Walmart is a company that can be seen from many different perspectives. Due to its vast size; it can be easy to identify its faults and environmental issues surrounding the company. However, they are well aware of these problems and criticisms and have made many efforts towards issues around the world. The motivation and desire Walmart have to improve the world we live in today can be seen through their treatment of employees, suppliers as well as their efforts towards the environment and other humanitarian issues. Given this, there is still endless resources on the web proving the company to be one of a negative burden on society. Walmart’s employee treatment can be seen of being rather controversial. There are countless sites regarding …show more content…
Walmart’s unfair treatment on employees dealing with illness. The author suggests that the company is aware of this situation and has a process in place to assist them. However, there is no factual evidence of this concern. In addition, there is even an article from dailydot.com titled “10 reasons why Walmart is the worst company in America”.
From this, it is clear that not everyone is a fan of the company. But where are this perspective coming from? It is just as likely for them to be from a biased outlet as the information they’re presenting being false. However, these perspectives can be easily counteracted by opposing ideas. One of which being the author stating the so-called “investing over $2.7 billion in wages” plan. Which I can confirm is true. In addition, since this plan was introduced in 2015, it has had a positive impact on the companies sales both in stores and online. The 200 training centers opened in 2015 as mentioned by the author, was a positive implementation in order to increase the minimum hourly rate. Before of which, had been a common complaint and issue associated with the company. Not only this, but there were endless complaints made about the company’s employee treatment, but it seems as though Walmart has acknowledged these complaints and in recent times has taken a step in the right direction. The author had not addressed much factual information regarding its suppliers and rather the “goals” …show more content…
made by the company’s own perspective, thus I have. According to various articles around the web, Walmart’s supplier treatment does not receive a very good reputation. Due to extensive pressure towards them to reduce costs in order to regain its spot as the US’s low price leader. They even go as far as punishing them for making deliveries early and penalties of 3% of value items arrived late. Thus, given all the negative views given towards Walmart’s treatment of employees and suppliers, it makes it very difficult to be convinced for the company to receive the award. As there are many other companies with far less “blood on their hands”. Through the reading of the authors writing and my own researching, it is clear that Walmart does care about the environment and is doing what they can to improve themselves.
However, many news articles including trustworthy sites such as “the guardian” state that Walmart still have a long way to go in terms of their environmental efforts. The authors claim of the company eliminating 28.2 metric tons of greenhouse possessions is true, in fact even exceeding their initial goal of 20 metric tons. Although, given the pure size of the company, the reduction of greenhouse possessions is far from enough to make a drastic impact. The company’s partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) was a massive boost to the company’s reputation regarding the environment. Walmart had invested a lot of their money towards the NFWF and correlated the amount of land preserved with every acre developed by Walmart. This meaning that due to this partnership, approximately 100 acres of land was preserved in Walmart’s name. When hearing this, all does seem perfect regarding the company’s environmental concerns. However, for a company the size of Walmart, it is very difficult to keep the company running completely “Green”. This can be supported as there are many articles regarding the company’s drawbacks towards the environment. An article from usnews.com states that one Walmart supercenter alone uses the same amount of energy as 1,095 US homes do in one day. In addition, the
company has even admitted to its greenhouse gas footprint increased by 13.8% since 2005. According to the EPA, only 28% of the company’s electricity use comes from green power which takes into account purchases from utilities. The company has fallen short of its potential. Due to their limited voice in terms of becoming a strong voice for clean energy policies. Walmart has been throwing their support behind the “Obama’s administration Clean Power Plan”, which regulates utilities, or an economy-wide carbon plan. Walmart is a company that truly does have a concern towards the environment, and due to its vast size, I can give a little slack for their negative environmental footprint. The efforts made by the company regarding the environment certainly overlook the negatives. Humanitarian Efforts is where Walmart really shines. It can be clearly seen that Walmart strives for the better good of the community. With donations made by the Walmart Corporation and Foundation as mentioned by the author, proving the company’s ambitions. One effort made by Walmart that was not mentioned by the author was their “Fight Hunger. Spark Change” campaign in 2016. This plan utilized customers in store and online in an effort to raise money for 75 million meals across America’s food banks. This was done with participating products donating $0.09 for each unit sold. As well as using the hashtag #FightHunger on social media resulted in the company donating 10 meals each mention. The donations made by the Walmart corporation and foundation mentioned by the author have made a very positive impact in the world. These donations were in support of international philanthropy. Going to causes such as hunger and women’s economic empowerment. Given this, there is very few to no articles present against Walmart’s humanitarian efforts. Therefore, these goals and actions made by Walmart as a company make a massive impression and a certain candidate for the Nobel Prize. Thus, Walmart has had many claims made against the company including its mistreatment of employees and suppliers as well as the massive greenhouse gas footprint. However, to counteract, they’ve been proven to have positive intentions and goals towards social issues including their vast number of humanitarian efforts made. All in all, I believe that the positive impacts made by Walmart can overlook the potential negatives associated with them and therefore they are deserving of the prestigious Nobel award.
