Research Paper on:
WAL-MART AND GERMANY: A SWOT ANALYSIS

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Strengths. The brand name. Wal-Mart is the worlds largest retailer as well s the worlds largest corporation (Fernie and Arnold, 2002). Because of this, it is  already familiar to an international population, particularly one in Germany. Second is that the personnel structure of Wal-Mart in general fits very  well into the Germanic view toward business; that of a primarily patriarchal society, in which the company takes care of its employees. Wal-Mart (U.S. sexual harassment suit settlements aside) is  very much a corporation that would fit into the German culture because of this. In addition, Wal-Marts emphasis on low prices, wide  assortment of consumer goods, community support an customer service also help boost this company in the German eyes of the consumers (Fernie and Arnold, 2002).  There is also every indication that the German consumers are as interest in cost savings as their American counterparts, and Wal-Mart could do quite well in this  area, too. Weaknesses. Wal-Mart may find it difficult to market its Supercenters in Germany -- in the food business, especially, profit  margins are very low in this country (Fernie and Arnold, 2002). Additionally, Wal-Marts tendency to focus on overtime for its employees could be problematic in a Germany regulatory market that  tends to favor the employees (Fernie and Arnold, 2002). For example, until 1996, opening hours for stores were only until 6:00 p.m. on weekedays, and 2:00 p.m. -- for one  Saturday each month (Fernie and Arnold, 2002). Wal-Mart, which operates many 24-hours stores throughout the U.S. and Canada, might find it difficult to adapt to this particular environment.