论文总字数：32372字

摘 要

企业文化是企业间竞争的核心，一个经营成功的企业离不开文化建设。沃尔玛从默默无名的杂货店一跃成为零售帝国，很大程度上依赖于其富有特色的企业文化。本论文先阐述了企业文化的相关理论，包括定义、结构和功能，随后简要说明沃尔玛企业的发展历程，从核心价值观、以人为本的经营理念、人才战略等方面深入分析沃尔玛的企业文化，并论述企业文化与其业绩的关系。通过对沃尔玛企业文化的分析，本论文对中国企业文化构建的取向提出了针对性措施：坚持以人为本、发挥企业家领导作用和加强团队合作，从而实现企业可持续发展。

关键词：企业文化；沃尔玛；中国企业文化；文化构建

Contents

1. Introduction………………………………………………………………1
2. Literature Review…………………………………………………………2
3. An Introduction to Corporate Culture…………………………...3

3.1 The definition of corporate culture………………………………………….3

3.2 The structure of corporate culture………………………………………........3

3.3 The function of corporate culture…………………………………………...5

1. The Analysis on Wal- mart Corporate Culture…………………….6

4.1 Overview of Wal-mart’s development history……………………………6

4.2 The characteristics of Wal-mart corporate culture………………………...6

4.3 Wal-mart corporate culture and business performance…………………….9

5. The Enlightenment of Wal-mart Corporate Culture………………………..9

5.1 The construction orientation of Chinese corporate culture .…………………10

5.2 Suggestions on the construction of Chinese corporate………………………11

6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………….12

Works Cited………………………………………………………………….13

1. Introduction

In the 21^st century, with the rapid development of economic globalization, the competition between enterprises has been enhnced. The development of enterprises is promoted by the corporate culture instead of the input of human resources. As a result, the competition of corporate culture is one of the most important factors among enterprises. Only by applying the corporate spirit and corporate values to all aspects of business operation, can enterprises have an advantage in this globalized competitive market in the future.

Whether it is a company of great antiquity like Wal-mart and Pepsi, or it developed in recent years like Haier and Gome all attach great importance to the construction of corporate culture and corporate atmosphere, and depend on corporate culture to win the competition. Corporate culture is a bridge of internal communication, which is helpful to create an atmosphere of unity, cooperation and innovation. Corporate culture directs employee’s thoughts and actions, which will cultivate their corporate spirit and form a community of interests, where the realization of the employees’ self-value is consistent with the corporate objective. Additionally, corporate culture is the internal quality, the driving force and the core competitiveness of an enterprise.

It has been proved that an enterprise that wants to maintain permanent advantages must establish a mature corporate culture and mobilize all the positive factors. Only in this way can sustainable development be achieved. As Lawrence Miller said, “Only by developing a behavior culture to achieve success can enterprise succeed in competition.” Some domestic scholars also pointed out that first-class enterprises rely on culture. The chairman of Haier once said, “ The core competitiveness of Haier is its corporate culture. Other aspects of Haier can be copied by others, but Haier’s culture cannot be copied.”

Many domestic enterprises have no long-term development, and many Chinese enterprises fall behind in the competition with foreign enterprises. The main problem is not the lack of technology, capital and talent, but the lack of corporate culture. What kind of corporate culture will be established and how to build corporate culture so that enterprises are able to continue to develop, which is a question worth pondering and have been a very important research subject.

Taking Wal-mart as example, this thesis first elaborates what corporate culture and its functions are, and then analyzes the corporate culture of Wal-mart. In the end, it puts forward the orientation of Chinese corporate culture construction and the implications of Wal-mart for Chinese corporate culture.

1. Literature Review

The phenomenon of corporate culture was first discovered in the 1970s. In the mid-1980s, when the concept of corporate culture was introduced into China, academia showed a keen interest in it and had made great achievements in both theory and practice. The study of corporate culture started late, but it developed very fast, and there are many theoretical and empirical studies abroad. In 1997, Roger Harrison identified four cultures shared by most organizations in Diagnose Corporate Culture:Quantification and Trainer Handbook, which can be used for business development, team construction and production increase and so on. One year later, Kim Cameraon and Robert Quinn’s Diagnose and Change the Culture was published, which provided a theoretical framework for corporate culture and a systematic strategy for changes in corporate culture and employee behavior. Foreign research shows that corporate culture is closely related to business performance. Every year, Fortune invites more than 8,000 senior managers and financial analysts to evaluate and research 300 companies whose annual sales is more than $500 million. The assessment covers many aspects of the enterprise, such as corporate image, corporate reputation and talent development. In 1992, John Kotter and Jams Heskiit, who attended Harvard Business School, put forward a distinguished statement that corporate culture had an important impact on the long-term business performance in Corporate culture and Business Performance. And in the next decade, corporate was likely to be a key factor in the rise and fall of companies.

