The disjuncture of land and agricultural - MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss aboutThe disjuncture of land and agricultural. Answer: Introduction The report is a discussion on International Marketing. Here the report primarily focuses on the entry of Walmart into the market of South Africa. Walmart is one of the largest retail stores in United States that generates annual revenue of around $421 billion (Help.walmart.com 2018). The firm has employee strength of 2.1 million and is the largest employer in private sector across the world with operations in around 15 developing and developed countries. Walmart follows a growth strategy of saturating a market area through spreading out. The location of the Walmart stores remained at a distance of a days drive from the distribution centre and had a reputation of low pricing. Walmart Entry into South Africa Market Walmart made an announcement by acquiring around 51% stake in the Massmart stores of South Africa that would inevitably mark its foray in Africa (Ramamurti 2012). The company however made an indication that the merger would act as a springboard and gateway to Africa. Massmart represents the fourth largest retailer of South Africa not only in terms of revenue and had a store format and growth strategy similar to Walmart. Walmarts entry in South Africa led to the generation of enough interest not only in part of the government but also the labour and other existing business firm. There was however, enough reason for interest because since the apartheid in South Africa there has not been a single issue of similar nature that gave rise to considerable amount of controversy (Games 2012). The controversy of Walmart revolved around the perceptions put forward by the stakeholders from the government and the labour unions regarding the reputation of the firm in harshly dealing with the trade unions and sourcing the products from the existing supply chain outside the country. In addition, there was also the fear of the rise in unemployment in South Africa once Walmart enters the nation. Government Interference on Walmart Entry to South Africa The government of South Africa had opposition on the entry of Walmart in the country from the very beginning (Greenberg 2013). Thus, both the government and the worker union protested the move. The government of South Africa had a belief that entry of the American conglomerate Walmart would not only kill jobs in South Africa but also ensure pumping in Chinese goods into the country. The government of the country had another persistent fear regarding the financial influence since Walmart considered the richest retailer of the world and the second largest corporation in the world (Luiz and Stephan 2012). The firms wealth accumulation placed it above the top oil conglomerates of the nation. Therefore, the firms decision of merging with Massmart for entering into the South African market happened with ease. Walmart invested an attractive portion of money thereby implying in pumping fiscal impetus that helped in the development of skilled workers of South Africa. The arrival of Walmart has helped in the generation of around 4.5 billion dollars. The American investors are usually cautious about the countries that impinge themselves on the free market capitalism. During the time, when there were discussions about Walmart merging with Massmart in the year 2012, the American investors waited to see how the government of South Africa would welcome Walmart before their decision of entering the market themselves (Beaty and Kriek 2014). Now with the tapering of the foreign investment, Walmart had the sufficient financial influence for appeasing the government that also allowed it to pump sufficient money into the socio economic causes when other investors are unwilling for indulging in any kind of risk. New Shopping Destination for South Africa Shoppers Shoppers of South Africa might now look forward to having a newer shopping port. This is because the Competition Appeal Court of South Africa gave nod to Walmarts bid on having a share of Massmart, the local retailer of the country (Strydom 2014.). The court also appointed a committee for studying the impacts of the deal on the local producers. This kind of supervision had a well acceptance by the business community of South Africa. The Deputy Executive Officer of the business community of South Africa mentioned that the merger was a positive development in the context of foreign direct investment. The deal also helped the country in learning the process of laying a sound foundation for the foreign investors of the future. Walmarts Difficult Road to South African Market South African government officials and unions expressed their worries about arrival of the Walmart, the US retail giant as it would lead to job loss and encourage local manufacturing. Some members of South African government warned about a situation where the deal would not only hit local suppliers but would lead to huge job losses (Draper and Scholvin 2012). There were also fears and concerns related to the decision of the Court. While providing consent for the merger to happen the judge also allowed the US retailer in investing more than $2 billion on its decision of merging with Massmart. This would also encourage Walmart in promoting smaller business in South Africa through the purchase of goods from the local farmers. This would also help in reinstating close to 500 laid off employee of Massmart based on the pending merger outcome. South Africa would also set up a task team for analysing the influence of merger in the economy. The union of South Africa had a less exciting response. The spokesperson for Commercial, Allied and Catering Workers Union of South Africa mentioned that there was a huge difference in terms of interest, between trade unions, workers and business fraternity when it came to the takeover of Walmart. There could not be an exact prediction of the impact of the deal of Walmart on the South African Market. Conclusion The report ends by throwing a light on the difficulty encountered by Walmart on entering the South African market. There is also discussion on Walmart being the new shopping destination for the South Africans. The report also discusses about the interference of the government on the decision of Walmart. However, some Africans were of the view that giant retailer of US would use the biggest economy of South Africa as a point of entry to the rest of the continent. References: Beaty, D. and Kriek, D., 2014. Examining the entry of Walmart into South Africa: a stakeholder management perspective.South African Journal of Labour Relations,38(2), pp.78-89. Draper, P. and Scholvin, S., 2012. The economic gateway to Africa? Geography, strategy and South Africa's regional economic relations. Games, D., 2012. South Africa as Africa's Gateway: A Perspective from Business. Greenberg, S., 2013. The disjuncture of land and agricultural reform in South Africa: Implications for the agri-food system. Help.walmart.com. 2018. Walmart.com's History and Mission. [online] Available at: https://help.walmart.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6 [Accessed 17 Jan. 2018]. Luiz, J.M. and Stephan, H., 2012. The multinationalisation of South African telecommunications firms into Africa.Telecommunications Policy,36(8), pp.621-635. Ramamurti, R., 2012. What is really different about emerging market multinationals?.Global Strategy Journal,2(1), pp.41-47. Strydom, J.W., 2014. The relationship between key demographic profile descriptors and the propensity for inshopping and outshopping by Sowetan residents.Southern African Business Review,18(1), pp.122-142.