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Half a century of Supply chain management at Wal-Mart case study
Why walmart is good for the economy
Half a century of Supply chain management at Wal-Mart case study
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I remember being a kid, and on vacations spending time with my grandma. With such an age difference between her and I there wasn’t a lot we both came to terms on doing for the day. Walmart was always the most common day trips we would take. It was so convenient for me to find the latest trends of kids apparel, while my grandma was fortunate enough to find the cheapest cotton underwear, in her opinion. With gas prices raising from when my grandma first got her license she was very sparing with the gas in her 1998 Chevy Malibu. She felt as though she could make a trip to Walmart and get close to all the merchandise she needed at a low price compared to a Mom and Pop store. If the item had a dollar price tag on it or lower, it was going home with my grandma regardless if she needed it or not (she’d be determine to find a purpose for the item). Being retired, my grandma would always be conscious about the amount of money she would spend, so Walmart gave her the opportunity of getting more for the dollar. Though some may argue that Walmart isn’t good for the economy, the positive attributes, such as connivence, low prices, and skilled workers trained on the job outweigh the negative
Taking into account the oppositional side of Walmart having a downfall on the economy there is evidential support to be considered. An argument opposing Walmart is that job opportunities are decreasing. “In an economy that cares for the health and well-being of every person and doesn't permit poverty, there can be no corporation that asks people—as Walmart does—to trade "low prices" today for the inability to have a job, purchase the necessities of life, live in a safe community or count on a healthy environment tomorrow.(In Cooperation 2006).” Many may a...
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...idential support, Walmart appears as though to be looking out for the economy, in the fact of lowering prices, hiring and training workers, along with providing connivence under one roof.
Works Cited
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Hansen, Joe. "More Villan Than Victim." Http://www.ufcw.org/take_action/walmart_workers_campaign_info/facts_and_figures/index.cfm. 15 Apr. 2005. Web. 29 Apr. 2010.
A Business Model We Can Afford 68 (2006): 2. Web. 29 Apr. 2010.
PBS. "Frontline." Wal-Mart's Revolutionary Power. 16 Nov. 2004. Television.
Walmart. "Benefits." Walmart Stores. Kenexa. Web. 29 Apr. 2010. .
Small-Town Hit.(Economy & Business)(Wal-Mart)." Time 23 May 1983: 45. Academic OneFile. Web. 28 Apr. 2010.
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
I don't see Wal-Mart as a huge retailer trying to take over the world with cheap prices. I see Wal-Mart as business that has played their cards the way they were dealt. Our economy is poor right now; banks are hurting because people a...
Besides all the points that I have stated, Wal-Mart has had to pay fines due to breaking Child Labor laws and Illegal Immigrant laws; fines up to $11.5 million for just those two types of laws. Wal-Mart is not good for this economy, for the people, and the company, in a whole, is criminal. If the people let Wal-Mart stay on the track it is on, the United States will not have anything but Wal-Marts. Wal-Mart will become a monopoly and put everyone, who started with something more than greed, out-of-business.
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.
Walmart is bad for America, as some say. The Globalization essay that was handed out in class had many good points. It states that Walmart puts many smaller businesses out of service. A recent study by David Neumark of the University of California at Irvine and two associates at the Public Policy Institute of California, "The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets," uses sophisticated statistical analysis to estimate the effects on jobs and wages as Wal-Mart spread out from its original center in Arkansas. The authors find that retail employmen...
In order to gain the success it has had, Wal-Mart has no doubt affected small businesses. But in the place of small business Wal-Mart has been able to do far more for Americans than small businesses could. It provides consumers inexpensive necessities for life, it provides work for those who would otherwise have none, and it has a stake in the global economy that benefits our own with trading. Wal_mart
In conclusion, I agree with the noted shortcomings of Wal-Mart. But, I don't think people can argue that it's unethical to shop at Wal-Mart, that anyone who shops at Wal-Mart is unethical or believe it is ethical to point the figure at those who do shop at Wal-Mart. I suggest everyone first check their values and then their investments, and they'll discover they probably are supporting Wal-Mart, a company they believe is evil, via 401Ks or mutual funds.
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).
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.
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.
By keeping their prices low, Walmart can easily pass that savings on to their customers and in return, their buyers are able to have a higher income and can spend their money on more products, preferably Walmart’s.
and 2000 for a spokesperson had publicly mentioned that more than two thirds of our people are not trying to support a family that 's why our jobs are designed for, and yet it seems that they 're low wages and 2000 for a spokesperson had publicly mentioned that more than two thirds of our people are not trying to support a family that 's why our jobs are designed for, and yet it seems that they 're low wages don 't even support those who aren 't trying to support a family. So who do they help? Walmart doesn 't provide adequate healthcare, the healthcare isn 't just for the family it is for everyone who would like good health. But while Walmart has its downs it also has a few pros, like their genius inventions such as the Telon, And their ingenuity have helped make and bring Walmart to the top. They have intelligently used their barcodes on products to bring about information, such as how many our soul, how many are expected to be sold, prices and even discounts. Then Walmart brilliantly patented the idea so if other competitors want to stay in the game, they have to buy this idea from Walmart just to keep up with Walmart. It 's pretty brilliant when you think about it. They also use a open price system where you are drawn into a department by the low prices they stick in front and you stay because you assume that other products in this department will have similar low prices, when in reality they might be more expensive than other
"Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices." Top Documentary Films. Web. 8 Aug 2011. .
The first Wal-Mart store opened in July of 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas by Sam Walton who believed that the future of retailing was in discounting and to avoid competing with established giants like Sears and Woolworth, Wal-Mart’s stated out of the large cities in the beginning and this strategy help avoid competition, while in rural areas Wal-Mart began growing their customer base by offering ways to save money and shorter travel distance, Sam Walton felt the best way to make customers happy was to provide the low prices every day (Farhoomand, 2006). The company needed to continually find ways to control the operating costs so the savings would then be passed on to Wal-Mart customers in the form of lower prices than the competitors. Walton was opposed to having any kind of employee unions for its company and saw them as a disruption and an inconvenience (Farhoomand, 2006). The continued search for lower prices made him aware of business related travel cost, Wal-Mart executives stayed in low cost hotels when they traveled and the cost related to the services provided by suppliers, Wal-Mart helped suppliers improve operations and efficiency to produce lower cost. Walton wanted the suppliers to correct any nonessential or insufficiencies existing in their business structures as a way of gaining lower prices and higher value products for its Wal-Mart stores. To further push savings Wal-Mart forced cost down by eliminating the middleman and buying directly from the manufacturers. This cost saving also applied to executive salaries Walton felt providing employees with stock options, training opportunities, and allow employees to grow and develop would be a better way to engage and involve them in his vision (Farhoomand, 2006).
The benefits or competitive advantage Wal-Mart derived over the years from its supply chain management practices is also covered. The reason Wal-Mart is ahead of their competition is because they invest in technology in the 1980s. This investment paid off in the long run. Wal-Mart invested heavily in IT and communication systems to effectively track sales and merchandise inventories in stores across the country. They have set up own satellite communication in 1983. Employees at the stores have the ‘Magic Wand’ at hand. These barcode scanners allow you to check the prices of items at that particular store by scanned the barcode on the product. This is especially helpful when there is clearance that isn 't always marked and sometimes clearance items are cheaper than they