Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), after having been connected to multiple safety recalls in 2008, has finally said it will require higher standards from its suppliers. Not just any suppliers, but those specifically manufacturing in China. It's no surprise -- China has been the source of almost all of these recalls, from baby food to toys to play guitars.

Wal-Mart indicated yesterday that it will be setting new quality standards for its Chinese suppliers. What has transpired in China recently is completely pathetic; it its quest to grow its already-hot economy, the country appears to have little quality oversight in many, many areas. But when Wal-Mart says that it wants better quality, things could change. China is - by far - Wal-Mart's largest overall supplier.

But then again, lip service could be at play here by the world's largest retailer. If it really wants to change things, make quality standards public and transparent to the WMT shareholder and your customers. Then, and only then, will Wal-Mart's new "quality standards" requirement have any real worth. Until then, the proof won't be worth any pudding.

Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT) hit a milestone in China recently, having received approval to build its 100th store in the world's most populous country. Wal-Mart opened its first Chinese location in 1996 and apparently is seeking to build a retail stronghold in China with this year's significant Trust-Mart partnership. Celebrating the retailer's hundredth Chinese location was U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez and China's Ministry of Commerce Vice Minister Jiang Zengwei.

Ed Chan, CEO of Wal-Mart China, said that "The opening of our new Loudi Store coincides with a special moment in our development in China because it is an example of how we are investing in smaller cities that have traditionally been underserved by organized retailers and where our presence will improve distribution channels for both Chinese and U.S. consumer goods and agricultural products." That's a mouthful, eh?

Wal-Mart will only increase its China location deployment from here, as it reached market saturation in its largest market, the U.S, with sales and locations seeing slower growth domestically. So far, Wal-Mart's entry into China and its partnership with Bharti in India is creating a satiable worldwide market for the world's largest retailer as international sales become an ever-increasing piece of its revenue pie. Now that Wal-Mart imports so many goods from China for its U.S. locations, one has to wonder if newer Wal-Mart China customers will be buying much of the product made in their own backyards.

With negative pressure mounting on the U.S. sales results of Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) in 2007, the company has been shifting focus on more potentially profitable and more lucrative markets including China and India after failing in Germany and South Korea, the world's largest retailer exited those markets in 2006. It reset its international focus on China and India in 2007 as U.S. sales withered, and the retailer stated this week that 2007 year-to-date sales at most of its stores in China have outpaced sales from the competition by two to three times.

Is that impressive? Depends on how you look at it, but when Wal-Mart joined with Chinese retailer Trust-Mart earlier this year to give it an immediate presence in the world's most populous country, it was bound to see good performance in 2007.

Wal-Mart China president and CEO Ed Chan said "This year, we have enjoyed double-digit comp (same store) growth for stores that are open for more than a year ... that is easily two to three times faster than our principal rivals." Double digits? From Wal-Mart? Only overseas, of course. Right now, Wal-Mart operates 94 stores in China, and more are being prepped for 2008 after 2007 saw an additional 24 stores opened. Where Wal-Mart has maxed out sales and saturated markets (the U.S.), it is beefing up international operations, where almost a quarter of the company's revenue now originates.

As I reported yesterday, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is in the process of arranging quite a few cuts in its purchasing and procurement divisions in the Southeast Asia region. The cuts are coming from Wal-Mart China operations and look to be a realignment of procurement positions to centralize the purchasing centers for a good portion of the retailer's international operations.

But, is there more to it than that? The total headcount being cut in Wal-Mart's global procurement division is close to 250 people, with many of them in the China area and surrounding vicinity (including Singapore and Shanghai). Is Wal-Mart pulling back on its potential focus of the Chinese market to more heavily concentrate on another international market with huge promise -- India?

The case could certain be made for that point of view. And, with a new "Employment Contract Law" about to go into effect in China, this may be just a way around labor issues in the future for the retailer, something I suggested yesterday.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) looks to be cutting positions in China according to this source. Based on what Huang Jianling -- PR manager for Wal-Mart China -- says, the cuts are needed to reduce the level of redundancy from Wal-Mart's various Chinese operations, and will include purchasing positions up to senior management staff.

