...A Comparative Study of Walmart Operations in Canada & Mexico Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary…………………………...………………………………...…...2 2. Introduction………………………………………………………………………….3 3. Walmart and the Canadian Marketplace……………………………..…………3 A. Country Competitiveness B. Cultural Environment C. Political and Legal Environment D. Entry Strategies 4. Walmart and the Mexican Marketplace……………………………..………….10 A. Country Competitiveness B. Cultural Environment C. Political and Legal Environment D. Entry Strategies 5. Summary Comparison of Canadian and Mexican Markets…………………….18 6. Recommendation…………………………………………………………………….19 7. References…………………………………………………………………………...21 1. Executive Summary This report closely examines the operations of the world's largest retailer, Walmart, in Canada and Mexico. Assessments of market conditions in both countries have been conducted in terms of country competitiveness, cultural, political and legal environments and the strategies used by Walmart upon entry. Tying into these international business factors, specific aspects of international economic integration, monetary systems, social responsibility and corruption have also been reviewed. While being part of one continent and a common trade bloc (NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement), considerable differences between Canada and Mexico are apparent. These differences are individually analyzed on the following pages. Inevitably, they...
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...PART 1 GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT CHAPTER ONE Globalization Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, you should be able to 1. Describe the process of globalization and how it affects markets and production. 2. Identify the two forces causing globalization to increase. 3. Summarize the evidence for each main argument in the globalization debate. 4. Identify the types of companies that participate in international business. 5. Describe the global business environment and identify its four main elements. A LOOK AT THIS CHAPTER This chapter defines the scope of international business and introduces us to some of its most important topics. We begin by presenting globalization—describing its influence on markets and production and the forces behind its growth. Each main argument in the debate over globalization is also analyzed in detail. We then identify the key players in international business today. This chapter closes with a model that depicts international business as occurring within an integrated global business environment. A LOOK AHEAD Part 2, encompassing Chapters 2, 3, and 4, introduces us to different national business environments. Chapter 2 describes important cultural differences among nations. Chapter 3 examines different political and legal systems. And Chapter 4 presents the world’s various economic systems and issues surrounding economic development. 24 Emirates’ Global Impact DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—The...
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...Hill 7e End of Part Case Notes Part One: Globalization There are no Part One cases. Part Two: National Differences in Political Economy; Differences in Culture; Ethics in International Business Nike: The Sweatshop Debate 1. Should Nike be held responsible for working conditions in foreign factories that it does not own, but where subcontractors make products for Nike? Answer: Most students will probably agree that Nike should be held responsible for the working conditions in foreign factories where subcontractors make products the company sells. Students taking this perspective are likely to argue that since the workers are there to produce the products for Nike, the fact that the company does not actually own the facilities is immaterial – Nike is the beneficiary of the work done in the factory. Some students may suggest that Nike be resolved of some responsibility if the factories also produce products for other companies. 2. What labor standards regarding safety, working conditions, overtime, and the like, should Nike hold foreign factories to: those prevailing in that country or those prevailing in the United States? Answer: The question of whether of whether to hold foreign factories to the same standards as domestic factories is difficult. Some students might argue that Nike should require all factories regardless of their location to maintain the same standards when it comes to working conditions, overtime, and so on. Other students however, may suggest that...
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...ASSESSING THE POWER OF PORTER'S DIAMOND MODEL IN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY IN MEXICO AFTER TEN YEARS OF NAFTA SALVADOR BARRAGAN Master in Business Administration, IPADE Business School, 1996 BSc in Industrial Engineering, Universidad Panamericana, 1994 A Research Project Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE IN MANAGEMENT Faculty of Management University of Lethbridge LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA © Salvador Barragán, 2005 ii Abstract It has been ten years since the signature of the NAFTA agreement among Canada, U.S., and Mexico. For Mexico, this was a decisive step away from a protectionism model toward a free trade market. One of the main purposes for Mexico in joining NAFTA was to increase the competitiveness of its manufacturing sector, especially the automotive industry. In this paper, Porter’s Diamond Model of national competitiveness and some critiques that attempt to extend the usefulness of the model are analyzed. The Doubled Diamond and the role of MNEs in a host country are both examined through a case study research of the foreign-owned automobile industry in Mexico. The findings of this study show evidence of a broader role of MNEs than in the original framework, as well as the usefulness of the doubled diamond extension to explain alternative sources of competitiveness in early stages of development. iii Acknowledgments...
