Around 1998, facing a saturated U.S. market, Walmart entered Germany, then the third-largest economy in the world behind the United States and Japan. At that time, the big-box retailer was already active in six foreign countries, with some 500 stores outside U.S. borders. Given the intense pressure for cost reductions in the retail industry and Walmart’s superior strategic position as the dominant cost leader in the United States, executives decided to pursue a similar low cost strategy in Germany.