International Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

International Business Strategy - Essay Example Particularly when companies like the Wal-Mart are involved in this industry, a detailed study provides an idea on the journey of the company where the customer satisfaction meant to play a primary role in the success of any company. The study has tried to consider the initial stages when the concept of discount retailing was not attractive among the customers, thus determining the initial status and strategies of the Wal-Mart Company. Thus an understanding of the company’s position and threats in the industry in the 1950s has been conducted through the study. Also, the learning determines the manner in which the company has been able to gain competitive advantage over its competitors. This involves the business strategies that the company focused on including the level of customer satisfaction. The success of the company also depends on the ability of the company to manage its sustainability and thus the company’s stand in this context is also significant for the partic ular study. Lastly, the company’s entry into the German and the UK market would also reflect on the company’s reasons for success at one location while failure in another. Thus the study has been focused to have a complete overview on the Wal-Mart Company and its strategies from the early times till the present times reflecting on the ability of the company to gain and sustain its success. Case Analysis- Wal-Mart 2. Attractiveness of the discount retailing industry in the USA when Wal-Mart first began operations in the 1950s: 2.1. Introduction: The existence of the discount retailing stores can be traced back to the 1940s and the starting of the 1950s. The purpose of these stores was to serve the families of those children who were born after...Wal-Mart is a leading retail store known to perform in the discount retailing industry providing with a wide range of consumer products (Discount Stores, 2011). 2.2. Discount Retailing Industry in the USA in the 1950s: To understand the attractiveness of the discount retailing industry in the 1950s and early 1960s, the use of Porter’s Five Forces (Jia, 2007, p.1) would be useful. Considering the rivalry factor, studies from the case study as well as other sources reveal that the introduction of the discount retail stores in the 1950s led to severe opposition from other retail companies and stores that were small in size. Issues relating to the closing of small shops, or lesser employment opportunities were considered to be the consequences of the discount retail stores being introduced (Jia, 2007, p.1). Although Wal-Mart started its operations during this period of time, but there were other market players creating competitions for the company, like Target and K-Mart (Guillame, 2011). 2.3. Threats from new entrants: According to this force, a company might have threats from other companies that may wish to enter the market on seeing a company having high returns in a particular location. Thus the level of competition tends to increase (Ahlstrom & Bruton, 2009, p.133).