Today's best read--Sarah Schafer in Newsweek International:
In recent years Beijing had allowed foreign retailers to open stores in China, but only for chains with sales of more than $2 billion. That rarefied global group included only Wal-Mart, Carrefour of France (which Wal-Mart is rumored to be interested in buying) and the Metro Group of Germany. Last week Beijing opened the door to smaller players, and lifted rules that had confined the three giants to a limited number of cities and forced them to work with Chinese partners.Just what will the monster do? Nothing less than revamp the entire Chinese business culture...
Wal-Mart is in effect trying to replace a Chinese business culture built on personal relationships with its own modern supply network, built on information technology. There's a long way to go. For every Huada, there are still many others that don't understand the proprietary software Wal-Mart uses to link with suppliers, and can't stop padding the bills to make room for bribes. Yet many analysts think Wal-Mart can prevail in this culture clash
Posted by Kevin on December, 20 2004 at 04:05 PM
