Wal-Mart: Struggling In Germany

[Iterate]

Wal-Mart recently included a US style "employee ethics manual" in its pay envelopes -and ran into furious reaction that caught the company off guard.

It seems that the German employees see a stricture against workplace romance as an infringement on their personal life, and the suggestion that they spy on each other, reporting infractions of company policy to their bosses, as truly horrifying. So much for cross-cultural sensitivity. The retail worker's union may file a complaint or suit to stop the company from enforcing their policy.

Sales are declining, stores are closing.

Wal-Mart is red, Aldi is blue...

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_15/b3928086_mz054.htm?chan=gb

[hatrack]

1. Sterbe wohl, Wal-Mart!

:evilgrin:

[Iterate]

11. Can I point out that 'Wal' is German for 'Whale'

Not that it really matters.

And that "Rumsfeld" translates rougly as "Ka-boom field", the ideal name for a secretary of 'defense'. The irony is not lost on the Germans.

[obxhead]

17. Swartzkopf is

"black head"

[DulceDecorum]

19. What is Schwarzenegger?

:evilgrin:

[MissMarple]

23. Well, I thought it was white and black. But maybe I'm mistaken.

:-)

[Algorem]

28. black plowman

[Iterate]

30. I suppose

Nothing particular that i know of, but if you play around with it a bit you could come up with "More black eggs"

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Schadenfreud

:evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[myomy]

3. See what happens when you have a population that pays attention.

.

[Democrats_win]

5. Germans really understand liberty. The freedom to love.

Wunderbar.

[Cobalt Violet]

6. Wal-Mart says "bend over" and the US employees do.

I can't believe how America accepts this fascism.

[DBoon]

14. Because the Germans know best what fascism is about

and have learned not to accept any of it

[roguevalley]

4. BWAHAHAHA! There truly is a god and he's a union man/woman.

[DS1]

7. The Germans should say Wal*Mart is like working for the Wer*Macht

Or is any reference to Nazi Germany verboten?

[Iterate]

8. No, I think they would appreciate that one

No, not verboten.

[leesa]

9. Kick em out Germany...you don't need their exploitive garbage

[Dirk39]

13. Hello from Germany! But New York is still better than that...

AFAIK Wall-Mart has desperately tried to open a shop in New York. They're still trying... But so far, there isn't a single Wal-Mart in New York.

BTW many discounters in Germany aren't better than Wall-Mart (Aldi,Lidl etc.), it's nearly the same and they treat their workers like shit, too.
Wal-Mart has pushed it too far, 'cause they're using slave-practises that are more common in the puritan U.S.A.

The good thing is, they really don't even find customers in Germany. They can afford to just lose money, until they have destroyed the competition. But maybe they will lose this fight against Germany slave-holders.
Dirk

[Iterate]

20. here's one for you

yeah, I just saw this

Germany, France Find Big Profits Too Rich

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-ft-euprofits4apr04,1,3865615.story?coll=la-headlines-business&ctrack=1&cset=true

If the EU isn't careful, they'll end up just like the US is now. I know, they aren't any better bandits, just smaller ones. I'll take smaller if I have to.

[leesa]

27. Indeed. I love NY!

[SaveAmerica]

10. Is Aldi really blue?

Too funny, since I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart, I spend about 90% of my grocery money at Aldi's. You won't believe how much more you get for your money there. If you like German/Swiss chocolate they have the best candy bars (Hershey who?). My only beef with them is they don't have enough German food! No real brats, no saurkraut. Milk is usually a dollar less than store brand from other stores. Give it a try, it is a no-frills store though, that's how they keep the prices low.

http://usa.aldi.com/

[Iterate]

15. No, I don't really want to imply

that Aldi or any other big-box retailer is really blue. I don't think there is such a thing. There couldn't be because they rely on cheap labor to reduce costs and none that I know of are employee owned.

But still, relatively speaking, I'd rather deal with a weak Aldi than a powerful Wal-Mart. None of them are nice, play nice, but I draw the line at walking into a Wal-Mart.

The only real way to beat them is to stay away -buy less, buy quality, take care of what you own.

