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Business & Finance

Leadership and Teamwork: Walmart

Leadership and Teamwork: Walmart

“Walmart Inc. (Walmart) is an American multinational retail corporation operating a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. Walmart started business in 1962, and they quickly dominated the U.S. market and are now a cultural staple of our generation. During its first 30 years, Walmart grew to 1,928 stores located throughout the USA. Walmart dominating retail in the US was not enough for Walmart, so in 1992, they expanded their company to Mexico. This was the first step into the international markets; now, they have 6,363 stores worldwide. Even though they were successful internationally, they failed and had to close business in Germany, South Korea, and Japan. I read the following article by Hunt, Watts, & Bryant (2018) that “the lack of understanding about cultural habits concerning shopping was a common theme in these failures, along with an ethnocentric approach to management staffing in the host country” (pg. 25). When entering a new market, there will always be a risk present, and there will be failures that we can learn from when trying to establish your business into markets globally.

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In this document, I will demonstrate how Walmart can succeed in its future expansion. I will discuss the leadership approach to an expansion into New Zealand, beneficial leadership competencies for the New Zealand expansion, cultural leadership applied in New Zealand, leadership skills and practices for success, country analysis, and a Globe analysis of New Zealand.

Walmart should look at the leadership models and competencies that would fit best in a new market and internally for their team. “Effective leaders are flexible enough to adjust their leadership style and techniques to the people they lead and the situations they encounter” (Oedekoven, Lavrenz, Robins, 2018, pg. 34). The leaders in Walmart need to analyze and learn from the leadership techniques they used in the markets their services failed and apply them to the new countries they are trying to expand their products and services.

Leadership approach to an expansion into New Zealand

 In the market expansion of Walmart into New Zealand, the two leadership styles were evaluated to determine which style would prove most effective for leading Walmart into the New Zealand market. Due to Walmart’s hierarchy structure and the culture within New Zealand, the style of leadership that Walmart should utilize when entering this market would be Transformational and Democratic. Within Walmart’s leadership, their upper management should use the democratic leadership style in which they would make the final decisions but consult their teams before completing the task. The transformational leadership style is used when leaders allow their employees to participate and you let them make the final decision. Both styles lead to high employee satisfaction and motivation and increase morale. Other benefits of leading by democracy parent are that it allows employees to flow ideas, encourages trust and respect, and emphasizes values and morals, enabling the followers to view their leaders as competent to lead. These leaders receive more diverse ideas, allowing players to develop more strength and create a vision for the future. If Walmart understands this core area of New Zealand, it can establish its business successfully within the country.

Beneficial Leadership Competencies in the New Zealand Expansion

 The type of leadership the company chooses to utilize is important, and it is an essential decision they need to ensure will work when trying to expand their services to New Zealand. In a study, Dharmesh & Madden (2017) “list humor as one of New Zealand’s defining characteristics.” In another study, Holmes & Marra (2016), “conducted research analyzing leadership in New Zealand companies and how humor is used as a tool.” From this study, it was found that “from the point of view of the workplace leader, humor is a valuable discursive resource which can be drawn on to assist in achieving workplace goals, since it makes it possible to “do” both power and politeness, often simultaneously” (Holmes & Marra, 2016, pg. 125).

Within the Zealand culture, their leaders lead around humor and do not take themselves seriously as other countries do in the business environment. When you see the leadership shows positivity and humor, this goes a long way with the employees within New Zealand.

Another leadership aspect that Walmart needs to review is to focus on the individual. In New Zealand, their citizens have a solid independent style. With this in mind, you wouldn’t use the style of setting or emphasizing the organizational goals; focusing on the individual employee would be imperative. The leaders should have one-on-one meetings frequently and set personal goals because this leadership style is preferred in the New Zealand workforce. Even though the employees in New Zealand show high independence, they are very modest and do not value titles or recognition like the employees in the US.

The last area that Walmart leaders should consider is to be open to feedback and ensure they provide this in privacy versus a group setting. The New Zealand culture does not have conflicts or disagreements in the workplace. Leaders need to be mindful of this aspect of their culture. One of the things I found interesting while researching this subject was that any leader planning on entering this market needs to ensure they only maintain one-on-one sessions and get as much information as possible from the employee to succeed in this culture. They do not like wasting time with constant meetings.