Compared with the research progress of corporate culture abroad, there’s still a big gap in the study of corporate culture in China. However, many domestic scholars have carried on the exploration to the corporate culture, which promotes the rapid development of Chinese enterprises. Hu Xiaoqing(2007) pointed out in his book Social and Cultural Obsession in Chinese Modernization of the Enterprise System that the characteristic of capitalist enterprises was self-realization, while Chinese enterprises lacked the sense of personal purpose. Wang Liping(2000) summed up the characteristics of Chinese enterprise management in a macro sense. He indicated that Chinese traditional management mode was the management culture with complementation of Confucianism and Legalism, and offered new insights into Chinese corporate culture. Due to the exploration of corporate culture by excellent economists like Hu Xiaoqing and Wang Liping, we have also strengthened the awareness of our culture, and carried out theoretical innovation and practical exploration actively.

1. An Introduction to Corporate Culture

3.1 The definition of corporate culture

Corporate culture is a kind of group culture formed in inner-enterprise, which is a special form of enterprise organization culture. Up to now, scholars at home and abroad haven’t form a unified definition of corporate culture. In general, corporate culture is the sum total of management thoughts, management modes, management theories, group consciousness and corresponding thinking modes and behavior norms formed in the long-term production, operation, construction and development of enterprises. It is a complex of enterprise ideology, material ideology, system ideology and other spiritual culture. And it is a unique management mode formed in the process of its own development.

3.2 The structure of corporate culture

The structure of corporate culture refers to the primary and secondary status and combination of various elements in the corporate culture system. It can be divided into four levels——spirit culture, institution culture, behavior culture and material culture.

3.2.1 Corporate spirit culture

Spirit culture is the core of modern corporate culture. It is the ideology and cultural concept which formed in the production and management of enterprises. It includes corporate spirit, values, management idea, corporate ethics, norms of behavior and so on.

1. Corporate values refer to the value orientation of the enterprise and employees, and it is the basic belief and norms of behavior advocated by enterprises in the process of operation. Positive values can stimulate the work enthusiasm and initiative of employees so as to achieve the persistent development of the corporation.
2. Corporate spirit refers to the mental realm and ideal pursuit shared by employees, which the concentrated expression of employees’ sense of trust, pride and honor to the enterprise.
3. The management idea of an enterprise is the guidance of its operation. It plays an important role in the choice of market and the business pattern. So, the enterprise must take the influence of corporate culture background on enterprise into consideration when establishing management idea.

3.2.2 Corporate institution culture

It is the general term for various rules and regulations, moral codes and norms of behavior. The corporate institution culture imposes certain restrictions on employees to standardize the business activities and behaviors, and improve the operation efficiency, and realize the business goal. Strong corporate institution culture is the foundation of successful corporate culture construction.

3.2.3 Corporate behavior culture

Corporate behavior culture refers to the activity culture that people produce in line operation and interpersonal relationship. Corporate behavior includes entrepreneur behavior and the employees’ behavior. The majority of employees are the main body of the enterprise, the first thing that people come into contact with is the service behavior and sales behavior of employees, and then the perception of the corporate culture (Chen 94). At the same time, the employees are also the first to experience the leadership style and management style of the enterprise, and then have a perceptual knowledge to the corporate culture. Therefore, the group behavior of employees directly reflects the level of civilization and the overall mental outlook.

3.2.4 Corporate material culture

It mainly includes enterprise name, product structure, operation environment and cultural facilities for employees. As an enterprise, its value lies in the various products and services provided to meet the needs of customers. High quality products and good service play a vital role in corporate image. Although it is the outermost layer of corporate culture, it directly represents the image of a modern enterprise in the minds of customers.

3.3 The functions of corporate culture

In general, corporate culture has four main functions:

1. Guiding function.

It is mainly manifested in two aspects: value orientation and behavior orientation. First of all, corporate reflects the common values and interests of the enterprise, and guide employees to strive for the realization of corporate goals. Secondly, corporate culture can guide employees to consciously refer to the corporate values and check whether their statements and actions are consistent with corporate culture.

1. Stimulating function

The common values and cultural atmosphere inside the enterprise which come from the corporate culture can fully mobilize the enthusiasm of employees, so that employees will be willing to make contributions to the development of the enterprise.

1. Cohering function

Corporate culture is the values of all employees, which can combine the personal prospects with the development of the enterprise, and then promote the harmonious cooperation in human relations, and relations between individuals and the community.

