Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) continues to get slammed from the media and retail critics as not changing and reacting fast enough to stay ahead of the retail discount crowd these days. Sure, the company is making record amounts of revenues (profit margin is another matter), but the company's monthly same-store sales stats and quarterly results aren't comparing to established expectations, nor are they outshining results from competitor Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT).

It's hard to measure Wal-Mart against any other retailer just based on its sheer size, merchandising prowess, and customer availability (supercenters seem to be everywhere these days), but the company has clearly made some strategic errors of late that have impacted results. While I'm not sure which traffic drivers Wal-Mart plans on to get feet in the door (then selling as much as possible to that captive audience), its recent admission of apparel planning mistakes seems to underscore the challenges the world's largest retailer has in trying to get its shine back.

While sales in the U.S. continue to get a collective "yawn" from market pundits and journalists, the company's about-face move in international retail seems to be moving rather fast as the company wants to reap more sales and margin from those markets than from the U.S. market (which takes time investors are not willing to give, it seems). Wal-Mart's recent partnerships with China's Trust-Mart and India's Bharti state to the world that Wal-Mart is serious about its international plans, even in the face of market withdrawals in Germany and South Korea in 2006. The rumor that Wal-Mart may be looking to acquire or take a stake in Indian logistics and retail distribution company Radhakrishna Foodland says that Wal-Mart is placing a pretty good deal of importance into rapidly-expanding markets (India is at the top of that list with China).