Although these "cost redundancies" were not detailed out by Jianling, the cost estimated to cut these various positions was estimated at right over $120,000. In other words, a pinch in the bucket compared to the relatively low salaries many Wal-Mart China employees receive.

Purchasing departments look to be centralized as locations in Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Turkey will be closed. Wal-Mart's adjustments in these areas are due to a realignment of its global purchasing strategy, according to the company. That's admirable, but all things considered, it should have never reached this state. The splintering of so many purchasing departments across what could be seen as redundant coverage areas was most likely the result of not managing global growth appropriately on Wal-Mart's part.

But then again, the new "Employment Contract Law" that will take effect in China next year may be making Wal-Mart officials skittish when it comes to employee headcount in the region. The retailer has battled the formation of unions everywhere in the world, so the position reduction agenda here may fall in that territory.

Not only has Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT)'s Japanese-based Seiyu Ltd. unit had a loss for the first half of 2007, but now the subsidiary looks to take a loss for the entire year, according to company. Seiyu said this week that it is planning on taking a full-year loss for calendar 2007, which would give it six straight years in a row without a penny of profit.

Questions immediately come to mind: Will Wal-Mart get out of Japan and sell Seiyu completely to cut its losses? After all, it exited Germany and South Korea in 2006 after many bad financial performances in those countries. It cut its losses there and escaped from the doldrums of loss -- why not in Japan? Hard to tell at this point, but the world's largest retailer did not respond to speculation that it would exit the Japanese market.

But what do you think if you're a Wal-Mart shareholder? The company has poured more than $1 billion into Seiyu (which has 393 stores in Japan), with not much to show for it except occasional upticks in sales that make for little else besides decent headlines.

Wal-Mart has found good look recently in China with the Trust-Mart partnership and in India with partner Bharti, but it's just not cutting the mustard in Japan. Will Wal-Mart continuing propping its Japanese unit up with more money, hoping for some kind of profit on the horizon? Your guess is as good as mine. Six years is a long, long time in the retail biz.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) may be looking to expand its expertise beyond the merchandising of everyday, low-priced goods as it enters the Indian market full-force with partner Bharti. As such, the world's largest retailer is soliciting possible business from other large retailers in that country in order to lend a hand to the complicated front-end operational logistics that has allowed Wal-Mart to become the inventory-handling behemoth it is.

Basically, Wal-Mart wants to handle the technical operations and expertise needed to firmly establish and grow a retail operation in India that can scale as needed with the expected continuing blockbuster growth many industrialized centers are seeing in India. Why Wal-Mart would want to assist the competition in this way is puzzling, although I am sure the company is charging a decent amount for its services.

Still, the first reported technical support collaboration will be given to Bharti Retail, Wal-Mart's exclusive sales partner for the Indian market. Wal-Mart, which has seen its own withdrawal from countries like South Korea and Germany in the last year, wants to go for the jugular with entry into India and China, two retail markets on a tear as the middle class develops more steadily in those two billion-plus populated countries.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) has said that it plans to increase its store count in China by more than 100% within five years. The world's largest retailer, which has been wrestling with slower sales in its largest market (the U.S.) recently had a better-than-expected June but sees that international growth is most likely the only way to continue growing at somewhere close to a double-digit rate given that it has $344 billion in annual sales per year now. Growing that even in the higher single digits is a feat of huge proportions.

But then again, China is potentially the largest market ever for any retailer. Its population is more than triple of the U.S. and the booming economy is giving way for more citizens to have increasing disposable income. Hence, they'll hopefully be future Wal-Mart customers, hopes Bentonville.

Right now, the retailer has 84 stores across 46 Chinese cities. From reading this morning's news, Wal-Mart wants to grow that to at least 168 stores by 2012 in order to take a 20% market share in China when the five-year expansion is complete. Oddly, there appears to be wide-open potential in the lucrative China market, and I agree with a Wal-Mart Asia executive who said "to date, no real market leader has emerged and our eyes are on market leadership of some sort." Wal-Mart apparently does not see a cut-and-dry discount retailer leader in China, and as such, has its eyes set on that goal. I wonder if Wal-Mart will buy from Chinese vendors en masse like it does now only to sell those goods right back to Chinese citizens?

