Introduction “With China expected to grow three times faster than the U.S. this year, it is no wonder that American companies are looking to China as they try to boost their profits” (Epstein & Meredith, 2010). Companies are reacting quickly to get a cut of the action in China. It is viable for companies to create an efficient strategy that will effectively distinguish themselves from its competitors and have the capability to conquer the foreign market. However, when entering to unfamiliar territories there are many challenges that companies ought to overcome such as cultures, regulation, communication barriers, and so forth. Currently, Wal-mart and Carrefour are dominating in China as the foreign discount stores but they have different strategy to compete in China.
Background
In 1959, Carrefour was created in Southern France and became international by 1969. “It innovated with the hypermarket format in France in 1963 where it introduced the idea of one stop shopping for food, clothing, electronics, appliances, etc. Although it does not compete in the USA, it has adapted successfully to Latin American and Asia markets” (Arnold, 2002, p. 563). “Now, it serves over 2 billion clients per year in its more than 9,000 stores, which are present in 32 countries across 3 geographic zones. Carrefour is not only the second but also the most internationalized retailer worldwide” (Shiue, Der-Juinn, & Yeh, 2006, p. 171). In 1962, Wal-mart began its story in Northwest Arkansas as the discount store and quickly expanded to the largest family owned business. “It is active in 11 countries and has stores in North and South America, Europe and Asia. It has over 4,400 stores, of which three quarters are in the USA and that still account for 80% of its growth” (Arnold, 2002, p. 564). Currently, Wal-mart Stores is the
