Hofstede Cultural Dimensions: Walmart Case
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory: Walmart in the US and Chinese Markets
Walmart, a US based retailer serves customers worldwide. The world’s largest retailer, Walmart, operates in global markets in Asia, Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Walmart’s international division exceeds 6,350 locations, operating across regional subsidiaries, and it is the number one retailer in Mexico, China, and Canada. In its global business, Walmart faces cultural challenges that differ with the country. According to Hofstede, international business revolves around cross- cultural communications (Annastasia, 2014). Cultural dimensions of a country portray the impact of the culture ingrained and its value to the society members. Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions will be used in this essay to identify the cultural challenges faced by Walmart when conducting business in the US and Chinese markets.
In international business, cultural sensitivity is very important. Business customs differ across America and China, and this poses a major cultural challenge for Walmart in both the US and Chinese market. According to Hofstede, differences in business customs create uncertainty issues where the company is unsure of the extent to which either Chinese or American customers will react to their product offerings (Brown, 2018). Uncertainty avoidance scores differ between America and China. America possesses the highest uncertainty avoidance score for Walmart at 65. The score is lower for the Chinese market, with only 29. For example, in china where uncertainty avoidance score is very low, Walmart is undertaking business risk and tolerance towards the varying opinions and behaviors of customers in respect to their customs. In the US where the score is high, respect for customs, increased community consensus, and seniority based promotions is called for. Whichever the case, this is a major challenge to the company for it must balance all these cultural differences.