Western Culture. Wal-Mart in Germany and Carrefour in South Korea - Essay Example

However these multinational corporations through the imposition of their own culture on the international societies fail to gain a wider acceptance in such markets. Thus in the subsequent period Wal-Mart and Carrefour both had to gain retreat from international markets like Germany and South Korea respectively. (Culture at Wal-Mart, p.68; Jung-a, 2006). Wal-Mart in Germany The retail giant, Wal-Mart based in Arkansas in United States had expanded its operations to gain access to international markets like Germany.

However during 2006 the multinational retail company unfortunately had to wind up its operations from the country owing to a cultural conflict. The problem with Wal-Mart operating in Germany was that it failed to adjust its operational practices based on the existing culture of the German society. The sales staffs at Wal-Mart were trained to gain nearness to the customer by pitching sales standing at a ten-foot distance to them. These people endeavored to maintain eye contacts with the customers while demonstrating their product and shared greetings and smile with them.

However the German people not used to such cultural paradigms misunderstood them, which created the main problem. Further the staffs at Wal-Mart also helped the food and grocery marketers with their stuffed bags. These practices were dramatically assumed to be erroneous by the German population to which the management of the company paid little attention. German people who came face to face with operation staffs at Wal-Mart busy in conducting gossips and romances totally shunned such relationships for which they started developing a negative attitude towards the company.

However the management of Wal-Mart did little to change the operational practices and in rendering training to the staff in behave in a likely manner with the customers. They only recruited German managers to help reduce the cultural gap. However unfortunately such action taken by the company in gaining customer attention also failed to generate any positive responses. The company, which was also surpassed by the German retailers in terms of sales and revenue gradually, quit its operations from the country during 2006 (Culture at Wal-Mart, p.68). Carrefour in South Korea