very important, especially in the case of Japanese and Chinese students. A study done by Suzuki in 1977 (Nakanishi & Nishida, pp.140) showed that Asian Americans came to pursue education because they were considered a ‘minority’ group. This led them to strive harder. During the 1940s, Asians were discriminated by the trade unions. They were refused membership. After the Second World War, there was a need for white-collar employees because of technological adv ancements. Thus, education became the prime goal for Asian individuals in order to achieve success. In addition, Connor in 1975 gave the explanation that Asian students had been denied in social and extra curricular activities before the First World War. This had emphasized educational values. Therefore, studies have proved that historically, Asian students have had the motive to pursue education with full zeal (Nakanishi & Nishida, pp.140). A study conducted on Japanese students and teachers showed that teachers expected a greater level from their students. They are taught that education is difficult, not always exciting, and it also requires a great amount of hard work. Responsibility and perseverance is also taught. Hence, Japanese students have been socialized to achieve success through education. Therefore, this attitude remains with them throughout life, and therefore when they go to study in colleges in US, they will tend to perform better. Therefore, values of culture also p lay a significant role (Wray, pp. 54). Generally, Asian immigrants also have spent more amount of time in school. On average, Asian students in their countries spent an average of 240 days in school per year, while the American students spent around 178 days in school every year. Therefore, this increases the performance of the Asian students (Santrock, pp. 626). Some other cultural reasons, which might also form part of religious values, attempt to explain why Asians generally do better in colleges. There are certain cultural values, which are common