Cultural Leadership Applied in New Zealand

 Upon Walmart entering the New Zealand market, they need to understand the different cultural and leadership styles in the country’s business markets. Many companies fail because they are insensitive to cultural differences, yet are required to lead teams outside their cultural norms and are likely to find themselves misunderstood and ineffectual. Companies that ignore cultural differences will find it impossible to build a successful global leadership pipeline. When your leaders portray this attitude, they struggle to build effective leadership teams within the global market. They need to analyze the differences between leadership approaches in particular cultures. I found an article on why they fail in other countries, and Hunt &Watts (2018) describe how Walmart’s unsuccessful expansion into Germany and South Korea, as well as its struggles in Brazil and Japan, can be blamed on cultural ignorance and not taking the time to understand the cultures before entering the markets. Reading this statement shows how important it is to study the culture in the market you are trying to expand your business and tailor it to fit that market. When a company is considering entering the New Zealand market with its services internationally, they need to analyze the country’s geographies to see if its services would benefit the market.

In the previous paragraph, I mention that Walmart should use the situational leadership approach when entering the New Zealand market. They should transition into a transformational leadership approach to be viable in this market and establish their workforce. Worthouse, 92018). They describe, “Transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people. It is concerned with emotion, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals.” Walmart leaders should not use the method of motivating and leading employees with a strategy; they should use a transformational approach where the employees can find motivation through their passion and what concerns them in the workplace. The New Zealanders are very reserved and dislike group settings, making motivating them difficult. When using the transformational leadership style, the leaders can get to know the workers and learn what motivates them. IImplementingthis style enables the leaders to connect with the workers from New Zealand. It leads to them learning how to communicate with the culture, preferences, and buying trends of the people in New Zealand. Any stores they place should cater to the Kiwi culture and ensure they are not walking through the aisles resemble in the US will not work for the people in New Zealand.

Leadership Skills and Practices for Success

Upon entering the New Zealand business market, the most crucial Practice to be utilized is being an effective leader who will be leading a company internationally is to lead with a strategic vision that fits the country. In addition to the company vision, there needs to be a vision set for the New Zealand expansion that brings the teams together to work toward succeeding in this market. Since New Zealand is such an egalitarian workforce, it would be essential to establish a vision that brings the team together so as not to focus on management hierarchies. This vision should allow the U.S. and New Zealand leadership teams to work effectively together and create a common goal that benefits all cultures involved in the team-building process.

A leader from the United States may find it a bit challenging, but being more of a stoic type of leader in New Zealand may fit better with the culture. With more of a stiff-upper-lip mentality, stoicism and a toughen-up attitude can be traced back to New Zealand’s English roots and indigenous warrior culture (Legal Team New Zealand, 2019). This reflects how the Kiwis are known to avoid emotional expression, especially in the workplace. To lead the employees and impact future customers within this region, the leaders may want to utilize this method to be successful in New Zealand’s workforce and marketplace.

Leaders who lead employees outside the U.S. need ethical standards; this would be an effective method/tool for expanding their company’s services to New Zealand consumers. Establishing an ethical code enables all cultures to unify and create an effective working environment. In New Zealand and most cultures, honesty goes a long way. To gain trust as an outsider, WWalmart’sleadership needs to show honesty among the leadership and the employees. This means they must include all team members and let them be part of decisions. Management also needs to ensure the employees understand they have an open-door policy. This will help build the relationship between the Kiwi workers and their respect towards the leaders.

Country Analysis

 New Zealand is a small island located on the other side of the world, but it has a population of 4.8 million people living on this island. New Zealand’s economy ranks third in the freest economy in the 2020 index. “New Zealand is ranked 3rd among 42 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and its overall score is well above the regional and world averages’ (2020 Index of Economic Freedom). They have been ranked number one of the freest economies for over 25 years. Their economic growth has been steady and is projected to increase by 2.5% within the following year. But with the COVID-19 outbreak, New Zealand has declined a seasonal adjusted 0.7% in the first quarter of 2020. It was the most significant drop in total volume sales in eight years, with 10 of the 16 regions showing declines, but they saw a surge in sales of supermarkets and grocery stores. New Zealand is a beautiful place, but the leaders need to analyze how Walmart services can be brought to this country to improve and contribute to the culture of this island.

Today, Walmart should analyze the growing threat of online shopping. If they were entering this market in 2019, this would have been a challenge, but since the COVID-19 virus, online shopping has seen huge growth in New Zealand. I found an article by Boyte (2018) that stated, “When it comes to shopping, 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.”

Next, New Zealand is an island where most of its goods get imported, leading to high shipping costs, which could increase the price of everyday goods. With Walmart’s slogan, “Always Low Prices,” which is a great need in New Zealand, through strategic shipping and partnership, Walmart should be able to bring the costs of goods lower in their stores than New Zealanders are accustomed to.