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...ASSIGNMENT ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE (Course no: Mgt-310) TOPIC: ECONOMIC INTEGRATION SUBMITTED TO: Dr. MD. ATAUR RAHMAN PROFESSOR DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA SUBMITTED BY: GROUP: 08 ROLL: 127, 128, 141, 154, 211, 212, and 213 SEC-B, BBA 16TH BATCH DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF DHAKA DATE OF SUBMISSION: 09.07.12 ECONOMIC INTEGRATION CONTENTS SL. Topics No. 1. Meaning and level of Economic Integration 2. Objectives of Economic Integration 3. Importance of Economic Integration 4. Benefits from of Economic Integration 5. Arguments for of Economic Integration 6. Arguments against of Economic Integration 7. Economic Integration of Asia 8. Economic Integration of America 9. Economic Integration of Europe 10. Economic Integration of Africa 11. Modes of Economic Integration 12. Problems of Economic Integration 13 Danger of Economic Integration 1. Meaning and Level of Economic Integration: Meaning of Economic Integration: Economic Integration means agreements between groups of countries in a geographic region to reduce and ultimately remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to ensure free flow of goods, services and factors of...
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...PART 2 The Global Marketing Environment CHAPTER 2 The Global Economic Environment Case 2-1 The Global Economic Crisis I n his 1997 book One World, Ready or Not, William Greider described the United States as “the buyer of last resort.” Greider explained that, for many years, the United States was the only nation that was willing to absorb production surpluses exported by companies in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Greider asked: “Who will buy the surpluses when the United States cannot?” The conventional wisdom has long held that strong spending by consumers in other nations would keep the world economy humming. However, by 2008, Greider’s question was taking on a new urgency and the conventional wisdom was being tested. An economic crisis that had its roots in lax subprime mortgage lending practices began to spread around the globe. In the United States, where the crisis began, economic misery was widespread: The housing market collapsed, real estate values plummeted, credit tightened, and job growth slowed (see Exhibit 2-1). As the price of oil passed the $100 per barrel benchmark, the average price of a gallon of gasoline rose to $4. American consumers were, indeed, less willing and less able to buy. However, the crisis was not confined to the United States alone. Consumer-goods exporters in Asia, which Exhibit 2-1: The bursting of the global real estate bubble was only one aspect of the worst recession in decades. The ripple effects from the economic...
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...Colgate-Palmolive CreatiNg a glObal SuPPly CHaiN the Colgate-Palmolive Company sells oral care, personal care, home care, and pet nutrition products in over 200 countries and territories. Since implementing its first SaP® solution in 1994, Colgate has significantly improved global visibility for its supply chain management processes, automated many of these processes, improved supply chain decision making, increased the speed to market for its products, and reduced costs. SAP Business Transformation Study Consumer Products Oral, Personal, and Home Care and Pet Nutrition CONteNt 3 4 7 9 10 11 13 14 Colgate-Palmolive Creating a Global Supply Chain Supporting an International Enterprise Helping Ensure Supply Chain Success Reducing Total Cost of Ownership Transforming Business Processes Future Road Map Building a Firm Foundation Colgate-Palmolive better Data Quality, timeliNeSS, aND aCCeSSibility QuiCk faCtS Industry Consumer products – oral, personal, and home care and pet nutrition Revenue uS$15.3 billion Employees 36,000 Headquarters New york City Web Site www.colgate.com SAP® Solutions and Services SaP® Supply Chain management application Implementation Partner SaP Consulting organization Implementation Best Practices • involved global cross-functional business and it teams • appointed a global owner to drive process standardization across subsidiaries • tested real-life scenarios and used pilots in significant markets before global rollouts • Worked closely...
