Global Business Issues in Walmart - Cultural, Workplace and Environmental Sustainability

This report evaluates the problems faced by Walmart in terms of cultural, workplace and environmental sustainability aspects. It also provides SMART objectives to resolve the challenges and recommendations on different approaches.

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1GLOBAL BUSINESS ISSUES IN WALMART
Executive summary
Walmart Inc. is considered to be one of the largest supermarket chains across the globe with a
large number of outlets in 28 countries approximately. However, despite of its dynamic market
expansion Walmart Inc. failed to enter in some specific market and lost a number of its existing
markets as well. In this context, the report tries to evaluate the problems in the lights of different
aspects namely, the cultural aspect, workplace environment and the ecological sustainability.
Besides this, the report also delivers SMART objectives in order to take adequate actions to
resolve the challenges. In the end, the discussion provides some recommendations on different
approaches and tries to portray the relevance and importance of the report.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Key issues........................................................................................................................................4
Cultural aspect.............................................................................................................................4
Workplace environment...............................................................................................................5
Environmental sustainability.......................................................................................................6
Desired outcomes.............................................................................................................................7
SMART objectives..........................................................................................................................7
Objective 1...................................................................................................................................7
Objective 2...................................................................................................................................9
Objective 3.................................................................................................................................10
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................11
Cultural paradigm......................................................................................................................11
Workplace environment.............................................................................................................12
Safeguarding the environment...................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................13
Reference.......................................................................................................................................14

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Introduction
Walmart Inc. is considered to be one of the leading multinational retail cooperation that
operates a chain of hypermarkets, departmental stores and grocery stores across the world.
Originated in United States, the Walmart Inc. has headquarter in Bentonville, Arkansas. It can be
argued that the Walmart Inc. was succeeded to establish the first outlet in 1962 and founded by
Sam Walton (Corporate.walmart.com 2018). The name of the first Walmart store was Walmart
Discount City Store located at 719 W. Walnut Street in Rogers, Arkansas
(Corporate.walmart.com 2018). Gradually the company expanded its business rapidly within US
with the help of a strategic formula of low price and tight cost control strategies. As a matter of
fact, by the 1990s the Walmart Inc. became the retail emperor in America. At that time,
saturation in the US market pushed Walmart to opt for a global expansion and the company
successively stretched its market in Mexico, the United Kingdom and China extensively. As per
the official report now Walmart Inc. has 1,718 stores across 28 countries operating under 59
different names (S2.q4cdn.com 2018). Companies like ASDA in UK and the Seiyu Group in
Japan are the subsidiaries of Walmart Inc. According to the Forbes report in 2018, it can be seen
that the country is considered to be the largest in terms of revenue with an estimation of US$ 500
billion and is identified as the largest private employer with 2.3 million employees globally
(S2.q4cdn.com 2018).
However, the company failed to capitalise the market especially in Asia and some parts
of Europe like Germany. There are some issues regarding the market orientation of Walmart Inc.
that hampered to global expansion of the country. The issues are depended on the cultural
factors, environmental sustainability aspects and workplace problems. Based on this

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understanding, this report tries to highlight all the possible issues that Walmart Inc. is facing in
its global business orientation. Moreover, the report also encompasses an in-depth analysis of the
process to mitigate the issues and foster a better environment for the company to sustain in the
high competitive market internationally.
Key issues
In case of the Walmart Inc. there are a number of issues that the company has faced in
recent years in order to establish a strong business holding across the globe. The issues are as
follows.
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. In this regard, it can be argued
that there are several types of cultures that are intertwined with the business orientation of the
company. Culture can be identified as the working culture of the company (Sousa and Tan
2015). The working culture is related to the working environment and the understanding between
the employees during their workplace activities. In fact, the workplace culture has a great deal of
importance in increasing the productivity of the company (Chetty, Ojala and Leppäaho 2015). In
addition to this, there is another type of cultural implication that should be kept in mind in terms
of the social acceptability. 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.

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In Germany, the company expected to get more advantage because of its political
stability and the economic boom. However, they overlooked the cultural underpinnings and cost
heavily. 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 fact, he did not know the German language
and as a result of that he was incapable to communicate with his German companions and failed
to make any impression in the German market. Finally when the company appoint Kay Hafner as
the CEO then the situation was out of the control of Walmart and the organisation had to wrap up
its business from Germany (Lo.unisa.edu.au 2018).
Workplace environment
According to Valentine and Fleischman (2018), workplace environment is considered to
be part and parcel of the profitability of the company. The workplace environment is comprised
of the workers or the employees and their relationship with the management. There are a number
of factors that can facilitate a better workplace culture for the companies. It can be stated that the
workplace culture is related to the healthy relationship between the management and the low
level employees who are entitled to perform jobs as per the requirements (Salin 2015). There are
a number of implications that the companies can introduce in order to manifest a better
workplace environment. 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. As a matter of fact, the workplace culture is intricately related to the
profitability of the organisations because as Raziq and Maulabakhsh (2015) rightly asserted that
the production, manufacturing and the service procedure that a company deliver to its customers

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are followed by the association of the employees in this context. Therefore, it is very much
imperative for the management to develop a better workplace environment where the employees
can ventilate and practice their creativity and effectiveness in order to enhance the performance
(Gohet al. 2015).
In case of the Walmart Inc., there are number of issues regarding the relationship between
the management and the employees and the ability of the management to incorporate the
employees more rigorously in order to increase the profitability as soon as possible. In a report of
NewYork Times, there are issues regarding the workplace health and safety of the employers and
the company did not care to notice the health related issues of the Walmart Inc. (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. Moreover, employees with serious health related issues are failed to get any privileges
on behalf of their employment rights.
Environmental sustainability
It can be argued that environmental sustainability is an important aspect that the
corporate business organisations should keep in focus while expanding their business
aggressively in domestic market or internationally (McKinnonet al. 2015). 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. 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). There are different
process through which the business organisations can fosters an environmental sustainability
measure. The community engagement and awareness programs with ensuring the reduction of

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energy consumption, using reusable and eco-friendly products all are associated with the process
of eco-friendly approach of an organisation (Rauter, Jonker and Baumgartner 2017).
However, in case of Walmart Inc., recently the company is facing a series of
environmental issues that created obstacles to develop a better image internationally. It can be
argued that the company is failed to take any kind of stewardship towards changing the climate.
In fact, 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 the other companies in
the league (Hockerts 2015). Therefore, it causes serious troubles for Walmart to expand its
market further. Furthermore, the company did not meet the global carbon emission policy
strictly. As a result of that it causes serious threats to the global objectives of ensuring
environment sustainability and the international image of Walmart Inc. is also under immense
threat.
Desired outcomes
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

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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.
It can be argued that for creating an aggressive market expansion the company must
reshape its brand image at first. It can be argued that the brand image or brand value is important
for an organisation because it provides the strategic advantage for the company to attract the
customers on the basis of its profound brand recognition (De Villa, Rajwani and Lawton 2015).
Therefore, the Walmart Inc. will take not more than 2 years to reshape its market capitalisation
by giving respect to the local culture and get an in-depth idea regarding the cultural barriers and
preferences. Moreover, the company should also possess some measures that can be considered
as the catalyst to foster a rapid pace to the process (Erikssonet al. 2015). However, Walmart Inc.
has a long history to get experience in the retail business. Therefore, the organisation has
extensive understanding about the pros and cons of the measures and set up a plan accordingly.
In addition to this, the employees also take additional responsibilities in order to create a flexible
environment for the company to take decisions swiftly (Hunt 2015). It requires, an exclusive
aims and objectives that Walmart Inc. can create through its mission and vision statement. In
fact, it will help to incorporate the employees also.
Objective 2
Specific Reshape the workplace culture in a healthy way within 1 year.

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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.
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.
It can be described that the workplace health and safety is considered to be one of the
fundamental rights of the employees. Therefore, the Walmart Inc. should put concern over those
issues. Despite of having a serious threat regarding the sick leave issues for the employees the
Walmart Inc. must take a deep insights into the matter by making the employment policies more
transparent and specific. The role of the international legislative frameworks is identified as to
play a pivotal role in this regard (Morioka and Kitaoka 2018). Moreover, the Walmart Inc. must
keep in mind that the employee benefits and rights are different with the country specifications.
Henceforth, having an in-depth understanding of the respective country’s law and regulation
related to the employee rights and benefits is also pertinent for the organisation (Ciarimboliet al.
2018). In this context, the Walmart Inc. must not take more than 2 months to get familiar with
the national employee rights and policies so that they can procure a new employment policy.

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Nevertheless, the entire process would take at least a year to spread the new policy among all the
stores across the globe (John, Knyazeva and Knyazeva 2015).
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.
As a matter of fact, the sustainability issue has to be resolved as soon as possible because
most of the countries irrespective of developed or developing put grave concern about the
ecological issues (Jang, Zheng and Bosselman 2017). In fact, this is very sensitive for doing
business multi-nationally because if Walmart Inc. failed to foster a better eco-friendly business
environment in one country then other countries will never give it the provision to start business.
Therefore, Walmart Inc. should change its marketing operations by adding up the sustainability
approach with the marketing policies. Generally, the huge bulk of money and revenue support

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help Walmart Inc. to foster sustainable changes in a quick time estimated maximum six months.
In fact, the legislative frameworks are also important for the company to get acknowledged with
the environmental essentials that it has to follow in respective countries (Johnson 2015). The
legislative understanding will not take much time and it should be covered up within a month.
However, the necessary changes related to the process will take some time because of its
dynamic approach and vitality. In this regard, the Walmart Inc. can some ample of green
initiatives that can help to change the image of the company as well as enhances its recognition
and acceptability among the customers.
Recommendations
In this context, it will be beneficial for the Walmart Inc. to go through and implement the
recommendations as given bellow. The recommendations are as follows,
Cultural paradigm
i. Recruiting more native people in the managerial posts will be a beneficial stand for the
organisation. The reason behind this is to get accompanied with the local culture and the
people so that the Walmart Inc. can supply products as per the local needs. By recruiting
local people will provide the company the details and information of the local
requirements.
ii. As a matter of fact, the Walmart Inc. can set up a diverse workforce where both the local
and employees can work together. Workplace diversity is always considered to be a
strategic measure that brings effectiveness and more productivity to the organisational
operations. In fact, the local employees also get a clear understanding about the
international role that Walmart Inc. plays in the global market. At the same time, the

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expatriates also resembled with the local culture and customer behaviour that will foster a
better framework to plan the marketing strategies.
Workplace environment
i. Implementing a flexible and transparent workplace culture can be identified as beneficial
for Walmart Inc. to expand its market internationally. In this context, the role of the
management is considered to be highly pivotal that they are responsible to create a better
workplace culture. In fact, the flexible workplace culture will generate more creativity
and effectiveness to the Walmart Inc. operations and as a result of that the company can
get strategic advantage in the international market.
ii. In addition to this, giving the employees the fundamental rights is also an intrinsic part of
shaping a better workplace environment. In this regard, it is important for the
organisations to have ample knowledge regarding the international and domestic norms
that facilitates employee rights. It can be argued that ensuring employee rights will
generate motivation for the staffs that directly enhances the profitability of Walmart Inc.
iii. The Walmart Inc. also puts emphasis on the workplace health and safety issues. The
leave policies for sick and retarded people with financial aid to the employee will
facilitate a better relationship between the employees and he company. it will seem to be
a family and the height of motivation will pave the way for more profit and sustainability
for the company in the intense competitive market.
Safeguarding the environment
i. For the environmental sustainability the Walmart Inc. must conduct some community
engagement programs. As a matter of fact, the benefits of community engagement
programs are in one hand the company can flaunt its environment stewardship approach

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and prove that it has a purpose to make a better and healthier world. On the other, the
company can promote its products through those campaigns.
ii. Walmart Inc. can also focus on the measures to reduce energy consumptions. It is also
considered to be an important aspect that is related to the environmental sustainability.
Using power saver lights with proper care for the waste management can generate a great
deal of sustainability measures to the Walmart Inc. steps towards green business.
iii. Getting in touch with the local regulations regarding environmental sustainability and
inculcate an in-depth analysis of the international mandates are also identified as effective
steps for Walmart Inc. to focus upon.
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion it can be argued that the Walmart Inc. is rightly facing
serious problems in every aspects from the environmental sustainability to the workplace culture
to the strategic initiatives. In this regard, the report portrayed smart objectives that were entitled
to analyse the necessary steps that Walmart Inc. should take and also the report encapsulates
some recommendations that will be identified as the perfect remedy for those issues. Therefore,
it can be concluded that the report puts focus on different types of issues in order to provide a
better situational understanding and considered to be helpful by recommends a number of
measures that will be helpful for Walmart Inc. to expand its market globally.

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