As of July, 2003, Wal-Mart international controlled 1,301 stores outside of the United States — bigger than most of its competitors are in the states. Mexico, Canada, China, Puerto Rico, Korea, Germany,Britain, Argentina — all have the global Mr. Smiley brand. Now a report printed on a website in India says that Wal-Mart has acquired a Polish retailer named Rema 1000.
This is the standard way that Wal-Mart enters a country: buying up a company already doing business in the foreign country. In some countries, like China, that’s the only way in. U.S. companies can only enter by partnering with an indigenous company.
