APPRAISING WALMART’S GOING INTO INDIA: OVERCOMING OVERSEAS COMMUNICATION AND CULTURAL CHALLENGES

Abstract

The benefits of an organization going international abound on one hand and attendant challenges on the other. This paper reviews Walmart’s operations and its decision to go international. The paper dwells on environmental and cultural factors where the organization will operate, the critical operational factors that must be considered, and how they will affect the company. It also considers the communication problems the managers of Walmart are likely to face in India. The study shows in its analysis that when an organization goes global, employees must understand the relationship between effective communication, its successful operation, and their success within. As a US corporation, Walmart had to analyze India and the United States using the five dimensions in Hofstede’s Insights on Country Comparison, Power Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and long-term orientation Indulgence to support its decision to get into the Indian market. The results of this analysis would influence staffing policy for top-level managers and the rationale for formulating certain policies. Employees must understand how to choose the most appropriate strategy in different situations. What to do include understanding and upholding the essentials of intercultural communication across cultures, respecting stakeholders and legislations, and upholding norms, values and cultural, linguistic, religious and ideological differences. Training and orientation on these would enable employees of an organization in the international environment to operate successfully with less hinges.