In Deenu Parmar's "Labouring the Wal Mart Way," the author discusses the business practices of Wal Mart, their impact on systemic poverty, and on existing work unions. Their business model forces competition to align with them, or close up shop. Wal Mart hires workers that would usually have a difficult time finding employment. That said, they pay them well below a living wage. Staff are also subject to abuses like overtime without pay. Wal Mart is resolute in their feelings towards unions. Their hiring process designed to cut out union sympathizers. This way, they can prevent any retaliation from staff seeking a better work environment. If anti-union efforts are unsuccessful, they close the store. It also forces existing unions to take pay
Within an excerpt from, “The United States of Wal-Mart,” John Dicker explains that Wal-Mart is a troubling corporation. Dicker begins his article by discussing why the store is so popular within the news in an age of global terrorism, coming to the conclusion that Wal-Mart has a huge scope in the United States and that it has more scandals, lawsuits, and stories than any other supercenter. Continually, he goes on to explain that Wal-Mart outsources jobs and their companies demands makes it hard for employees to have livable wages and good working conditions. Furthermore, Dicker addresses the claim that Wal-Mart provides good jobs, by destroying this perception with statistics showing how employees live in poverty and that their union scene
...ir employees without their knowledge at all. Because of their prices being low, wage is even lower to make an over decent profit. Wal-Mart is a growing competitor to those who have enough trouble just surviving. It is easier for everyone just to back-off and let them do what they want, but they have taken advantage of that and the people do not like that.
Quinn, Bill. How Walmart Is Destroying America (and the world), And What You Can Do About It. Third Edition. Ten Speed Press, 2005. Print.
Few companies create as much controversy as Wal-Mart has done with its approach to maintaining high profits with low costs. Individuals either love or hate Wal-Mart. There are consumers who like the low prices and convenience of shopping at Wal-Mart. Supporters of Wal-Mart also laud the fact that the company creates multiple jobs for not just the individuals who are employed within the stores but also those who create the products that are sold in the stores. Critics of Wal-Mart have issues with the treatment of those individuals who work at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has a poor track record when it comes to Fair Labor Practices by giving low wages, bad healthcare coverage, and treats employees. Low wages, no benefits, irregular schedules, and unreliable hours are just some of the horrible working conditions most Walmart workers have to endure.
But Wal-Mart’s care for us goes beyond that simple relationship. As many of us have seen if we have been to a Wal-Mart, they hire people who normally would not be able to get a job. The company knows that by broadcasting itself as positive and helpful in nature it can increase its revenue and in turn increase the amount of assistance it provides to us the consumer. “In 2004 Wal-Mart donated over $170 million. More than 90 percent of these donations went to charities in the communities served by Wal-Mart stores.’ Even more heartfelt than this, Wal-Mart was the leader in goods based relief efforts for victims of hurricane Katrina. “Walmart’s response to the hurricane was lauded even by its critics: it donated more than $20 million worth of merchandise, including food for 100,000 meals, and it promised jobs for all of its displaced workers.” And the first supply truck to arrive at the superdome was a Wal-Mart truck.
Wal-Mart represents the sickness of capitalism at its almost fully evolved state. As Jim Hightower said, "Why single out Wal-Mart? Because it's a hog. Despite the homespun image it cultivates in its ads, it operates with an arrogance and avarice that would make Enron blush and John D. Rockefeller envious. It's the world's biggest retail corporation and America's largest private employer; Sam Robson Walton, a member of the ruling family, is one of the richest people on earth. Wal-Mart and the Waltons got to the top the old-fashioned way: by roughing people up. Their low, low prices are the product of two ruthless commandments: Extract the last penny possible from human toil and squeeze the last dime from its thousands of suppliers, who are left with no profit margin unless they adopt the Wal-Mart model of using nonunion labor and shipping production to low-wage hellholes abroad." (The Nation, March 4th 2002 www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=hightower).
To this day, when I walk into Wal-Mart and come face to face with a manager I once worked under they give me dirty looks. People report that managers will trash talk you to another job that applied for if that job contacts Wal-Mart about you. Wal-Mart has unrealistic workloads for some overnight stockers, their managers aren’t the best in the world, and their policies are harsh. This is why I constantly call Wal-Mart a communist regime; not because it shares the ideals but because it is just bad for everyone in general. Hopefully one day a high positioned power will restore the order and peace that once was Wal-Mart according to the history they teach you in training and that their policies and workloads may become more realistic and doable.