1. Constructing function

Once corporate culture becomes the values and norms of behavior recognized by employees, it will form the optional binding which is the resource of the group psychological pressure and motivation of employees. So that they will abide by the rules and regulations, and abide by the moral habits of enterprises.

1. The Analysis on Wal-mart Corporate Culture

Corporate culture plays an inestimable role in the development of modern enterprises, and Wal-mart corporate culture has its unique charm(Wang 146). Wal-mart has developed from a humble store into the largest retail enterprise in the world, which must have its particular ways of operation for reference.

4.1 Overview of Wal-mart’s development history

In 1962, Sam Walton opened the first chain store and set up the first distribution center in 1970, then Wal-mart was on the road of rapid development. In 1999, its global sales volume reached 165 billion dollars. It is ranked second in the world’s top 500, just behind the General Motors of the United States. In 2000, the company’s total sales reached $1913 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 22%, and it became the retail empire in America. At the end of 2001, the founder of Walmart was ranked the world’s richest man in Fortune .

4.2 Characteristics of Wal-mart corporate culture

Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-mart, has taken “The customer is God”, “respect for employees” and “pursuit of excellence” as the value criterion since the establishment of the company, which is known as the operating Bible in the business circle(Li 52).

4.2.1 Customer-first principle

1. The principle of “Sundown”. It means that today’s work must be completed before the sun falls down, and the service requirements from customers should be met on the same day. Whether they are ordinary customers from small towns or the wealthy from busy business districts. Today, “the Sundown Principle” has become an important part of Walmart corporate culture, which is one of the reasons that Walmart is admired for its customer service. Walmart believes that its customers live in an increasingly busy world, where everyone is busy for their own lives, and the Sundown Principle reflects its business philosophy of considering every time for its customers.
2. The principle of “10-step”. That’s to say Wal-mart requires employees to say hello and ask if they need any help whenever a customer is within ten steps of you. This principle is also put forward by the founder, Sam Walton. When he was a college student, Sam Walton was ambitious and competitive. At the university of Mississippi, he decided to run for the president of student union. He thought that he had found a quick way to raise his profile by greeting and talking to every student that he met on campus before they spoke. “If I knew them, I would greet them, even if I didn’t know their names,”he said, “Over time, I became the best known person in the college, and these people recognized me as their friend in campaign, and I beat all the other people.” Sam Walton brought the experience to his business empire and perfected it to make it a part of the corporate culture with distinctive corporate characteristics.
3. The principle of “Puerile”. In the development of enterprise, Sam Walton has always regarded the low-price sales as the purpose of business operations, that is the principle of small profits and quick returns. Early in his career, Sam Walton found that if 80 cents per item was purchased, three times as many items were sold for1$ as used to be sold for $1.20. At this point, although the profit may be reduced, the overall profit will be much higher because of the large number of items sold. Small profits and quick sale were Sam Walton’s invention, in fact, this principle was widely used before Walton entered the business world. However, it is very difficult to find a second company with such a large scale and long duration. “Sam Walton was mad about this marketing principle that he asked it to be implemented as one of the company’s principles,” a senior Wal-mart executive recalled. Walton believes that only by truly achieving low prices, it is possible to gain more customers and stand out in the competitive industries.

4.2.2 Respect for employees

Wal-mart not only emphasizes the respect for customers, but also adheres the people-oriented principle to respect everyone in the company(Rui 202).

There’s little hierarchy in Walmart. And Sam Walton is happy to spend time with his employees talking about issues or giving speeches, and transmitting his values to employees. Today, managers at all levels still adhere to the traditional corporate culture, and they are regarded as “servant leadership”. Leaders in Walmart always put communication in the first place. They guide and encourage every employee. Therefore, the leaders of Walmart do not sit behind their desks and give orders. Instead, they come out to communicate with employees directly and deal with relevant problems timely. Their office doors are always open, and some even have no doors, so that every employee can walk in and put forward their opinions.

Wal-mart usually holds a commodity meeting on Friday morning and a regular meeting on Saturday morning. It’s time to listen to the results of the work in the last weekend and the plan for the next week. On Saturday, employees will be under the leadership of Sam. Sometimes they do aerobics, sometimes they shout slogans. As long as they are able to enliven the atmosphere, they can do whatever they want. Sometimes, Sam would invite some special guests to attend the meeting to make things better, and people in sports or entertainment would be present. In this way, many serious and important business problems are easily solved in an active atmosphere. Sometimes it may be very embarrassing for someone, because his job is not god enough, but he will not be punished in public, he may receive mild criticism or advice.