[flygal]

22. Exactly - Aldi-type stores encourage thriftiness

whereas walmart is buy buy buy and they intend to make you spend more. I love going into our Penny Markt here - I spend so much less and get just what I need - the basics.

[jmowreader]

26. Aldi in Fayetteville relies on "no" labor

They pay decently, but there are only three associates for the whole store.

[Massacure]

12. "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, can't get fooled again!"

The poor German's already had to deal with a bunch of Nazis!

[kskiska]

16. I remember reading how when they opened

over there, Germans did not like the way the entire staff would gather at the front door at opening time to "greet" the customers and sing their happy song or whatever, like they do here. Germans just want to get in, buy what they want, and leave and not have to put up with that crap.

[Iterate]

18. I've never seen that

and it's easy to imagine, but sure not like that now. By US standards their stores here are terrible, hours restricted by law, same low-quality merchandise generally, long lines on a Saturday afternoon -sometimes nearly an hour. The US retail ethic is missing here so its even a worse experience. It might be tempting to complain, to take a consumers point of view, but really, what ends up happening is the kind of hyper-consumerism that is damaging and with results we talk about in this forum, the kind that wrecks wages, families, and resources.

So now I'm quite happy to pay a little bit more at a local shop, a mom-and-pop, one that closes at 6pm and isn't open on Sundays. I'll never walk into the big box again if I can help it.

[kskiska]

21. Here's a link:

(snip)

Apart from anything else, the company has often failed to understand German culture - what works in Arkansas has flopped in Aachen.

Wal-Mart's founder, Sam Walton, liked the idea of "greeters" at the doors to his stores so the concept was instituted in America and then the rest of the world.

The Germans, though, balked.

They didn't warm to the homely friendliness of an elderly man or woman greeting them as they entered the store, so the idea was dropped, uniquely on the planet, in Germany.

more…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4015637.stm

[Swamp Rat]

24. HAHA!

I hope Wal-Mart loses billions and their investors end up in the poor house. :)

[strategery blunder]

25. German Wal-Marts are unionized!?

" 'They have to communicate better,' says Ulrich Dalibor, an official at the ver.di service-workers union, which represents German employees of the Bentonville (Arkansas)-based retailer."

But...I thought unions were evil!!!:sarcasm: Why hasn't Wal-Mart gotten out of Germany yet? Their slaves, er, I mean associates, are too demanding!:eyes:

[warrens]

29. Wal-Mart has never had any success in Germany

And they've been there a long time. They bought some loser company and inherited a bunch of crummy stores. They've done well in Asia, particularly Korea, but their international operations, which is their sole growth area, has underwhelmed from the git-go. Carrefour has kicked their ass in South America (which is one reason they haven't gone into France, Spain and Italy: Carrefour owns those markets). Low prices as your entire business plan will get you far, but at some point, you reach diminishing returns because you have customers with the loyalty of a Republican. Dollar stores are growing like Wal-Mart used to, and carving up their customer base.

It's fun to watch them suffer.

NPR had a brief story on today about how Wal-Mart is inviting reporters to their headquarters. I covered them for about 10 years, and just to get them to answer a phone, much less say anything meaningful, was a constant battle. I think it's a little too late to start kissing journalist ass.

[Iterate]

31. Back in a former life

I had friends in the construction trades in the states who tried to do business with them and getting payment was the same way, a constant battle. They prey upon small contractors who think they've finally landed the big fish, manipulate the value of their real estate, and squeeze subsidies from local governments, effectively subsidizing most of their construction costs. That’s not a predictable equation elsewhere.

The NPR report must have generated a BBC World report, where the "what does this mean?" pundit characterized the press courtship as merely an attempt to sway international opinion in advance of a push to site more stores. He also specifically mentioned "impediments", such as the German law that does not allow retailers to sell below cost, a fact I'd forgotten to mention in this or other threads. It's tough to win when you can't make up the rules.

I've pushed the Frontline analysis in this forum for people to understand the past and present, but I've not seen a good analysis of how the W-M/McD business models play out in the long run. Since they redefine culture and politics, consuming the consumer, exactly what kind of science-fiction nightmare do you end up with in 2084?