最新【精品】范文 参考文献 专业论文Wal-Mart Strives to Re-Invent Itself in ChinaWal-Mart Strives to Re-Invent Itself in China On December 29， 2013， Wall-Mart closed its Kunshan supermarket secretly， which happened， according to Wal-Mart， after a comprehensive consideration of its performance. Wal-Mart began to close underperforming outlets as of 2013. Last year， this U.S. chain retailer closed a dozen of outlets in China， which easily outnumbered other foreign chain retailers. It is known that Wal-Mart is going to close 15-30 outlets in China in the next two years. They account for 9% of the total number of outlets of Wal-Mart in China but only contribute 2% of its sales in this country. But Wal-Mart was not simply retreating. It is now focusing on its distribution in the lesser cities of China. In the next three years， Wal-Mart is going to set up 110 new sites in China， including hypermarkets， Sams Club stores and delivery centers. It is not hard to find out that WalMart is contracting its business in major cities of China while increasing its presence in the less important cities. When the entire retail industry is shrouded with depression， Wal-Marts actions showed its determination of reform in the Chinese market. In other words， Wal-Mart is re-shaping its outlet network， logistics system and purchasing system. The Pain of Growing It was once reported that the outlet of Wal-Mart in Kunshan performed well in the beginning， but when the number of competitors increased， its business began to decline. The loss was said to be due to the unwarranted “promise”. Even though Wal-Mart held the banner of “Everyday Low Price”， its products， as consumers said， were not cheap at all. It does not have too many fresh products. Those factors gradually drove the consumers in Kunshan away from Wal-Mart. It is not an independent case. Actually， this most profitable retailer in the world is always staggering in its development in China. Wal-Mart entered China in 1996 with Shenzhen as its first stop. At that time， Wal-Mart copied its U.S. pattern into China and set up a Wal-Mart supermarket as well as a Sam Clubs store in Shenzhen. Presently， Wal-Mart has Wal-Mart supermarket， Sams Club and Wal-Mart community stores in China. In the years development in China， Wal-Mart failed to get its online and offline business acclimatized to the Chinese market. During the battle between the American experiences and the Chinese consumers habits， WalMart missed expected performance in this emerging market， which did not match its role as the biggest retailer in the world. To a certain degree， it is the plants in China that support the low-cost supply chain of Wal-Mart in the world， allowing it to become extremely deft in controlling the production procedures. But in return， when Wal-Mart tried to sell its things to Chinese consumers， The Chinese market environment is the first factor to blame. Many people know that the Chinese retail market is filled with competition and is one of hardest markets in the world. Apart from confronting Carrefour， Tesco and Metro， Wal-Mart also needed to fight hand-to-hand with retailers from Japan， South Korea and Taiwan. In addition， a large number of Chinese local chain retailers are growing and competing in this land as well. Many times， Wal-Marts products are known to be low in price. But in China， there are numerous small stores and vendors along the streets， provid- ing multiple choices for the consumers to buy cheap things. In addition， the slowed economic growth rate of China sabotaged the consumers ability to spend and further affected Wal-Marts business. Apart from the environment， WalMart “unfamiliarity” in the Chinese market is also related to its scale of operation. By now， Wal-Mart had around 400 outlets in China， while Carrefour had 200 stores. These numbers are far from the number a matured and saturated market deserved and are also far different from the ones in the home countries of Wal-Mart and Carrefour. It is known that Wal-Mart has around 4，500 outlets in the U.S. whereas Carrefour had the same number of outlets in France. This means that these retailers are far from scale operation in China. The insufficient number of outlets leads to the dysfunction of the logistics system that Wal-Mart took pride in and greatly increased its cost. In addition， Wal-Mart has to face a problem that is common for all foreign retailers in China ? whether or not to have some local elements added in their stores. This means that foreign retailers have to make a choice between “followup standardized operating procedures”and “flexible operation”. The strategy Wal-Mart followed in the previous few years is that the headquarters gave up a part of its decisionmaking rights and gave the outlets more autonomy. But in November 2012， WalMart integrated its 30 purchasing offices in China into eight regional offices. In October 2013， Wal-Mart also increased