When a parent goes to war, it is often their offspring that is left in the crossfire. And in the case of Walmart's proxy war with Amazon through its subsidiary companies, its African unit, Massmart, will have to look to its parent's tactics to ensure its survival. In the seven years since Walmart, the world's largest bricks-and-mortar retailer, landed in Africa, through the purchase of a majority stake in Massmart for almost $2.3-billion, it has been indifferent to the continent and its ambitions. In a recent Walmart conference call with investment analysts, Africa was not outlined as an immediate strategic priority for the retailer - North and Central America, China and India were at the top of that list. But with Massmart's stock trading 36% lower since the deal was approved by competition authorities in March 2012, the market has been reacting negatively to its underperformance. This week the share was trading as low as R109.11. Charles Allen, a senior retail analyst at London-ba...
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