PurposeThis paper aims to explore Wal‐Mart's varying performance in Europe and eventual exit from the German market by singling out the role of consumer acceptance of Wal‐Mart's market propositions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses the macro‐constructs of institutional theory to interpret and conceptualise micro‐level consumer data. Data were collected via telephone surveys in two regional German and UK markets in 2002/2003. Salient patronage norms in each market were established and Wal‐Mart's as well as its competitors' performance on those norms were assessed.FindingsIn the German context, the institutional theory approach to explaining Wal‐Mart's problems clearly foreshadows market failure and exit. In UK market, no clear pattern between retailers adhering to salient patronage norms, patronage behaviour and market position could be established. The constructs of institutional theory were more likely to predict and explain market failure than success.Research limitations/implicationsResearch in two regional markets limits the applicability of findings. Nevertheless, some key issues seem to indicate overall market performance. The telephone survey approach carries inherent problems, which however have only marginally impacted on the relevance of the findings.Originality/valueThe use of institutional theory constructs adds a further dimension to the discussion of international retailer success/failure and can constitute a valuable tool in the repertoire of the divestment and failure literature.

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer with sales of $285.3 billion in 2004-2005; 20% of these sales are generated from international markets and it is two of these markets, Germany and the UK, that are the focus of the paper. The paper charts the entry of Wal-Mart into Europe within the context of increased competition in international markets among the “elite” group of transnational corporations which have the capability of disrupting the structure of foreign markets which they enter. Using a mixture of primary and secondary data sources, the purpose of the paper is to evaluate the success or otherwise of the implementation of the “Wal-Mart way” of doing business in Germany and the UK and to assess its impact on both markets. The results show that the German acquisitions have not been particularly successful because of the problems in integrating two disparate chains with different organizational cultures and a heterogeneous portfolio of stores. The highly competitive German grocery market has precluded Wal-Mart from realizing a key element of its global strategy-Every Day Low Prices (EDLP). Discounters, especially Aldi, are the price leaders in Germany. By contrast, the Asda acquisition in the UK has been much more successful. Asda was a good strategic fit for Wal-Mart and had already embraced aspects of the Wal-Martian retail proposition and corporate culture prior to the acquisition in 1999. The entry of Wal-Mart has led to a restructuring of the UK grocery market with low prices and value for money becoming key store choice attributes for UK consumers. [EconLit citations: F010, F230, L810]. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 22: 247-266, 2006.

Wal-Mart entered the German market at the end of 1997 but is still running at a loss in its 92 stores. This article tests the hypothesis that there are two main reasons for Wal-Mart's problems in Germany. First of all, Wal-Mart is competing against very strong and well established deep discounters, especially Aldi. Secondly, there is the difference between the so-called Wal-Mart culture and German customer values. So far, Wal-Mart has not managed to close this gap or create a positive image in Germany. The first part of the article describes the differences between the two retail companies Wal-Mart and Aldi, whereas the second part focuses on the consumer perspective. Four hundred people were interviewed on the phone about their shopping behaviour in the city of Würzburg (northern Bavaria, 140,000 inhabitants). This survey is part of an international study also undertaken in Canada, Great Britain and China.

No abstract

No abstract

Much of the international retailing literature echoes major retailers' assertions that inimitable organizational cultures can create competitive advantage. However, the culture concept remains ill-defined and systematic international empirical analysis is lacking. Based on website analyses of nine international retailers, the paper investigates how organizations define their cultures, codify and transfer them into practice, and aim to homogenize them across borders. Although some evidence for organization-specific cultural aspirations is identified, findings suggest that retailers' cultures become homogenized within and between countries. This supports previous work on the existence of industry-specific macro cultures and challenges the resource-based view, which sees culture as a source of competitive advantage.

No abstract

The sharing of expertise and tacit knowing is one of the core objectives in participatory design projects. This paper focuses on the role of probes for sharing users’ tacit knowing. We will introduce the concept of “boundary objects” [22], [21] to analyse how probes facilitate perspective taking and perspective making between users and between users and researchers. In so doing, we demonstrate that probes can facilitate the sharing of users’ tacit knowing and expertise (i) by making and explicating individual users’ perspectives, (ii) by enabling participants to take each other’s perspective and make a joint perspective and (iii) by subsequently enabling the making of a joint vision on the digital design outcome. The research presented in this paper is based on an EU-funded research and innovation project in which we co-created digital neighbourhood guide with older adults. We report from our fieldwork in city 1, where we used probes as part of our participatory design practice.