Alliances and Cooperative Strategies

As mentioned in a previous post, WalMart is expanding into foreign markets. This post will cover the company's expansion into India. I'm looking at the Southeast Asian country due to WalMart's entry into that market. The company entered into a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises to create a company called Bharti WalMart Private Limited. The new entity will oversee a chain of wholesale stores (similar to Sam's Club in the U.S.). This represents an alliance centered on knowledge sharing and complementary resources. To illustrate, Bharti is a company with hands in telecommunications, retail, and insurance. The company's expertise is in serving Southeast Asian markets. After previous mishaps occurring when entering markets with a culture dissimilar to American, WalMart partnered with a company with extensive knowledge of Indian consumers and their culture. In return for this expertise, WalMart pledged to support the supply chain infrastructure planning for the joint venture - a subject the company is well-versed in.