Please answer only ONE from the following two questions stated below.
The word limit is 1,950 words (excluding references and appendix materials).
It is highly recommended that you make full use of the core readings.
This is an individual assignment.
Question 1
Issues in Management Assignment Question 1
With reference to the case of Walmart in Germany:
What challenges may firms face when entering new international markets?
Why did Walmart ‘fail’ in Germany?
What might Walmart have learned from this experience that it can use in other international
markets that it enters?
Please note: Answer all parts of the question and use relevant theories and concepts in
answering the question.
Core Readings
Christopherson, S (2007) Barriers to ‘US style’ lean retailing: the case of Wal-Mart’s failure
in Germany, Journal of Economic Geography, Volume 7, Issue 4, 1 July 2007, Pages 451–
469, https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbm010
Durand, C and Wrigley, N (2009) Institutional and Economic Determinants of Transnational
Retailer Expansion and Performance: A Comparative Analysis of Wal-Mart and Carrefour,
Environment and Planning A, Vol 41, Issue 7, Available at:
http://cemi.ehess.fr/docannexe/file/2484/durand.wrigley.pdf
Subhadra, K. (2004) Walmart’s German Misadventure. Hyderabad, India: ICFAI Center for
Management Research. (On Canvas).
Question 2
The 2008 financial crisis has been described as a banking crisis. Which aspects of the
banking systems of Western countries contributed to the financial crisis?
Core Readings
Campbell, J (2011), The US financial crisis: Lessons for theories of institutional
complementarity, Socio-Economic Review, Vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 211-234. Available on Canvas.
Crotty, J (2009), Structural causes of the global financial crisis, Cambridge Journal of
Economics, vol 33, no. 4, pp. 563-580 (available on canvas).
Hardie, I. and Howarth, D. (2013), Framing market-based banking and the financial crisis, in
Ibid, editors, Market-based Banking and the Financial Crisis, Oxford: Oxford University
Press. Available on Canvas.
