SUMMARY REPORT accessing the social cultural environment the u s market leader

The aging of the Japanese population is the consequence of lowest indicator of Fertility Rate with the highest life expectancy... In general, to maintain the stable population, the rate

NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY ADVANCED EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

SUMMARY REPORT Accessing the Social-Cultural Environment

Country: Japan Enterprise: Walmart

Group 4

1 Background:

a Historical Events

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc is an American retailing company founded by Sam Walton in 1962 Wal-Mart's story began in September 1, 1945, as the Ben Franklin grocery store was opened in Newport, Arkansas, by Sam Walton Sam Walton was involved in discovering area supplies that were cheaper than his existing ones as soon as he opened the shop, and then selling them as cheaply as possible This makes it a success for his shop His grocery store had revenue of $250,000 within five years and produced profits of $30,000 to

$40,000 within a year, becoming the number one Ben Franklin store in terms

of sales and profits

"In 1951, after the popularity of the Ben Frankilin shop, Walton opened the" Five and Dime "store" (Five cents and a dime-meaning "anything is less than

10 US cents, and introduced special sales A dozen bras that cost just 9 cents, for instance) Walton had operated fifteen such stores by 1960, making $1.4 million in gross annual revenue Stores where any item was sold cheaper than every other store were eventually founded in Sam Walton, and the No

1 Wal-Mart opened in Rogers on July 2, 1962

b The U.S market leader

After many years of relentless efforts, in 1990, Wal-Mart officially became the number 1 retail group in America Also in this year, from the familiar grocery - grocery stores, The supercentre concept (hypermarket) began to be adopted by Wal-Mart Wal-Mart quickly embraced this hypermarket design Wal-Mart had just 9 stores across the US by the end of 1990 Walmart had

888 supermarkets 10 years later, by the end of 2000-that is, Walmart launched 7 new supermarkets every month, for 120 straight months Currently, Walmart has over 4,000 supermarkets and stores in the United States (including 10 in Alaska and 9 in Hawaii), meaning there are more than 1 Walmart

Around 100 million Americans shop at Walmart a week-one-third of the

population 93% of American households shop at Walmart at least once per year The Top 10 list ranked by points for 2019, which includes scale and investments in online markets, according to a new survey by Kim Souza of TalkBusiness

publisher Often included is business sales

COMPANY

Walmart

Amazon

Swartz Group (Lidl)

Alibaba

Costco

Ahold Delhaize

Carrefour

Aldi

IKEA

Auchan

REVENUE

$510.33 billion

$232.88 billion

$123.25 billion

$56.15 billion

$149.49.35 billion

$74.29 billion

$89.81billion

$91.90 billion

$48.73 billion

$60.22 billion

Compared to the sales of competitors like Target and Kmart & Sears (the second and third largest retailer in the US), every year, on March 17th alone, Wall-Mart sold More than a year of Target's sales As for Kmart, Wal-Mart's 2020 revenue was nearly 27 times more than Kmart

2 DEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS

Japan's ageing is believed to outweigh all other countries, with Japan being reported

to be a position-the fast-greying nation As the world's oldest country,Japan is taking the lead in this growth wave and is now going to struggle with the severe societal pressures that an aging population imposes on society According to 2020 Statista estimates, 28.1% are aged 65 or above, and 14% are aged 75 or above In Japan, a quarter of the total population is people aged 65 and over, which is

estimated to reach a third by 2050

The aging of the Japanese population is the consequence of lowest

indicator of Fertility Rate with the highest life expectancy

A Total Fertility Rate (TFR) the estimated number of children per women

required to substitute themselves precisely with each generation without the need for foreign immigration The number of birth in Japan hit the record low, with the decline number of woman childbearing, respectively As of

2020, the TFR was 1.41 children born/woman – the lowest number on

record

In general, to maintain the stable population, the rate is expected to reach more than 2.00

Life Expectancy in Japan

BOTH SEXES

85.0 years

(life expectancy at

birth, both sexes

combined)