Walmart’s former CEO, Greg Foran, is originally from New Zealand and is now working for New Zealand Airlines; perhaps a partnership could be made by collaborating with the airline to import goods into New Zealand.

Lastly, New Zealand notably ranked first out of 190 countries in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business list of 2020, surpassing standards of starting a business and receiving credit within the country. There is a high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to creating an operation in New Zealand. The statistics and data listed here are all positive contributors to successful business models for Walmart to enter the New Zealand market.

A Globe Analysis of New Zealand

 The “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness: (Globe) Research Program was developed in 1991 by Robert J House (1932-2011). The GLOBE researchers studied leadership worldwide; they defined leadership as “the ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organizations of which they are members” (House et al., 2002).

The GLOBE program is a research project analyzing cultural differences to form one platform. GLOBE provides an approach to measure the magnitude of cultural differences using nine dimensions. The dimensions are uncertainty avoidance, power distance, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, gender egalitarianism, assertiveness, future orientation, performance orientation, and human orientation. These dimensions capture similarities, norms, values, and practices in relationships to cultures and leaders. A country’s beliefs, ideals, and customs identify cultural differences. Understanding cultural differences, leaders must understand the employees they will be leading so they can adequately motivate and guide them successfully.

Within New Zealand, their society is known and strives for high-performance standards while supporting practices that inspire shared collectivism. New Zealand displays and is recognized for its beliefs in social norms and rules and its ability to reduce feelings of uncertainty and unpredictability. Anyone entering the market must understand how New Zealand ranks on the pendulum and how these dimensions are helpful in the country’s Western Culture.

The first dimension of “Power Distance” suggests that not all individuals are equal. It is the degree that less powerful organization members within a country expect and accept power as being equally distributed. This deals with followers endorsing a society’s inequality as much as the leaders. In high-power countries, people are expected to follow the rules and have a higher tolerance for power. New Zealand is a low power distance country that falls below the 25th percentile. This country’s leaders and employees believe hierarchy is useless because managers depend on individual employees and leaders to collaborate, consult, and share information. Communication is highly interactive and informal in New Zealand.

The following degree, which delays gratification and planning for the future, is valued over short-term gains: “Future Orientation.” Countries in this area have a high future orientation, encouraging investments for future payoffs and desiring immediate satisfaction. New Zealand falls below average within this dimension because they prefer to maintain their customary traditions. They view social change with uncertainty; they are normative with their thought process, keep their traditions, tend not to save for the future, and look for quick results.

Within the dimension of “Humane Orientation,” this encourages and rewards individuals and organizations for being fair, selfless, friendly, generous, and caring. Nations with high humane orientation tend to be responsible for promoting the well-being of others and do not approve or are opposed to the state providing social and economic support. In New Zealand, this orientation is considered a moderate facilitator of excellent leadership, but the desire to become more humane-oriented is higher than in most countries.

Some organizations and societal institutions encourage individuals to integrate into groups and organizations, utilizing “Institutional Collectivism.” Loyalty is encouraged among the group, even if it doesn’t match the individual’s goals. This area covers people with a self-image defined as “I” or “We.” In collectivist societies, people belong to an “in group” that takes care of them in exchange for loyalty. New Zealand is considered to be an individualist culture where the expectation is that people look after themselves and their immediate families. In the business environment within New Zealand, their employees are expected to be self-sufficient and exhibit initiative. Also, their hiring and promotions are based on merit or the ability to do the job. Under this culture, people in New Zealand are known to be trustworthy, honest, generous, sensitive, and helpful when working in groups.

“In-Group Collectivism” is individuals who express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families. This cultural dimension strongly predicts the two most widely admired traits for successful leaders. These types of leaders are more assertive when competing. New Zealand people are known for individualism and lower in collectivism than people from other regions.

Under “Gender Egalitarianism” is significant due to its predictor, considered the most admired characteristic of successful leaders. Within this egalitarianism, the male and females are represented equally, but in New Zealand, women still do not experience the full equality guaranteed by law. Since they have some problems with women being treated equally, the New Zealand government implemented steps to endorse the development of women and gender equality. “In 2016, New Zealand was ranked 9th out of a total of 144 countries in the Global Gender Gap Report which ranks countries in terms of women’s gender equality in the population under four heads: economic participation, health, education, and political empowerment” (Global Gender, 2016). New Zealand is changing the direction of the value of women in the workforce, and they are realizing their contributions.

