1.1  Introduction
Wal-Mart has been promoting globalization. The economic crisis of 2008 has led to the economic decline of developed countries, and the opportunities of emerging countries have gained new attraction. As a mature retail market, South Africa is regarded as an important target of Wal-Mart's expansion strategy. This paper specifically discusses the potential challenges of entering the South African market, what strategies should be adopted to enter the South African market and how to deal with the various problems faced by entering the South African market.
沃爾瑪一直在推行全球化發展。2008年的經濟危機導致發達國家經濟下滑，新興國家的機遇有了新的吸引力。南非作為一個擁有成熟的零售行業的市場，被視為沃爾瑪擴張戰略的一個重要目標。本文具體討論了進入南非市場的潛在挑戰，進入南非市場應該采取什么戰略以及如何應對進入南非市場所要面臨的各種問題。
 


1.2  Potential challenges in South Africa
According to Bridget (2014), South Africa's infrastructure is of high quality, with skilled labour and abundant natural resources. At the same time, South Africa has integrated into the Southern African Development Community and is likely to become a springboard for Wal-Mart's operations in other parts of Africa (Bridget 2014). But Wal-Mart faces the challenge of obtaining regulatory approval from different government agencies.
Bridget（2014）認為，南非的基礎設施質量高，擁有熟練的勞動力和豐富的自然資源。與此同時，南非已融入南部非洲發展共同體，很可能成為沃爾瑪在非洲其他地區開展業務的跳板（Bridget 2014）。但沃爾瑪面臨著從不同政府機構獲得監管批準的挑戰。
Wal-Mart earns about $408 billion, more than South Africa's GDP. Because of economies of scale, local retailers will find it difficult to compete with Wal-Mart in the local market (Troye 2011). And because Wal-Mart's global purchasing power is strong, this may lead to an increase in imports, which will result in imports replacing the local manufacturing and production of domestic suppliers in South Africa (Henri & Ewert 2015). Increased imports are crowding out local brands, forcing many local businesses to shut down, causing unemployment to rise (Troye 2011). South Africa's unemployment rate has reached 25%, and rising unemployment is bound to generate greater opposition.
According to many countries that Wal-Mart has entered before, Wal-Mart has a strict anti-union policy aimed at prohibiting workers from gaining collective bargaining rights such as wage increases, medical benefits and job security (Jonathan 2015). This not only greatly damages the interests of South African citizens, but also challenges national sovereignty. The merger with Massmart is Wal-Mart's first foray into Africa, so the negative political consequences reported by the press may force South Africa to become more sensitive to domestic issues (Henri & Ewert 2015).
根據沃爾瑪以前進入過的許多國家，沃爾瑪有嚴格的反工會政策，旨在禁止工人獲得加薪、醫療福利和工作保障等集體談判權利（Jonathan 2015）。這不僅極大地損害了南非公民的利益，也挑戰了國家主權。與Massmart的合并是沃爾瑪首次進軍非洲，因此媒體報道的負面政治后果可能會迫使南非對國內問題更加敏感（Henri&Ewert 2015）。
At the same time, years of colonial experience have led African political leaders to oppose foreign investment. In Africa, they argue, African countries are deprived of their natural resources to benefit the home countries of foreign investors (Jonathan 2015).
與此同時，多年的殖民經驗導致非洲政治領導人反對外國投資。他們認為，在非洲，非洲國家被剝奪了自然資源，從而使外國投資者的母國受益（Jonathan 2015）。



