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Running head: WALMART ANALYSIS Edwards 1

WALMART ANALYSIS Edwards 2

Walmart Analysis

Markis' Edwards

Business 621

Dr. Salvatore Ferraro

March 1, 2021

Part A: Leadership

Wal-Mart is an international retail corporation that is in the United States. The company operates a chain of grocery stores, hypermarkets as well as discounted stores. It is one of the most competitive stores in the united states. This corporation ventured into business in 1962, and it took little time to dominate the United States retail market. In this analysis, cultural leadership, beneficial leadership, and a thorough global study will be conducted in reviewing one of the world’s largest corporations, Walmart.

A few years later, the company in 1992 expanded its services to Mexico, the first venture in an international market. This was the beginning of a long journey as the company would soon open many other stores with more than six thousand and three hundred stores globally. However, it is imperative to state that although the company became very successful, various countries did not go their way, and the company ended up losing business in these markets. Japan, South Korea, and Germany are but some examples of the few needs that the company was never successful. The primary reason for the failures in these respective countries is the lack of a clear understanding of the cultural habits of the consumers in these regions and the approach of managing the human resource in the host countries.

We can appreciate that failure is that people can learn lessons and use the lessons learned to come back even more vital. I will therefore show the various ways that this corporation can be successful as they go about with their expansion in the overseas market. In this case, I will expand in the New Zealand market and the leadership approach that can be applied. The significance of leadership competencies in the New Zealand market, the cultural leadership and practices that could help it succeed here, and its analysis.

Leadership approach

New Zeeland is one of the countries known for its individualistic culture as it emphasizes individual rights and achievements. This, therefore, means that the two most important leadership styles that can be utilized in this corporation are democratic leadership and the transformational style of leadership.

Transformational leadership is a style of leadership that brings everyone on board in making crucial decisions. This type of leadership is very significant because it boosts morale and self-efficacy in the places of work. This is known for its downward influence tactics that significantly impact the performance ratings, organization influence, promotability, and job effectiveness. These leaders will use incentives to motivate the workforce to do their best (Ho et al., 2016).

The workers will get rewarded for the excellent work they deliver, and thus they put more effort into their work. Leaders using this style of leadership focus on making sure that there is a smooth flow of operation. These leaders go past the day-by-day operation management and develop tactics to ensure the team's and company's positive performance. This leadership style centers on team building a workers' partnership for change accomplishment aimed at the betterment of the organization. Similarly, the democratic kind of leadership allows the employees to be involved in all the organization's decisions. This encourages the free flow of ideas, which in turn leads to significant innovations. These leadership styles reinforce trust and respect amongst the employees; boost their morale which in turn gives the leaders a good environment of leading.

Beneficial Leadership competencies in New Zealand

The leadership style that a company chooses to use is fundamental, especially when making critical decisions in the organization. With New Zealand culture, it is crucial to employ a leadership style that shows positivity, humor, and participation, which means that the transformational leadership style is the best in this environment. A participative leadership style involves all the stakeholders in the process of making critical decisions in the organization. This is especially very significant in this country because people emphasize their freedom and the right to air their views.

These leaders are very keen on their communication mode to the stakeholders. This is primarily because they understand that to maintain relevance and market share today, they must have the capacity to adapt nimbly, pivot, and collaborate not just externally but internally. “The efforts of leaders doing this are impeded by siloed thinking and behavior. It is important to implement a strategy of breaking down the communication and collaboration barriers within the organization and tear down the internal silos” (Bovée & Thill, 2014).

It is essential to create a unified vision of team collaboration. The leader must have an image that will help the entire organization. This calls for the organization to focus on a universal goal through clear communication. According to various studies, people in New Zealand do not require strict guidelines and controls, and thus, it is critical to work collaboratively.

