Decoding WAL-MART's "Headwind" In China

On a recent Sunday morning, although there was a crowd in the farm and meat stores in Beijing WAL-MART Wangjing store, there were few customers in the whole supermarket.

Wang Chunhang, a 32 year old office worker, is buying a few things here.

"Little" is the key word, and Wang only comes once a month.

She said, compared with other local supermarkets, the store is still "slightly expensive".

Most of her spending is spent on WAL-MART's Chinese rival: the Beijing super market chain.

In the fast developing China, from retail to technology and consumer goods market, the business of foreign enterprises is becoming more and more difficult.

Why? The competitiveness of Chinese enterprises is increasing day by day, the slowing down of China's economy and increasingly strong nationalistic sentiment make Chinese suspect foreign competitors, and the spillover effect of anti-corruption campaign is also affecting foreigners.

This is not to say that "business in China is getting harder," said Daniel Wright, founder of the green point group of consulting firm.

And other preferential treatment.

He said that China today is nothing more than a more "normal" business place.

Mai Jian Lu, chairman of the Greater China region of acco consultancy, agrees.

"Over the years, (foreign) enterprises have been saying that they hope to enjoy the same treatment with Chinese enterprises."

He said.

Obviously, this kind of treatment is not satisfying.

WAL-MART is one example.

WAL-MART has 6100 branches outside the United States.

Encountered the "adverse wind".

When it first arrived 20 years ago, it had been invincible in the Chinese market.

But now the good news is no longer: in the third quarter of last year, its sales in China dropped by 0.8%, compared with an increase of 1.1% in the previous quarter.

Moreover, it is not limited to

All foreign companies are worried about competition, especially with Chinese rivals, let alone the widespread cold atmosphere.

60% of the enterprises in China said to the China Chamber of commerce that they did not feel as popular as they used to be.

However, it needs to be clarified that (foreign) business in China is still excellent.

A survey conducted by the US China Trade Commission found that 83% of the member enterprises achieved profits last year, and 69% of the profits in China were higher than those in other countries or regions.

It is true that only half of the foreign enterprises in China plan to increase their resources to China, but almost no one has divestment from China.

Since China's leaders launched anti-corruption operations two years ago, a more stringent enforcement environment has spread to foreign enterprises.

But on the other hand, Mr McGregor said that although China's reform is forcing foreign companies to be "obedient", it is also opening up new industries to the latter, such as medical and clean energy.

For the world's second largest economy, a completely foreigner led model is hard to come by.

Wright said foreigners need at least to get along well with business managers who are familiar with Chinese language and culture.

In his view, last summer's appointment of General Electric, chief executive of Greater China in Shanghai, is one of the success stories.

At the same time, many multinationals will be more furiously seeking suitable executives.

But whenever winds change, there will always be people who will benefit.

Who? Wright knows at least that headhunting companies in China are very busy.