(life expectancy at birth, (life expectancy at

The country was thus challenged with the dual problems of a shrinking workforce and an increasingly ageing population, situations that often produced extreme labor shortages for its large economy Demographic trends, though, are shifting

relationships within and through generations, creating new opportunity path fro large corporations & workers

Japan's ageing population is considered economically stable to support major businesses, and new strategies have been needed for the solvency of jobs in national pension and health facilities for both young and elderly dependents, including nursing homes, adult daycare centers, and home health systems Every year Japan closes 400 primary and secondary schools, converting some

of them to care centers for the elderly

3 CULTURALANALYSIS

If businesses want to do business with Japan, they must first consider the key

elements and aspects of Japanese culture and their effect on the way the Japanese perform their business They will unintentionally insult Japanese sentiments and struggle in their pursuits if corporations fail to recognize and make necessary

changes

a Cultural Environment of Japan

Human and cultural factors affect and form the characteristic of the Japanese

market

A sense of respect for traditional values

Although very sensitive towards foreign cultures, the Japanese are very aware of their cultural assets Historical documents of culture, temples, pagodas are still largely preserved to this day Moreover, the traditional professions are not only not eroded, but also improved in technology and become more sophisticated

Curiosity and sensitivity to foreign cultures

We can say that there is no nation as sensitive to foreign culture as the Japanese They constantly monitor the changes of the external situation, evaluate and

consider the effects of the main trends and trends taking place on Japan, and the spirit of pragmatism, curiosity and progressive spirit Those are the driving force that pushes them to catch up with the advanced countries

c Language in Japan

In Japan and when dealing with local business, Japanese is the most common language spoken The need for words to be used simply and correctly is never greater than in such cases Japanese (Nihongo), which is the sixth most spoken language in the world, is the main spoken language, with over 99 percent of the population using it.

Nihongo is linguistically related to the Korean language in grammar, but both contemporary languages are nonsensical, despite the similarity to one another

In Japan, however, there are also other languages and dialects that are spoken When the population of foreign and indigenous minorities rises, so does the

number of languages spoken Ainu, Ryukyuan, Chinese, English, and Korean are some of the other main languages spoken here The indigenous languages that are spoken in various regions of Japan are Ainu and Ryukyuan, while the other

languages mentioned are mostly spoken by immigrants

English, spoken by many educated Japanese people, is a secondary language In several Japanese secondary schools and in higher education, English is learned There are 40 to 50 foreign schools that teach English in Japan In recent years, the historical notion of a language 'model' (usually British or American) has

diminished significantly Increasingly, multi-accented English is appropriate, even Asian English

d Religious beliefs in Japan

Shintoism and Buddhism impact how business is done by the Japanese The

Japanese are revered by businesspeople who work hard to contribute to the larger cause of their businesses It is generally accepted that the person will interact with

a larger, pooled life-force through sacrifice and hard effort and comply with the ethical standards of Japanese society

Their culture and religion represent Japanese business ethics Japanese staff are expected to be subordinate to their businesses, and their country is expected to be subordinate to the companies in exchange If it breaches the standards of the next greater group in the chain, a sub-group can be ridiculed or disciplined as an

immoral organization These group ethics are applicable to their individual

communities or domains only For any competing firms or companies, they are not

supposed to have the same legal consideration Japanese firms are expected to operate tirelessly to establish transactions that are mutually beneficial They will face consequences and even penalties if they refuse to do so

Integration into small industry goes hand and hand with beliefs , attitudes, etiquette, and customs In Japanese business etiquette, politeness, honesty, and good manners are essential The way business is done by the Japanese is rather formal In the first meeting, with the introduction of business cards, the formality begins Business cards should always be given to the most senior member of the Japanese party first

by carrying them in two palms The person presenting it should bow subtly and show a card down the ranks afterwards You should treat the business card with dignity and never write on it It is vital to be on time, but they can call at least one hour ahead if a person is running late During a meeting, it is useful to take a lot of notes This shows the company that the meeting is of interest to them

4 SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS

- Collectivism:

The Japanese working spirit has always been admired by the other part of the world

in terms of collectivism At work, they always appreciate teamwork, remove

individual egos for the common purpose of the collective During the meetings, Japanese people focus on listening to draw good ideas insted of arguing, and

Japanese people never use bad language to offend or insult others In a group of people, if there is a mistake, even the smallest, there will be one person step out and take responsibility for that and admit that everyone is right Unlike the

Individualism, when they make mistakes, they still try to defend and claim that everyone else is wrong If two local Japanese companies are competing in the domestic market and there is another foreign company competing in the same segment, then they are ready to ally with each other to defeat the other

This working spirit is also seen in other aspects of business The Japanese

commodities distribution system has a close connection between manufacturers and distributors in closed and xenophobic circles, especially specialized stores that only trade a certain product This structure is shown as follows: producers provide

capital to wholesalers and wholesalers finance retailers, carry out retail pricing, commission discounts Frequently and widely, the regime is willing to buy back goods if not sold and retailers only trade those items delivered by wholesalers and manufacturers Japan still has a parallel import system Accordingly, any company can import any product from abroad in parallel under import agents However, the parallel customer care, maintenance and warranty services are not excellent

because the general import agents refuse to take care of the products imported under the parallel import system

- Hierachy Structure:

Centered on a corporate system , traditional Japanese firms have rigid and defined social roles Considering other nations, Japan does not have the largest power gap, but it has a relatively high power distance compared to the U.S This suggests that the society embraces large power inequalities and displays a great deal of regard for the seniors in the authority-holding business (Keegan, 2011) The 'senpai' or

mentors are accountable to the 'kohai' or younger workers Owing to the lifetime job structure, these senpai-kohai partnerships will continue for a long time In Japanese firms, conversation, an unreserved communication about drinks, always takes place Owing to the bureaucratic structure, as there could be little opportunity for younger workers to speak up, they may have their input at 'nomikai' or casual drinking events Times have started to shift as Japan is starting to introduce Western

activities such as debate This further reorganize the importance of formal

correspondence and acknowledgment

5 INFORMAL TRADE BARRIERS

First of all, most trade analysts claim that Japan has developed fewer tariffs or quotas than many other industrial nations While the tangle of bureaucracy and legislation in Japan has acted as a trade obstacle, analysts agree that the Japanese government is not any less of a free trader on balance than regimes in Europe or the United States The Japanese economy, in formal words, is available The

Japanese delivery infrastructure is a critical challenge since there are many more layers in the network than in The U.S and because dealers may not jump to

procure international items only because they are cheaper They put an emphasis

on long-term supplier partnerships, doing business with others who have fulfilled

their duties diligently in the past This is what makes it impossible to enter into the market, even for young Japanese businesses

It is possible to evaluate and compare three kinds of trade barriers: tariffs,

restrictions, and apparent non-tariff barriers, such as voluntary export constraints Japan contrasts favorably with other nations on both of these

Tariff:

For example, with the conclusion of the new round of agreed tariff reductions in

1987, Japan 's average industrial import tariff would be 2.8%, compared to

4.4% for the United States and 4.7% for the European Economic Community Japan 's average increases a little higher than America's or the Popular Market's

as taxes on imported food are applied, but is still smaller than Canada's In 2015, the Japan Australia Deal on Economic Cooperation came into effect In several commodity regions, tariffs are projected to decline, some instantly, some over several years Find out more about the Tariff Schedule in Japan Developing countries are given generalized preferences A method of 'self-assessment'

intended to expedite customs clearance helps importers to measure duty

beforehand

Quota:

Another common method of protection is quotas on imports Japan sets quotas in

27 categories, with 23 for the United States, 46 for France and 3 for Britain

Donald M Nelson, Assistant Trade Representative of the United States, claimed that the areas in which Japan uses quotas are larger than the subjects of the

American quotas, covering many more goods

Non – tariff:

A generally viewed perception that the market is closed and highly restricted does not discourage future exporters to Japan Consumer entry barriers for merchandised and value-added items are largely informal