1.3  Strategies for Entering South Africa
According to near-marketing knowledge, when cultures and economies in different markets are similar, similar strategies can be used. The American market is not similar to the South African market in terms of economic level and culture. So Wal-Mart needs to take advantage of the experience of emerging markets that have already been developed, such as Mexico and China.
根據near-marketing knowledge,當不同市場中的文化和經濟相似，可以使用相似戰略。美國市場在經濟水平和文化上都與南非市場不相似。所以要采用沃爾瑪已經開拓的新興市場的經驗，如墨西哥和中國。
Joint venture is a common entry mode when enterprises enter emerging markets. In a joint venture, the partners agree to raise funds at the agreed equity ratio (Kotabe, Marshall, Ang, Griffiths, Voola, Roberts, & Helsen 2014). In 1991, Wal-Mart set up a 1:1 joint venture in Mexico. According to the data, Wal-Mart's profit grew by 12%, higher than its parent company's net increase of 3.3% (Kerry 2003). Then Wal-Mart opened a store in Brazil (Kerry 2003) with a 6:4 joint venture based on demographic similarities between Mexico and Brazil. The higher the proportion of equity in joint ventures, the higher the degree of decision-making participation. However, the lack of complete control of multinational companies is the biggest drawback of joint ventures. For example, the Indian government does not allow joint ventures to have majority equity (Kotabe et al. 2014). So Wal-Mart can adjust its equity ratio to ease the restrictions of South African government on foreign companies' participation in retail business. At the same time, Wal-Mart's entry into South Africa has to be approved by the government (Henri & Ewert 2015) because of obstacles from the South African government and some stakeholders. In China, Wal-Mart is subject to bureaucratic restrictions and delayed approval by government agencies. So Wal-Mart can work with South African government agencies or partners with long-term relationships with these agencies.#p#分頁標題#e#
合資是企業進入新興市場時常用的一種進入模式。在合資企業中，合伙人同意按約定的股權比例籌集資金 (Kotabe, Marshall, Ang, Griffiths, Voola, Roberts, & Helsen 2014)。1991年，沃爾瑪以1:1的比例在墨西哥設立了合資企業，Walmex。數據顯示，沃爾瑪利潤增長12%，高于母公司凈增3.3%的利潤率(Kerry 2003)。緊接著，沃爾瑪根據墨西哥和巴西的人口統計學上的相似之處，以6:4的合資企業在巴西開設了一家門店(Kerry 2003)。合資企業股權比例越高，決策參與程度越高。然而，跨國公司缺乏完全控制權是合資公司最大的缺點。如印度政府不允許合資企業擁有多數股權(Kotabe et al. 2014)。所以沃爾瑪可以適當調整股權比例來減輕南非政府對國外公司參與零售業的限制。同時，由于南非政府和某些利益相關者的阻礙，沃爾瑪進入南非必須得到政府的批準(Henri & Ewert 2015)。在中國，沃爾瑪受到了官僚主義的限制以及政府機構的延期批準。所以，沃爾瑪可以與南非政府機構或與這些機構有長期關系的合作伙伴進行合作。
Through long-term investment and operation, Wal-Mart realized that entering the market should not only focus on the political environment, but also understand customers' shopping habits and culture. So Wal-Mart acquired a well-known retail company in China to help it become the largest food retail network in China. This shows that Wal-Mart's joint venture with Massmart in South Africa is necessary, and Massmart can help them understand the consumption habits and customs of South African consumers.
通過長期的投資和經營，沃爾瑪意識到進入市場不僅要注重政治環境影響，還要了解客戶的購物習慣與文化。所以，沃爾瑪在中國收購了一家中國的知名零售企業，幫助其在中國成為最大的食品零售網絡。由此可見，沃爾瑪進入南非與Massmart的合資是必要的，Massmart可以幫助其了解南非消費者的消費習慣和風俗。
 
1.4  Difference in Strategies for Entering South Africa
Wal-Mart still adopts the joint venture approach to enter South Africa, but its strategy is relatively different. According to Transaction-cost analysis (TCA), when market pressure is low, the low control mode is established (Kotabe et al. 2014). Because of the large scale economy, it will be difficult for local retailers to compete with Wal-Mart in the local market (Troye 2011). But Massmart is a retail giant in Africa, and Wal-Mart's market competition is increasing. Moreover, when transaction-specific assets such as brand equity and know-how become valuable, organizations need to adopt a highly controlled entry model (Kotabe et al. 2014). Because of the opposition alliance in South Africa, Wal-Mart should first enter the market with a 1:1 joint venture, obtain public approval through various measures, and then acquire more shares of Massmart in order to gain greater operational control and more core technology and resources of Massmart.#p#分頁標題#e#
沃爾瑪進入南非仍采用合資企業的方法，但戰略相對來說存在一些不同。根據Transaction-cost analysis (TCA)，在市場壓力小時，低控制模式成立(Kotabe et al. 2014)。由于規模經濟大，當地零售商將很難在當地市場與沃爾瑪競爭(Troye 2011)。但Massmart屬于非洲地區的零售業巨頭，沃爾瑪的市場競爭壓力增加。并且，當transaction-specific assets的交易資產，如品牌資產和專有技術變得有價值時，組織需要采取高控制的進入模式(Kotabe et al. 2014)。由于南非存在反對聯盟，沃爾瑪應該先以1:1合資企業進入市場，通過各種措施獲得民眾認可后，再收購Massmart更多的股份，以獲得更大的運營控制權和得到Massmart的更多核心技術與資源。
 
