Wal-Mart International

Wal-Mart International

Sam Walton started his own company and made it into the leader in discount retailing that it is today. Through his business practices, he and his associates led the company forward for thirty years. Today the company is still growing steadily. Wal-Mart executives continue to rely on many of the traditional goals and philosophies that Sam's legacy left behind, while simultaneously keeping one step ahead of the ever-changing technology and methods of today's fast-paced business environment. The organization has faced, and is still facing, a significant amount of controversy over several different issues.

In 1962, when Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas, no one could have ever predicted the enormous success this small-town merchant would have. Sam Walton's talent for discounts retailing not only made Wal-Mart the world's largest retailer, but also the world's number one retailer in sales. Indeed, Wal-Mart was named "Retailer of the Decade" by Discount Store News in 1989, and on several occasions has been included in Fortune's list of the "10 most admired corporations." Even with Walton's death (after a two-year battle with bone cancer) in 1992, Wal-Mart's sales continue to grow significantly. Wal-Mart is successful not only because it makes sound strategic management decisions, but also for its innovative implementation of those strategic decisions.

Wal-Mart stores operate according to their "Everyday Low Price" philosophy. Wal-Mart has emerged as the industry leader because it has been better at containing its costs, which has allowed it to pass on the savings to its customers. Wal-Mart has become a capability competitor. It continues to improve upon its key business processes, managing them centrally and investing in them heavily for the long-term payback.

Based on Wal-Mart's position in 1994, which was considered a year of expansion for the company, (Wal-Mart added 103 new discount stores, 38 "Super-centers", 163 warehouse clubs, and 94,000 new associates) interest debt increased 52.3%. Sam Walton expressed his belief that by the year 2000 Wal-Mart should be able to double the number of stores to about 3,000 and to reach sales of $125 billion annually. Walton predicted that the four biggest sources of growth potential would be the following: 1. Expanding into states where it had no stores; 2. continuing to saturate its current markets with new stores; 3. Perfecting the Super-center format to expand Wal-Mart's retailing reach into the grocery and supermarket arena -- a market with annual sales of about $375 billion; 4. Moving into international markets (Thompson & Strickland, 1995).

Along with its entry into the more established markets in Canada and Mexico, Wal-Mart was considering entering the more stable, but yet undeveloped markets of Latin America--specifically Brazil and Argentina. Argentina offered a mature and growing target market that could embrace the discount store concept at a rapid pace. If Wal-Mart made the decision to enter Argentina, upper management projected that the Company would expand into the Argentine market with a mix of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores.

In terms of costs, Wal-Mart budgeted expansion costs for Argentina using a model similar to those used in the American and Canadian markets. The company forecasted that each new store would cost roughly $20 million to build