Today Wal-mart has a higher GDP than the entire country of Switzerland, but don’t worry they’re pretty neutral about it. But there has also been news about how they treat there employees. In 2004 an article was released entitled Everyday Low Wages: The Hidden Price We All Pay for Wal-Mart, and soon after Washington got involved. The bad publicity took a toll on Wal-mart and in fact is still today, Maryland passed a law in January, 2006, that said larger employers, such as Wal-mart, must spend at least 8% of their payroll on health benefits for their employees, and now many other states have followed suit. The bad publicity also made it so 8% of customers shop elsewhere because of what they’ve heard, this has caused lower expected sales around the holidays during 2004, and 2005. Some things they’ve done is in 2006 they paid employees on average 9.36 dollars, while other major retailers like Target and Sears pay on average 11.08 dollars. While this can be easily denied by Wal-mart, another way they have gained bad publicity is from something called off-the-clock work. If they had not finished their job they had to clock out and then still finish their job, meaning they wouldn’t get paid for
Few companies create such controversy as Walmart has done with its approach to maintaining low costs for everyday items. People either love Walmart because of this approach to keeping prices down or hate it due to the effects it has on the economy. There are a lot of arguments surrounding the minimum wage and employee rights at Walmart. There seems to always be a news article about some employee protest about the wages or how they are treated. Walmart is viewed as an enormous firm that does not take care of its employees because of its minimum wage, treatment of its employees, and how it deals with lawsuits.
Walmart has had a long-standing presence in America society since the middle of the 20th century, seen as a place to get everything done, Walmart has become a fixation in our society. From grocery shopping, to changing your oil and even filing your annual tax returns, Walmart is always there, everyday. Started by Sam Walton in 1962, it began as a small operation catering to a small Arkansas community. It was started on principles very similar to small local businesses in small towns. Today Walmart has gotten a different, darker reputation. On the surface, Walmart may seem like the solution to everyday issues. Low-income families are attracted to the low prices, and people who work odd hours benefit greatly from the 24 hours a day that many Walmarts are open. Lately, Walmart has also managed to be publicly recognized as a store that sells many of today’s green products, including organic food, environmental conscious cleaning products, as well as, paper products made from recycled paper. However, underneath all this, Walmart has a different side. Exploitation of its workers is widespread amongst Walmarts who do not belong to a union, especially in the United States. Wal...
The Wal-Mart stores had six different environmental analyses that are been given in this case study. They are some other major facts that are listed and can be listed under this general environment analysis. The first factor is economic factors Wal-Mart are having different economic conditions in tim...
There are three articles that will be referenced during this analysis. The first article is taken from the mainstream media publication USA Today. “Wal-Mart takes hits on worker treatment: Lawsuits, unions slam megaretailer”(Armour, 2003) argues that Wal-Mart is coming under attack from critics who argue workers are underpaid, women are discriminate against, and illegal tactics are being deployed to kill unionization efforts. Armour (2003) states, “company officials say they don’t know why the attacks are coming now, and they also say the allegations are unfounded.” The next statement made during the article states that Wal-Mart employees agree with the statement. The author continues reporting on the issues at stake, but focuses mostly on how unions may be less relevant in today’s world. The article makes mention of both sides of the argument, but the rhetoric and terminology used leans towards the portrayal of Wal-Mart as a victim of biased attacks to further union interests in the market.
While keeping in mind they are a business which rely on profits. Walmart is a popular company that is known for their low prices. This corporation is also known for giving back to communities by making charitable contributions of 100,000 grants annually, as well providing disaster relief to various countries burdened by disasters and donated $100 million dollars to neighborhoods and law enforcement agencies. They also provide employees with college grants to obtain a two or four year college degree, Walmart is investing in their employees by giving them an advantage in their future. Walmart has also found ways to reduce waste by creating materials that are nontoxic and are recyclable friendly. With the use of sustainability, strategic philanthropy, causing marketing, shared values and stakeholder that is why this company was ranked number one by Forbes list in
Wal-Mart has been a very successful company for many years for a very specific reason. The management listens to the needs and concerns of the community, or in this case, the world. Wal-Mart has done a very good job of overlaying their logistics department with a “green” mission. On their corporate website, there is a special section for “Environmental Sustainability” that outlines just a few of the things that is making Wal-Mart into a company that values green objectives. Outlined are three major sustainability goals: