Taking Wal-Mart Global: Lessons from Retailing's Giant

Becoming global is never exclusively the result of a grand design, though certainly it cannot be the result of incremental, ad hoc, opportunistic and random moves. The wisest approach would be one of "directed opportunism" - an approach that maintains opportunism and flexibility within a broad direction set by a systematic framework. One of the best examples of the power of an explicit and systematic process to analyze the complex set of factors involved in becoming a global player is Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the largest retailer in the world. The company, which opened its first international store (in Mexico City) in 1991, now operates in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, China, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Britain, Argentina and South Korea. Of a work force of more than 950,000, it had more than 130,000 employees working in 729 facilities outside the United States by July 1999. Until its recent move into supermarkets, the retailer operated three types of outlets: 1) Wal-Mart stores, which offer clothing, linens, small appliances, hardware, sporting goods and similar items; 2) Sam's Clubs, which offer bulk items to customers who purchase warehouse memberships, and 3) Supercenters, which combine the inventories of a discount store with a full-line supermarket. Wal-Mart has pursued globalization aggressively since its first move across the border in 1991. In 1993 just 1 percent of all Wal-Mart stores were located outside the United States. By 1998, that had grown to 18 percent. Between 1995 and 1998, 5 percent of the company's growth in sales and 4 percent of its growth in profits came from international operations.