Global Business Issues in Walmart

This report identifies the cultural, workplace, and environmental sustainability issues faced by Walmart while expanding its business overseas and provides recommendations to mitigate those issues.

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1GLOBAL BUSINESS ISSUES IN WALMART
Executive summary
The Walmart Company is popular for its diverse product and extensive supply across the world.
However, the company is currently facing severe challenges in cultural aspects, environmental
sustainability and workplace culture while expanding its business overseas. Therefore, the
purpose of this report is to identify those issues and provide an objective to mitigate those issues.
In a conclusion, the report recommends some measures that will be beneficial for the company to
expand its business globally and succeed to retain the business in future.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Key Issues........................................................................................................................................3
Cultural aspect.............................................................................................................................3
Workplace environment...............................................................................................................4
Environmental sustainability.......................................................................................................4
Desired Outcome.............................................................................................................................5
SMART objectives......................................................................................................................5
Objective 1...............................................................................................................................5
Objective 2...............................................................................................................................5
Objective 3...............................................................................................................................6
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Cultural paradigm........................................................................................................................7
Workplace environment...............................................................................................................7
Safeguarding the environment.....................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Reference.........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Walmart Inc., the biggest retail chain in the world is facing a number of issues regarding
its business operations in many countries. This renowned country have done quite impressive in
US where it begun its journey. However after 1990s the Company intended to expand its market
globally due to the saturation in the US market (Corporate.walmart.com 2018). In this regard,
Walmart Inc. was succeeded to some extent to expand its empire. Nevertheless the company
faced some issues regarding the cultural aspect, workplace environment and environmental
sustainability. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to analyse those issues and provide
solutions that will help Walmart Inc. to resolve the challenges.
Key Issues
Cultural aspect
Culture or the cultural ethos and values are considered to be one of the major factors on
which the business organisations are putting emphasis intensely (Zhou and Guillén 2015). In this
regard, cultural implication in terms of the social acceptability is a significant aspect. In most of
the cases, the companies are tried to develop their business orientation on the basis of the socio-
cultural norms and characteristics of the country (Ojala 2015). It can be seen in case the
company expands its business globally. In this context, the Walmart Inc. also faced the same
problem while establishing its business in Germany. At first Roy Tiarks became the CEO of the
German counterpart of Walmart (Peltoniemi 2015). He was an American citizen and had dearth
of understanding regarding the cultural requirements that the company should possess in
Germany. Finally when the company appoint Kay Hafner as the CEO then the situation was out

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of the control of Walmart and the organisation had to wrap up its business from Germany
(Lo.unisa.edu.au 2018).
Workplace environment
i. The workplace environment is comprised of the workers or the employees and their
relationship with the management. The flexibility of the workplace culture, direct
conversation with the employees and an amicable relationship between the employees
and the authority can deliver a better situation for the organisation that will foster
strategic advantage to the business expansion of the company (Mencl and Lester 2014).
In case of the Walmart Inc., issues regarding the workplace health and safety of the
employers were deliberately supported by the company (Abrams 2014). As per the report
given by NewYork Times, it can be stated that there are Walmart is violating the
Americans Disability Act and Medical Leave Act by restricting the employees to take
any sick leave.
Environmental sustainability
In most of the cases it can be found that the organisations did not put focus on the
importance of environmental sustainability in a concerned manner (Gholami et al. 2016).
However, the environmental sustainability issue becomes a growing trend and subjects to further
studies on the basis of the engagement of the business companies in creating a sustainable world
(Tukker and Tischner 2017). The gas emission of Walmart Inc. has been escalated in a rapid
pace since 2012 (Gunther 2015). The company hardly took any initiatives to remedy the issue
and lack of science based targets for shaping a better environment will lead to the catastrophe for
Walmart Inc. As a matter of fact, the renewable energies of the company fell short in compare to

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the other companies in the league (Hockerts 2015). Therefore, it causes serious troubles for
Walmart to expand its market further.
Desired Outcome
SMART objectives
Objective 1
Specific Capitalise the global market within 2 years.
Measurable To encapsulate the market more effectively Walmart Inc. has to resolve the
issues.
Achievable It requires proper understanding of the issues and in-depth knowledge
regarding the factors of market expansion.
Relevant It is important for not only the management but also the employees to take
adequate responsibilities to ensure market capitalisation in time.
Time bound It can be argued that the company already has enough knowledge
regarding the factors of market capitalisation. However, for more intensive
steps the company should reconstruct its mission and vision values.
Objective 2
Specific Reshape the workplace culture in a healthy way within 1 year.
Measurable To foster a flexible relation with the employees so that they can feel
relaxed.
Achievable Procure the employment policies with more specific regulations so that it
can ensure the employee rights.