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) is contemplating a sudden and fast move into the Chinese market with a $1 billion acquisition, which will vault Wal-Mart directly into the Chinese market almost immediately. Wal-Mart has Chinese operations already, but with China growing by leaps and bounds, Wal-Mart apparently wanted to establish an early foothold into that market by way of acquiring marketshare directly.

Wal-Mart will be acquiring Trust-Mart, a Taiwanese company, that will plant it as the largest food and department store network in China. Will Wal-Mart find international success in China? In markets such as South Korea and Germany, the world's largest retailer has been forced to remove itself due to flagging sales in those markets caused by Wal-Mart's apparent disregard for customizing its stores in those countries to the actual demographic and surrounding culture. With this latest acquisition, one of its largest in recent years, Wal-Mart hopefully will not repeat those same mistakes in China.

Right now, Wal-Mart's existing China sales of $1.2 billion are a small drop in the overall sales of $315 billion that the company posts annually. But, with China growing at the rapid pace that it is, Wal-Mart could conceivably conquer the world's fastest-growing market (by some accounts) in much less time than the 20 years it took it to grow its largest market, the U.S. If you're a WMT shareholder, pay attention to this one -- the fall of 2006 could be a red-letter day in Wal-Mart history.

Wal-Mart shares closed up today to end the trading session at $44.89, a semi-significant rise of 2.26% or $0.99 over Wednesday's close. Competitor Target put up some strong quarterly numbers today, as it showed a quarterly income increase of 13%, to $609 million. TGT shares also rose over 2% today on the higher-than-anticipated quarterly income news, pulling WMT shares along for the ride, although that may be a stretch.

Target has figured out a way to consistently compete, well, with the world's largest company (by revenue), and it remains to be seen if Wal-Mart's efforts to partially or completely duplicate Target's successes will come true.Is Wal-Mart really sinking its teeth into Target's market of upscale buyers who prefer brighter stores and higher-margin goods? How would a shopper know?

Brian White has worked in various executive positions in technology and telecommunications and now focuses on editing and writing.

Wal-Mart recently had its first union shop in China crop up in a nod to Chinese unions which are state-controlled. I wonder what effect a communist, state-controlled union has on setting up rules for the organization of employee rights? Anyway, Wal-Mart China has recently seen its second union organization in less than a month as a store in Shenzhen organized 42 employees this past Friday to form an official union.

The Shenzhen location, which was Wal-Mart's first Chinese store that opened in 1996, was the second union formed in a Chinese Wal-Mart. This happened after Chinese officials accused the global retailer of trying to block union formations in its Chinese stores, something the retailer has been successful at so far in the U.S. No unions operate inside any of Wal-Mart's stores in the U.S.

What does this mean for Wal-Mart's Chinese operations? First it means that it is very likely more and more Wal-Mart locations in China will choose to form employee unions in the near future. Second, this may beset the retailer with renewed requests from many other countries, including the U.S., to allow organized unions inside Wal-Mart locations worldwide. The dance may just be starting for the global retailer.

Brian White has worked in various executive positions in technology and telecommunications and now focuses on editing and writing.

How is Wal-Mart's international expansion going? If you've followed its recent pullout from South Korea and a possible re-shuffling in the German market (closing stores as well), one would think Wal-Mart has work to do to expand into non-U.S. countries. Well, China is a huge, growing market and Wal-Mart's plan to crack that nut is taking shape.

With French competitor Carrefour already in China, one would think Wal-Mart would be making aggressive moves as well -- but it isn't yet. Sure, Wal-Mart has matched Carrefour already in many Chinese markets, but it still operates as a process-controlled, rigid structure in many areas. This strategy is not conducive to customizing the shopping experience or offering goods that certain regions and sub-regions of the world expect, and China is definitely included.

Will Carrefour, the world's No. 2 retailer behind Wal-Mart, be able to outfox its larger competitor? With Wal-Mart's penchant for "everyday low prices", this marketing strategy has not had an impact for Wal-Mart in China due to the cultural climate there, even with "mom-n-pop" shops, being already cutthroat when it comes to customer pricing. Wal-Mart won't be able to compete like this and must form a new strategy to succeed in China outside of low prices. What will that be? I'm not sure, but with Carrefour being in twice the number of foreign markets, the Wal-Mart folks need to study the competition and take notes. Lots of notes.