com culture intact and growing so that it can pervade the Amazon.com culture as well.
Summary
Amazon.com sees the future of e-commerce retailing as needing to be more focused on the experience of shopping, purchasing, and recommending products online over and above the basic transaction. The acquisition of Zappos is an investment in creating a customer-centric culture, an area the founders of Amazon.com have continually attempted to create in their own company.
Strategic Action: Wal-Mart Choosing to Enter China
Wal-Mart's history of growth within the U.S. And nations which have comparable cultures is exceptional in its speed and success. Yet the expansion into other regions of the world, notably Germany (Christopherson, 2007) has failed as they do not capitalize on the core strengths of the company. The decision to enter the Chinese mass merchandiser market was a difficult one, as the company has a history of being very successful in rural regions of the U.S. And other nations, yet the Chinese market is one where the majority of sales are made in urban centers including Shanghai and Beijing. The shift from selling in rural locations and regions to urban regions required WalMart to completely change their internal mindset of how to grow their business (Fong, 2009). In addition, competitors including Carrefour and Tesco had been able to estblaish strong relationships with the Chinese Communist Party throughout the most lucrative regions of the country before WalMart began its market development plans (Fong, 2009). Instead of concentrating on how to create their own stores in retail centers, WalMart chose to first Joint Venture with Taiwanese-based Trust-Mart and then selectively invest in the launch of stores acquired in the highest growing regions including Shanghai. This proved to be an excellent strategy as it gave WalMart rapid access to knowledge and operating performance of the small, highly focused urban stores, the mid-size specialty stores Chinese consumer preferred, and the supercenter concept in suburban and urban regions (Thuermer, 2006). By concentrating on the unique requirement of the Chinese market and the role of the government, WalMart succeeded.
Summary
For the many contradictions that entering the Chinese market presented to Wal-Mart, the decision to adopt a more aggressive development plan by entering regional cities provided to be effective. In making...
The partnering with the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai is a case in point.
