Step 1: Wal-Mart to Restructure Wholesaling in India

India's local preservation oriented retailing laws currently prevent international behemoth Wal-Mart from opening its own branded stores or even partnering with other retailers to sell its own brand private label products in the country. But in a shrewd move to build a solid foundation for the inevitable change in those laws, Wal-Mart has begun doing what they do best - restructuring the critical back-end retail supply system.

With growth in the US market grinding to a close, the company is successfully exporting its model to new overseas growth markets. Success in Mexico has been stellar. But what's particularly heartening about their India strategy is its ties to the company's strongest core competence: wringing inefficiencies and middlemen out of lengthy, cumbersome, poorly organized supply chains. They then pass the savings from those strategic advantages on to consumers.

In a quiet first step to dominate retailing in India, Wal-Mart has created a carefully structured joint venture with local retail company Bharti Enterprises to start the pincer move that will establish Wal-Mart's future market dominance in India.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart competitor Metro Cash & Carry continues to focus on "one stop shopping" and traditional "assortment" strategies. The company says it offers commercial customers in numerous countries of the world an assortment competence in food and nonfood products at wholesale prices. The assortment and service portfolio are geared to meeting the special needs of professionals, mainly from the restaurant and retailing sectors.

Nothing wrong with paying attention to assortment of course. But if I were Metro, I'd be picking up the pace and accelerating strategic moves in valuable southern hemisphere growth markets. Wal-Mart's entry will be anything but slow - consider Mexico where the company now accounts for the majority of all retailing.