Wal-Mart Gives Up in Germany

Wal-Mart's unethical business model has been largely successful in the United States, but the company has run into a brick wall in Germany.  Wal-Mart announced today that it is selling all 85 stores in Germany to the Metro Group. The company will realize a pretax loss of US$ 1 billion as it leaves the market.

Why did it fail?  German workers are better organized and refused to give into the abusive labor practices of the retail giant. Without a compliant, non-union workforce that is willing to work at below market wages, the Wal-Mart business model is unsustainable.  More from the German Trade Union news:

Wal-Mart's leaving Germany with the tail between its legs is quite different from the picture of a successful and competitive global retailer that the Bentonville management wants to paint. A strong union movement, demanding customers and tough competition is not a welcoming atmosphere for Wal-Mart's social dumping concept. Only a few months earlier, the Bentonville multinational had to leave South Korea, where it would have faced increasingly strong pressure to change, from both the unions and the local consumers.