Conclusion

 If you analyze the information within this presentation, Walmart leaders can make a strategic and beneficial decision to place their products and services into the New Zealand market. By using the unique strategy and learning from the other successful markets they have established internationally, they will have the tools they need to expand into the New Zealand market. It will be critical for the leadership team to understand the culture they are entering and adapt the strategy to ensure their stores fit well into KIWI’s culture. They need to ensure bringing Walmart services into New Zealand with their low prices should fit the Kiwi way. The most important aspect a company needs to understand and adjust is its leadership style, strategy, and culture to be accepted and thrive in New Zealand. Not only is it essential that they adapt their way of thinking the leaders need to ensure that the leadership style and strategy they are implementing into their culture is accepted in the New Zealand market.

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References

 Walmart History – Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Walmart#:~:text=Company

%20headquarters%20are%20in%20Bentonville%2C%20Arkansas.%20Wal-Mart%20was,with%20retailing

%20giants%20such%20as%20Sears%20and%20Kmart.

Oedekoven, O.O, Lavrenz, J., & Robbins, D. (2018). Leadership Essentials: Practical and Proven Approaches in Leadership and Supervision. Retrieved from https://ashford.instructure.com

Holmes, J & Marra, M. (2016). Humor and Leadership Style. Humor-international Journal of Humor Research

Hun, I., Watts, A. &Bryant, S.K. (2018). Walmart International Expansion: Successes and Miscalculations. Journal of Business Strategy, 39(2), pfpp220

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

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

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/

Darmesh, & Madden, J. (2017, July 16). Seven defining characteristics of being a “KIWI,” AKA New Zealander. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://onlifemag.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/seven-defining- characteristics-of-being-a-kiwi-aka-new-Zealander/

House, R., Javidan, M. Hanges, P. & Dorfam, P (2020). Understanding cultures and implicit leadership theories across the globe: an introduction to project GLOBE. Journal of World Business, 37(1), 3-10.

Squiress, Judith (2007). The New Politics of Gender Equality.

Palgrave Macmillan “The Global Gender Gap Report 2016”. World Economic Forum. Retrieved 10 August 2020.

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Question 

Prior to this assignment, review Chapter 12: Global Marketing Channels and Physical Distribution, and carefully analyze Case 12-2: Can Walmart Crack the Retail Code in India? Review the Intro and Company Profile sections in the Walmart Case StudyLinks to an external site. It is also recommended to review the Forbes School of Business and Technology MBA Walmart Case StudyLinks on an external site. Handout.

Leadership and Teamwork: Walmart

Leadership and Teamwork: Walmart

Your assignment will build upon your final paper about Walmart from your BUS621: Leadership and Teamwork course. The program-level purpose of this case study is for you to analyze Walmart from different angles (leadership style, marketing strategies, tactics, HR, financial aspects, etc.), so by the end of your MBA program you will have completed Walmart’s big-picture puzzle.

In your BUS621: Leadership and Teamwork course, you selected a country for Walmart to expand to, and you also analyzed various leadership models and skills that applied to your selected country. Using the same country from BUS621, in this assignment you will build on your previous Walmart work and develop someplace strategies as Walmart expands its global marketing activities to this country.

Address the following points for the selected country:

  • Summarize some of the elements in your selected country’s political, economic, and cultural environments that can impact the market opportunity for Walmart’s expansion.
  • Discuss the market expansion strategy you would suggest for Walmart in your selected country based on your environmental review and refer to Figure 12-4 in your text.
  • Analyze each utility that Walmart may be creating in the country of your choice.
    • As a reminder, you learned that channels create utility for customers (place utility, form utility, time utility, and information utility) that can be leveraged as a source of competitive advantage.
  • Explain which utility can potentially work as a competitive advantage for Walmart considering its target market and their needs, wants, and preferences in your selected country.
  • Formulate a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis for Walmart.com in your selected country, considering the growth of global online retailers like Amazon.com, Aliexpress.com, Target.com, and eBay.com as competitors of Walmart.com, and based on the factors you evaluated in the first directive. You may refer to the Writing Center’s Swot AnalysisLinks to an external site. resource.

The Walmart Case Study Paper

  • Must be four to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA StyleLinks to an external site. as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA Formatting for Microsoft WordLinks to an external site. resource.
  • Must include a separate title page with the following:
    • Title of the paper in bold font
      • Space should appear between the title and the rest of the information on the title page.
    • Student’s name
    • Name of institution (The University of Arizona Global Campus)
    • Course name and number
    • Instructor’s name
    • Due Date
  • Must use at least two scholarly sources for each environment topic in addition to the course text.
  • Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your PaperLinks to an external site. guide.
  • Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References ListLinks to an external site. resource in the Writing Center for specifications.