Walmart...is taking over.

Hey guys, I think we have selected a knock-out topic for our presentation on Wednesday. I think it'd be crazy to walk up in a Wal-Mart to see "just-killed" animals hanging from the ceiling in order to draw in consumers that are into that kind of stuff...Okay maybe that was a little over-dramatic, but catering to the local population is what Wal-Mart is best at and I believe that the local markets in these particular Chinese cities are going to suffer greatly; definitely more than a local market would in the United States. I could be completely wrong in my assumption, but I just don't see the local food markets in these rural Chinese places competing with the quality of goods at the cheapest availabe price offered by Wal-Mart. I believe that the standard of living will rise substantially among the Chinese consumers of Wal-Mart, but the local vendors will bear the brunt of this "invasion."

By the way...Melanie, these are the questions we discussed for the presentation.

1.) What will the effects on the consumers be?
A) Availability and low cost of goods
B) Employment
C) Benefits of local society

2.) How is the standard of living of the local society affected?...Are consumers able to afford a better life?

3.) Do these new Wal-Marts affect the local markets, and if so, how severely?

4.) How is competition measured due to these new establishments? Is it a good thing or bad? Is there even any competition period? (A substantial amount of inside information hopefully provided by Nathan and Amanda will be needed here).

5.) Overall cocluding effect of Wal-Mart introducing franchises into these specific areas of China.