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...FINAL REPORT Impact of Trade and Economic Policy Reforms on Key Sectors of the Egyptian Economy PREPARED BY ATR Project SUBMITTED TO USAID/Cairo Ministry of Foreign Trade SUBMITTED BY Nathan Associates UNDER CONTRACT NO. PCE-I-00-98-00016-00 Task Order 827 2 April 2004 Contents Executive Summary Egypt’s Economy in Relation to the Global Marketplace Trade Policy and the International Trade Regime Impact of Trade Regime Changes on Subsectors Conclusions Next Steps 1. Introduction 2. Egypt’s Economy and Its Place in the Global Arena Egyptian Economy Today Structure of the Economy Labor force, Employment and Unemployment Macroeconomy and Balance of Payments Trade Patterns Macroeconomic and Trade Policy Reform Current Challenges Distinguishing Characteristics of Egypt’s Economy Water Resources and Growing Population Pressure Oil and Natural Gas Geographical Location Egyptian Culture Higher Education Socialism and Its Aftermath Egypt’s Comparative Advantage in the Global Economy Changing Global Economy Egypt’s Economy in Relation to Three Waves of Globalization Revealed Competitive Advantage Analysis v vi viii xi xiv xvi 1 5 5 5 7 8 10 12 13 14 14 16 16 16 17 18 19 19 22 25 II 3. Trade Policy and the International Trade Regime Current Trade Regime in Egypt Tariff Structure Non-tariff Barriers to Trade Multilateral, Regional, and Bilateral Agreements Multilateral Agreements Regional Agreements Bilateral Agreements Trade Regimes of Major Trading...
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...should be able to objective Identify the types of organizational forms used for competing internationally. objective 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Identify the unique training needs for international assignees and their employees. objective Explain the economic, politicallegal, and cultural factors in different countries that HR managers need to consider. objective Identify the characteristics of a good international compensation plan. objective Explain how domestic and international HRM differ. objective Reconcile the difficulties of home- and host-country performance appraisals. objective Discuss the staffing process for individuals working internationally. objective Explain how labor relations differ around the world. PART 6 Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons 639 Managing Human Resources, 14e, Bohlander/Snell - © 2007 Thomson South-Western 640 PART 6 Expanding Human Resources Management Horizons W hen you pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV, you’ll notice that stories are constantly being told about companies competing globally. These stories might include mergers of U.S. and international companies, such as Daimler-Benz and Chrysler a few years ago. Or they might highlight companies expanding into other markets, such as Starbucks in Asia or Wal-Mart in Mexico. Or the stories might focus on international companies gaining dominance here in the United States, such as Sony or Toyota. “No matter what...
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...Journal of Economic Literature Vol. XLV (March 2007), pp. 83–126 A Flat World, a Level Playing Field, a Small World After All, or None of the Above? A Review of Thomas L. Friedman’s The World is Flat EDWARD E. LEAMER∗ Geography, flat or not, creates special relationships between buyers and sellers who reside in the same neighborhoods, but Friedman turns this metaphor inside-out by using The World is Flat to warn us of the perils of a relationship-free world in which every economic transaction is contested globally. In his “flat” world, your wages are set in Shanghai. In fact, most of the footloose relationship-free jobs in apparel and footwear and consumer electronics departed the United States several decades ago, and few U.S. workers today feel the force of Chinese and Indian competition, notwithstanding the alarming anecdotes about the outsourcing of intellectual services. Of course, standardization, mechanization, and computerization all work to increase the number of footloose tasks, but innovation and education work in the opposite direction, creating relationship-based activities—like the writing of this review. It may only be personal conceit, but I imagine there is a reason why the Journal of Economic Literature asked me to do this review. 1. Prologue hen the Journal of Economic Literature asked me to write a review of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux 2005) by Thomas Friedman, I responded with enthusiasm,...
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...CONFIDENTIAL UNTIL RELEASED Mild Slowdown of the Global Expansion, and Increasing Risks Activity is slowing down temporarily, and downside risks have increased again. The global expansion remains unbalanced. Growth in many advanced economies is still weak, considering the depth of the recession. In addition, the mild slowdown observed in the second quarter of 2011 is not reassuring. Growth in most emerging and developing economies continues to be strong. Overall, the global economy expanded at an annualized rate of 4.3 percent in the first quarter, and forecasts for 2011–12 are broadly unchanged, with offsetting changes across various economies. However, greater-than-anticipated weakness in U.S. activity and renewed financial volatility from concerns about the depth of fiscal challenges in the euro area periphery pose greater downside risks. Risks also draw from persistent fiscal and financial sector imbalances in many advanced economies, while signs of overheating are becoming increasingly apparent in many emerging and developing economies. Strong adjustments—credible and balanced fiscal consolidation and financial sector repair and reform in many advanced economies, and prompter macroeconomic policy tightening and demand rebalancing in many emerging and developing economies—are critical for securing growth and job creation over the medium term. The global economy has continued to expand Despite some negative surprises, global growth attained an annualized rate of 4.3 percent...