Another very critical aspect for the leaders to focus on is having open feedback with the employees. Verbal praises and glowing feedback can motivate an individual and increase workplace satisfaction, and consequently, a person can work even more challenging. Proper support is essential as it helps maintain the workers and keep workers focused and determined over time and during hard times. This allows workers to do their work more rapidly, more efficiently, and happily.

Engaging with team members is vital in helping to meet the set goals. When given a comfortable work environment, it always helps make a person both psychologically and physically relaxed and thus excellent results (Rahman, 2017). Every individual must use several ways within the environment in gauging the path by which they will walkthrough. An entrepreneur must make a borderline within the environment, setting the firm separately from the rest of the domain. This is to means that any business activities will always revolve around the internal and external business environment.

Since individualism is highly appreciated in this culture, it is imperative to use this as an opportunity rather than a weakness. The leaders can, for instance, frequently convene meetings where together with the workers, they can be able to set individual goals as well as the business goals together. This can be very significant as every employee will focus on their goals, and ultimately the business will realize its goals. New Zealand people are very modest and do not value titles; therefore, they are more interested in achieving their set goals. This is not the same case in the United States.

Cultural leadership in New Zealand

Many companies fail because they do not take their time t to understand the way of life of the countries, they are setting their business in. ignoring the culture will make it very difficult to build a global leadership pipeline. Culture is the way of life of different people. Every country has its own culture that varies from one country to the other. The variation in cultures influences the buying decisions and preferences of the consumers. These attitudes might be positive, negative, or neutral and thus very crucial in every business. Since the service providers and the recipient will engage in an interactive process during the pre-purchase phase, the culture will more likely moderate the relationship between the service provider and the customer. The firms that gain deeper insights into value creation sources can craft a superior value proposition in a competitive global marketplace. It is, therefore, essential to understanding the drivers of customer value as a top priority. It is there very important that a leader first takes time to understand the culture of the people in the market that one is trying to expand the business. According to Northouse (2018), “transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people. It is concerned with emotion, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals.” This, therefore, means that the leaders can be able to transform the employees and in turn be able to work towards the set goals and objectives. Through the transformational leadership style, t will be easier to learn and understand what motivates the employees and thus building a connection with their culture, their preferences, and the consumers buying trends and ultimately realize the company goals and objectives.

It is vital that once the company has set its business in this country, effective leadership should be applied to help the company to remain competitive through the application of strategic goals and objectives. This will be woven by the leaders who will be able to work collaboratively towards becoming the market leaders in the retail market in this country. The leader should also be mindful of the ethics in this country. Ethical leaders are capable of being successful even in challenging situations. Ethical leadership means staying true to the moral principles to act as an excellent example to the other workers. This kind of leadership is significant both to the brand and to the leaders themselves. A perfect example of how this is beneficial to the brand is where the customers will be loyal upon realizing that an organization is based on good ethics.

On the other hand, the leaders get an easy time since they will not have a hard time controlling their followers. With all these, the result is having good results as the workers will be more dedicated, and they will meet their goals and objectives. Ethical leaders act as role models, and thus the employees have someone to emulate. They usually are selfless and dedicated, and therefore they give their best to the company, the employees, and the customers. No employees will have any reason to fear discriminatory treatment under these leaders. This kind of environment cheers them up, and the results are positive. On the negative side, these leaders may find it challenging to balance promoting ethical behaviors and providing resources to the employees.

Part

New Zealand analysis

This is a country that is on an island with more than 4.8 million living here. According to New Zealand (2020), “New Zealand is number 3 among 42 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and its overall score is well above the regional and world averages”. The country has for a long time now held the first position among the freest counties globally. The country experiences steady economic growth, and the economy is further projected to increase by 2.5% in the next year. The country is still optimistic about recording the said economic growth despite the global pandemic that intensely hit all the countries globally. The country is ranked among the best countries when it comes to the ease of doing business. This means that everything from the policies to regulations is favorable for Wal-Mart, an added advantage. With a conducive environment of doing business, it becomes easier for companies to work towards their goals and objectives.

