Wal-mart international: how to go global?

Wal-Mart International: How to go global?
Today, Wal-Mart has 4,263 stores and more than 660,000 associates in 14 countries outside the U.S.: the UK, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chile, Guatemala, China, Japan, and India. In 2006, Wal-Mart closed its stores in Germany and today, Wal-Mart is trying to go to Africa by opening stores in SouthAfrica.

* Wal-Mart in Mexico: Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in Mexico with more than 168,028. In 1991, Wal-Mart entered into a joint venture with Cifra with the opening of a Sam’s Club in Mexico City, the first market in Wal-Mart’s International division. In 1997, Wal-Mart acquired a majority position in Cifra, and in February 2000 the name changed to Wal-Mart de México (WALMEX). InNovember 2006, Wal-Mart de México received a license from Mexico’s Finance Ministry to organize and operate a bank in the country. In November 2007, Wal-Mart bank began operations with 16 branches in five states of Mexico. As of September 30, 2010, Wal-Mart operates in 1,561 locations in Mexico.

* Wal-Mart in Canada: Wal-Mart has a wholly owned affiliate in Canada where it was establishedin 1994 with the acquisition of the Woolco Canada chain of 122 stores. As of September 30, 2010, Wal-Mart operates in 320 locations in Canada and employs 82,000 Canadians, with a local home office in Mississauga, Ontario.

* Wal-Mart in Argentina: Wal-Mart has wholly owned operations in Argentina. They started in Argentina in August 1995, opening a Sam’s Club in Buenos Aires area. On Oct. 1,2007, Wal-Mart announced the acquisition of three Auchan stores in the proximity of Buenos Aires. As of September 30, 2010, Wal-Mart has 51 stores in Argentina with 9,028 employees.

* Wal-Mart in Brazil: Wal-Mart has wholly owned affiliates in Brazil. They launched their operations in Brazil in 1995. In 14 years, the company grew to become the third largest retailer in Brazil. In 2004,Wal-Mart bought the 118 stores of Bompreço supermarket chain in northeastern Brazil. And in 2005, it took control of the Brazilian operations of Sonae Distribution Group through its new subsidiary, WMS Supermercados do Brasil. None of these was rebranded. With the acquisition of Bompreço and Sonae, Wal-Mart is currently the third largest supermarket chain in Brazil, behind Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar.As of September 30, 2010, Wal-Mart has 450 stores in Brazil with 75,927 employees.

* Wal-Mart in China: Wal-Mart has joint ventures in China and several majority-owned subsidiaries. Wal-Mart began its retail operations in China in 1996. In February 2007, Wal-Mart purchased a 35 percent interest in Trust-Mart. Wal-Mart China currently serves more than 7 million customers weekly in 87 cities.As of September 30, 2010, Wal-Mart operates in 295 locations in China where it has about 83,575 employees.

* Wal-Mart in the UK: Wal-Mart has a wholly owned affiliate in the UK where they are known as Asda. They retained the name it had before the acquisition for an easier local adaptation, but also to avoid advertising that they are an American multinational. Contrary to Wal-Mart's USoperations, Asda was originally and still remains primarily a grocery chain, but with a stronger focus on non-food items than most UK supermarket chains. Asda was acquired by Wal-Mart in June 1999 and has grown into Britain’s second largest supermarket. On September 30, 2010, Asda counted 377 retail units/Asda outlets in the UK. The UK is the only European country where Wal-Mart operates today.

*Wal-Mart in Japan: In May 2002, Wal-Mart acquired a 6.1 percent stake in Seiyu, one of the largest supermarket chains in Japan and by December 2005, they owned about 50.9% of Seiyu, making Seiyu a Wal-Mart subsidiary. In 2007, Wal-Mart’s acquired most of the shares of Seiyu, which raised its ownership of Seiyu to 95.1 percent. Wal-Mart proceeded with additional steps to acquire all of the...