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...c l e i n f o Article history: Received 26 May 2011 Received in revised form 18 March 2012 Accepted 29 April 2012 Available online 1 June 2012 Keywords: Market assessment Sales potential Market potential Emerging market Mexico a b s t r a c t Assessing the potential for a new market is challenging both for new businesses and for already existing businesses that are trying to expand. The primary challenge is the difficulty in identifying the important factors that influence market potential. The other challenge is that once the influencing factors are identified, there are very few structured mechanisms available to show how these factors affect the bottom line of the business. In this paper, the authors present a three step market assessment methodology and illustrate it with an example of a manufacturing company. The proposed methodology is applicable especially to the case of an already existing company trying to expand its operations and sales to a new country or emerging market. The first step assesses the broad market potential of a country; the second step estimates the sales potential for a specific company, and the third step calculates return on investment for the company based on the resources required. Each step of the methodology accounts for several external and internal factors. An example of a fastener manufacturer targeting the Mexican market is used to demonstrate the application of the proposed...
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...1 GLOBALIZATION 2 PART 1 Globalization PART ONE Planet Starbucks T hirty years ago Starbucks was a single store in Seattle’s Pike Place Market selling premium roasted coffee. Today it is a global roaster and retailer of coffee with more than 7,600 retail stores, some 2,000 of which are to be found in 34 countries outside the United States. Starbucks Corporation set out on its current course in the 1980s when the company’s director of marketing, Howard Schultz, came back from a trip to Italy enchanted with the Italian coffeehouse experience. Schultz, who later became CEO, persuaded the company’s owners to experiment with the coffeehouse format—and the Starbucks experience was born. The basic strategy was to sell the company’s own premium roasted coffee, along with freshly brewed espresso-style coffee beverages, a variety of pastries, coffee accessories, teas, and other products, in a tastefully designed coffeehouse setting. The company also stressed providing superior customer service. Reasoning that motivated employees provide the best customer service, Starbucks executives devoted much attention to employee hiring and training programs and progressive compensation policies that gave even part-time employees stock option grants and medical benefits. The formula met with spectacular success in the United States, where Starbucks went from obscurity to one of the best known brands in the country in a decade. In 1995, with almost 700 stores across the United States...
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...Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2012 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous editions © 2009, 2006, and 2003. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning. Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States. This book is printed on recycled, acid-free paper containing 10% postconsumer waste. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 QDB/QDB 1 0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ISBN 978-0-07-811257-7 MHID 0-07-811257-5 Vice President & Editor-in-Chief: Brent Gordon Vice President, EDP/Central Publishing Services: Kimberly Meriwether-David Editorial Director: Paul Ducham Managing Developmental Editor: Laura Hurst Spell Developmental Editor: Jane Beck Associate Marketing Manager: Jaime Halteman Project Manager: Erin Melloy Buyer: Kara Kudronowicz Design Coordinator: Margarite Reynolds Cover Designer: Studio Montage, St. Louis, Missouri Cover Images: Top to bottom, © Mark...
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...had a heavily € oversubscribed Initial Public Offering in May 2001. Over the next 12 months, its stock price increased by nearly 50%—despite bearish stock market conditions—to push its market valuation to € 13.4 € billion. The high stock price made Inditex’s founder, Amancio Ortega, who had begun to work in the apparel trade as an errand boy half a century earlier, Spain’s richest man. However, it also implied a significant growth challenge. Based on one set of calculations, for example, 76% of the equity value implicit in Inditex’s stock price was based on expectations of future growth—higher than an estimated 69% for Wal-Mart or, for that matter, other high-performing retailers.1 The next section of this case briefly describes the structure of the global apparel chain, from producers to final customers. The section that follows profiles three of Inditex’s leading international competitors in apparel retailing: The Gap (U.S.), Hennes & Mauritz (Sweden), and Benetton (Italy). The rest of the case focuses on Inditex, particularly the business system and international expansion of the Zara chain that dominated its results. The Global Apparel Chain The global apparel chain had been characterized as a prototypical example of a buyer-driven...
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