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Relevant It is imperative for Walmart Inc. to get familiar with the international
regulation on employee rights and benefits. As a result of that the company
can estimate the necessary changes in the process.
Time bound As the Walmart Inc. has enough experience in business so they must know
all the rights and benefits of the employees. However, for further
understanding the company can take maximum six months to understand
different legislative frameworks of different countries.
Objective 3
Specific Facilitate a sustainable approach towards the environment within 6
months.
Measurable It is essential for Walmart Inc. to set some provisions regarding
environmental sustainability and measures it up with the previous
statistics.
Achievable Proper legislative frameworks both internationally and domestically will
lead the country to develop an understanding regarding the environmental
sustainability.
Relevant The Walmart Inc. can conduct some green initiatives like green campaigns,
reducing the energy consumptions and so on.
Time bound It can take hardly a year for Walmart Inc. to take necessary steps for
procuring green initiatives as the company has enough capital and huge
network of human resource.

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Recommendations
Cultural paradigm
i. Recruiting more native people in the managerial posts will be a beneficial stand for the
organisation to get accustomed with the culture.
ii. Walmart Inc. can set up a diverse workforce where both the local and employees can
work together.
Workplace environment
i. Implementing a flexible and transparent workplace culture can be identified as beneficial
for Walmart Inc. to generate more profit (Sleuwaegen and Onkelinx 2014).
ii. Giving the employees the fundamental rights is also an intrinsic part of shaping a better
workplace environment.
iii. The Walmart Inc. should also put emphasis on the workplace health and safety issues.
Safeguarding the environment
i. Walmart Inc. must conduct some community engagement programs (Sidiropoulos 2014).
ii. Walmart Inc. can also focus on the measures to reduce energy consumptions.
iii. Getting in touch with the local regulations regarding environmental sustainability can
facilitate effectiveness.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that those above recommendations can provide strategic advantage to
the expansionist attitude of Walmart. Moreover, the company has a huge financial support that

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will also facilitate the process smoothly. As a result of that the company can retrieve its lost pride
and able to maintain the aggressive expansion globally.

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Reference
Abrams, R., 2014. Walmart Is Accused of Punishing Workers for Sick Days. [online]
Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/business/walmart-workers-
sick-days.html [Accessed 22 Sep. 2018].
Corporate.walmart.com, 2018. About Us. [online] Corporate.walmart.com. Available at:
https://corporate.walmart.com/our-story [Accessed 22 Sep. 2018].
Gholami, R., Watson, R.T., Molla, A., Hasan, H. and Bjørn-Andersen, N., 2016. Information
systems solutions for environmental sustainability: How can we do more?. Journal of the
Association for Information Systems, 17(8), p.521.
Gunther, M., 2015. Walmart is slapping itself on the back for sustainability but it still has a way
to go. [online] The Guardian. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/nov/18/walmart-climate-change-
carbon-emissions-renewabe-energy-environment [Accessed 22 Sep. 2018].
Hockerts, K., 2015. A cognitive perspective on the business case for corporate
sustainability. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(2), pp.102-122.
Lo.unisa.edu.au, 2018. Walmart can't Conquer All Countries. [online] Lo.unisa.edu.au.
Available at: https://lo.unisa.edu.au/pluginfile.php/1946211/mod_page/content/14/Walmart.pdf
[Accessed 22 Sep. 2018].

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Mencl, J. and Lester, S.W., 2014. More alike than different: What generations value and how the
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Ojala, A., 2015. Geographic, cultural, and psychic distance to foreign markets in the context of
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Sidiropoulos, E., 2014. Education for sustainability in business education programs: a question
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Sleuwaegen, L. and Onkelinx, J., 2014. International commitment, post-entry growth and
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Tukker, A. and Tischner, U. eds., 2017. New business for old Europe: product-service
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Zhou, N. and Guillén, M.F., 2015. From home country to home base: A dynamic approach to the
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