1.5  Advantages and Disadvantages of JV between Wal-Mart and Massmart
South African retail giant Massmart has 330 stores and more than 120 million consumers. So Wal-Mart sees Massmart as a tool for expanding consumer demand and purchasing power in Africa in the future. Wal-Mart wants to expand its scale by saving customer funds, so Massmart is an ideal strategic partner for the region (Henri & Ewert 2015).
南非零售巨頭Massmart擁有330家門店和超過1.2億的消費者。所以沃爾瑪將Massmart視為未來擴展非洲消費者需求和購買力的工具.沃爾瑪希望通過節省客戶資金來擴大規模， 所以Massmart是該地區的理想戰略合作伙伴(Henri & Ewert 2015)。
Massmart is very good at working in different modes (Walmart Lays Foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa 2013). Wal-Mart has applied what it learned from Massmart to the whole region. So, with Wal-Mart operating in Africa. Wal-Mart has acquired outstanding assets, including stores and brands, which provide a great deal of flexibility to enter the market in a variety of ways (Walmart Lays Foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa 2013). Wal-Mart's success in South Africa has provided Wal-Mart with a convincing development opportunity and has become a springboard for Wal-Mart's expansion in other African countries (Evan 2010).
Massmart非常擅長在不同的模式下工作(Walmart Lays Foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa 2013)。沃爾瑪已經將從Massmart學到的知識應用到整個地區。因此，隨著沃爾瑪在非洲的運營。沃爾瑪獲得了包括商店和品牌在內的優秀資產，這些產品提供了大量的靈活性，可以以多種不同的方式進入市場(Walmart Lays Foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa 2013)。沃爾瑪在南非的成功為沃爾瑪提供了一個令人信服的發展機會，并成為了沃爾瑪在其他非洲國家擴張的跳板(Evan 2010)。
Wal-Mart only acquired 51% of Massmart, so it did not gain full control of its joint venture with Massmart. At the same time, Wal-Mart could not increase its control by holding a majority stake in the company, which was strongly opposed by the government and trade unions. This shows that Wal-Mart can easily lose its voice in the early stage of the venture, which may lead to conflicts on issues such as resource allocation and ownership of key assets (Kotabe et al. 2014).#p#分頁標題#e#
沃爾瑪僅收購了Massmart 51%的股份，所以其在與Massmart建立合資企業是沒有獲得完全控制權的。同時，在政府和工會的強烈反對下，沃爾瑪并不能通過持有多數股權來增加控制權。由此可見，在合資的初期，沃爾瑪很容易失去話語權，可能導致在資源分配和關鍵資產所有權等問題上產生沖突(Kotabe et al. 2014)。
 
1.6  Measures to mitigate opposition alliances
Although Wal-Mart Masmart eventually won the acquisition approval of the South African Court, Wal-Mart still needs to take some necessary measures to ease the relationship between the company and the opposition alliance (Mark 2010). Despite court rules requiring Wal-Mart to restore 503 laid-off South African workers and set up foundations, Wal-Mart said its immediate goal was to help South Africans save money and find more jobs (Henri & Ewert 2015).
盡管沃爾瑪massmart最終贏得了南非法院的收購批準，但沃爾瑪還要采取一些必要措施來緩和公司和反對聯盟之間的關系(Mark 2010)。除去法院規定的沃爾瑪必須恢復503名被解雇的南非工人以及成立基金會，沃爾瑪表示，其近期目標是幫助南非人省錢并尋找更多就業機會(Henri & Ewert 2015)。
First, Walmart should localize its purchases. Localized procurement can not only effectively save costs, but also ease the relationship with local government and business. The plan will create hundreds of new jobs in South Africa (Walmart Lays Foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa 2013). It also needs to establish links with smallholder farmers, train and develop thousands of local farmers, and share expertise in logistics and inventory management, which means sharing technology and improving the local supply chain (Henri & Ewert 2015). At the same time, not only do price cuts and promotions occur frequently, Wal-Mart also keeps understanding the needs and consumption habits of South African consumers and promotes the implementation of the glocalization strategy. In fact, when Wal-Mart's business model is culturally integrated with South Africa, the hidden dangers can be eliminated. (Henri & Ewert 2015)
首先，沃爾瑪（walmart/massmart）應該進行采購本土化。本土化采購不僅可以有效節約成本，還能緩解與但地政府和商界的關系。這一計劃將為南非創造成百上千個新的工作崗位(Walmart Lays Foundation in Sub-Saharan Africa 2013)。并且需要建立與小農的聯系，培訓和發展數千名當地農民，并分享物流、庫存管理的專業知識，這即共享了技術又改善了當地的供應鏈(Henri & Ewert 2015)。同時，不僅降價促銷經常出現，沃爾瑪還不斷了解南非消費者的需求與消費習慣，推動全球本地化戰略的實施。實際上，當沃爾瑪的商業模式與南非實現了文化融合，隱患就可以消除。(Henri & Ewert 2015)。
 
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1.7 Conclusion
In general, the article discusses Wal-Mart's strategy of entering South Africa and the problems and solutions in the process of entering South Africa.