The motivation and creativity of employees are non-digital standards to measure whether the enterprise is qualified or not. And the key is whether the enterprise has healthy and harmonious atmosphere(Zhang 54). In these popular cultural activities, the cohesion and participation consciousness of managers are greatly enhanced. This is what sets Walmart apart from other companies.

4.2.3 Pursuit of excellence

Many years ago, Sam Walton made a very strict requirement for his employees, that is to provide every customer with more satisfactory service than satisfaction. Sam Walton says: “Let us become the customer’s best friend, welcome all the customers who patronize our store with a smile. And constantly improve the service, which even exceeds the customers’ original expectations. Wal-mart is supposed to be the best, so it should be able to provide more and better service than any other store.” Wal-mart really does do that. Many times, customers write to express their gratitude simply because of a smile, or because the company staff remembers their names. But more often, customers write to praise the heroic behavior of the company staff. For example, an employee who proactively works longer hours to accompany a mother to choose a birthday gift for her son carefully. These high-quality services, which are included in ordinary daily work, have brought a lot of customers back to Wal-mart. Customers are always willing to do shopping at Wal-mart, because they feel very amiable here.

Furthermore, Wal-mart is more responsive to the emerging technologies than any other company. It is the first to use bar codes, electronic security systems and so on. In 1986, Wal-mart built an interactive satellite communication system, which is the largest civilian database in the world. Through the system, managers can control the shipment at any moment. At the same time, decisions from headquarters can be transmitted by satellite to each branch. The application of high technology not only provides a solid foundation for the efficient management of Wal-mart, but also brings new changes to the management of traditional retail industry.

What’s more, in the process of operation, Sam Walton gradually realized that talent is vital for the sustainable development of the company. So the company provides training for every employee who wants to improve himself. Wal-mart also has training courses for senior management, where each employee has his own training and development plan. The training methods of Wal-mart are also diversified.

4.3 Wal-mart corporate culture and business performance

In 1955, Wal-mart was not ranked on Fortune. In 1995, Wal-mart, with $93,6 billion in sales, ranked fourth on Fortune. And in 2002, Wal-mart became the world’s retail empire. In his study of the relationship between corporate culture and corporate performance, John Kotter found that Wal-mart ranked first in the power of corporate culture. Meanwhile, it ranked second in the index of performance growth. John Kotter considered that Wal-mart attached great importance to innovation and advocated the corporate culture of serving customs wholeheartedly, which was an important reason for the success of company. Wal-mart not only gets high score of corporate culture power, but also the high scores of long-term business performance. This shows that although corporate culture cannot directly produce economic benefits, it is a key factor for the prosperity of enterprises. And the strong corporate culture can promote the growth of corporate performance.

1. The Enlightenment of Wal-mart Corporate Culture

The successful development of Wal-mart proves that corporate culture is the spiritual prop of the enterprise survival and development. There are obvious gaps between Chinese enterprises and the world’s top 500. In addition to the small scale and backward technology and other reasons, the backward construction of corporate culture is a factor that can not be ignored.

5.1 The construction orientation of Chinese corporate culture

5.1.1 The conception of people oriented

Competition between enterprises in the 21^st century is a competition of the culture essentially, while the competition in the world is the competition for talents. A major reason for Wal-mart success is the people-oriented cultural strategy.

Wal-mart executives show great respect for employees. If employees have a good performance, managers will praise them. If they do badly, managers will say, “You could have done better the other way,” Wal-mart leaders often listen to the suggestion of staff and help them grow and develop as much as possible. Wal-mart refers to employees as partners. Because they all own shares in the company, they are employers as well as employees. From the measures and achievements of Wal-mart, it can be seen that the conception of people oriented is in line with the interests of employees, which is conductive to stimulate the enthusiasm of employees and enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.

5.1.2 The principle of customer oriented

The survival and development of enterprises depend on high-quality services. Wal-mart is aware of the importance of customers. It promotes the Ten Foot Rule and Sundown Rule to provide customers with excellent service, which brings great satisfaction to customers. Another example is the conception of star-level service advocated by Haier, whose purpose is to meet the needs of users in terms of products and services. Guided by Haier, a group of domestic enterprises advocate the customer-oriented service attitude, which changes the traditional business direction of China, and opens a new service concept.

5.1.3 Team spirit

Compared with other competitors, another unique advantage of Wal-mart is the team spirit of its employees. Wal-mart employees work together for common goals. They respect and trust each other. Sam Walton and his heirs have repeatedly stressed the importance of cooperation for the success of Wal-mart, and then focus on cultivating and developing this cultural atmosphere. In today’s world, the key to the survival and development of an enterprise is to make all employees participate in the construction of corporate culture. Only in this way can company give full play to the ability of employees.

5.2 Suggestions on the construction of Chinese corporate culture

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