Wal-Mart, however, is supposed to address the issue of online shopping as the locals seem to be shifting to this mode of shopping. To handle this issue, the company must accept that change is inevitable. The company should, therefore, acknowledge that the change is needed urgently. According to Boyte (2018), “New Zealanders are increasingly digital, with two-thirds shopping online in the last 12-months – up 37% in 2006 and expected to hit 8.3% by 2026. The New Zealanders Connected Consumer Reports looks at how online shopping has changed the Kiwis, resulting in a need for greater understanding of online shopping attitudes and behaviors.” This, therefore, means that the retail company must understand the attitudes of the consumers online.

In this country, most of the products are imported because the country is an island. This means that Walmart must consider the high cost of shipping that can increase the prices of the products. The consumers here are economical, which means that it will be upon the company to come up with strategic shipping plans that will help lower the prices of shipping and ultimately meet the needs of the consumers of getting products at a low cost.

Global analysis of the country

This country is recognized among the nations with firm beliefs of social standards, rules, and regulations, as well as the people's ability to be very predictive. The culture of this country highly values institutional collectiveness as well as an in-group collectiveness. The people believe in the particularism model. Therefore, people respect each other's decisions as well as the needs of every individual in their society. Consequently, they value relationships with each other to understand the needs of various people in their communities. New Zealand's competitiveness is motivated by its drive for excellence and perfection. The children in this country are taught how to strive to get their best and become successful in their lives.

In surmise, firms that gain deeper insights into value creation sources can craft a superior value proposition in a competitive global marketplace. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the drivers of customer value as a top priority. In New Zealand, there are higher service quality perceptions, and the clients are more satisfied when joint co-creation takes place during their shopping experience. It is essential to invite customers to participate in the service provision co-creation process, which can be done by openly involving customers and guiding them during their decision-making process.

By analyzing the information presented in this paper, Walmart can make strategic decisions that will help place the organization in the market o new Zeeland. The organization can also use the data gathered in all the other markets globally to understand the various trends in this market clearly. Leadership has been singled out as one of the essential aspects that this organization can use to put itself in a better market position.

Similarly, the human resource is a vital aspect to put into consideration. In this hyper-competitive and increasingly complex global economy, every organization must have the best talent to become successful as we live in a talent-based economy. Many organizations have already realized that there is a critical need for managing talent as an essential resource to achieve the best possible results. The human resource department should start by looking at where the organization is currently standing and where they want to take it to remain flexible.

References

Bovée, C., & Thill, V. (2014). Business Communication Today. 12. painos. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Retrieved from: https://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/preface/0/1/3/5/0135891809.pdf

Boyte, T. (2018). Online Shopping Seeing Huge Growth in New Zealand. https://www.nielsen.com/nz/en/insights/article/2018/online-shopping-seeing-huge-growth-in-new-zealand/

Ho, V., Dinh, T., & Vu, M. (2016). Transformational and transactional leadership styles and employees’ job satisfaction in Vietnamese local companies. International Review of Management and Business Research, 5(3), 938-950. Retrieved from; https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thang_Le_Dinh/publication/314046239_Transformational_and_Transactional_Leadership_Styles_and_Employees%27_Job_Satisfaction_in_Vietnamese_Local_Companies/links/58b1fdb8a6fdcc6f03f93525/Transformational-and-Transactional-Leadership-Styles-and-Employees-Job-Satisfaction-in-Vietnamese-Local-Companies.pdf

New Zealand. (N.D.) Retrieved August 7, 2020 from https://www.heritage.org/index/country/newzealand

Northouse, P.G. (2018). Leadership: theory and Practice (8th ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu

Rahman, M. M. (2017). Transformational Vis-a-Vis Transactional Leadership: A Conceptual Analysis. Young Power in Social Action, 7(1), 87-96. Retrieved from http://ypsa.org/ypsa/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Social-Change-Vol-7.pdf#page=94