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Summary of walmart social responsibility
Summary of walmart social responsibility
The impact of ethical issues on business activities
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Executive Summary
Over the past 30 years Wal-Mart has grown into the world leader in retail and supply chain management. However, the company has faced and continues to face challenges with its stakeholders and other parties who are very critical of their business practices and ethics. Wal-Mart has established a reputation of squeezing the little guy to acquire the lowest possible price for the most earnings at the expense of some of its stakeholders as addressed in the 2005 documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price by director Robert Greenwald. Various parties including community groups, religious organizations, grassroots organizations, environmental groups and Wal-Mart customers as well as current and former associates have accused Wal-Mart of engaging in unethical business practices for the Every Day Low Price (EDLP) strategy.
Wal-Mart’s stakeholder issues involve racial and gender discrimination, treatment of product suppliers, product sourcing, child labor, environmental practices and the use of government subsidies. This paper will discuss some of those issues and address some solutions Wal-Mart has implement and should implement to increase their competitive advantage and enhance their reputation by taking a proactive approach to Cooperate Social Responsibility.
Brief History and Business model
Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. According to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2013, Walmart is the world's second largest public corporation, the world’s largest retailer, largest grocery retailer in the United States and the biggest private employer in the world with over 1.7 million worldwide. The company was founded by Sa...
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..., their new CEO Mike Duke has stressed a change in the way business is done to change the negative perceptions of the company. The wages are still low and problems still exits but the recent creation of a Senior Director for Stakeholder Engagement and their new mantra “Save money, Live better” highlight their new emphasis on shared value and CSR. They have added several components to their business such as:
• Environmental Sustainability
• Increases in US manufacturing
• Woman’s Economic Empowerment domestic and international
• Hunger and Nutrition
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Veterans and Military Families
• Ethical Sourcing
Wal-Mart is too large to fade into the night, but companies must adapt to the ever changing global changes technology and globalization bring. People have become more aware of their choices and Wal-Mart must adjust or people will shop elsewhere.
Wal-Mart, a "Big-Box Retailer" employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide and has two-thousand seven-hundred stores in the United States with many more in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Central America, Chile, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom, making Wal-Mart the largest retailer in the world. "Wal-Mart accounts for upward of 30 percent of U.S. sales, and plans to more than double its sales within the next five years" (Lynn 29-36). Why is Wal-Mart so successful, and is Wal-Mart actually bad for America?
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
"Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world's largest retailer, with $285.2 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2005. The company employs 1.6 million associates worldwide through more than 3,700 facilities in the United States and more than 2,400 units in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. More than 138 million customers per week visit Wal-Mart stores worldwide." (Walmartfacts.com)
According to Smithson, Walmart can expand its markets to new and emerging markets especially in the third world countries, which can significantly increase its revenues. Secondly, the company can reform is employment practices and improve the quality standard and in doing so, attract more customers and improve its brand image. On the other hand, the company faces threats such as the rising healthy lifestyle trend I that the company in most cases does not provide customers with healthy goods. At the same time, the company can capitalize on this aspect and increase its revenues. Aggressive competition from other discount retailers such as Target creates a great threat to the company (Smithson, 2015).
It’s a place everyone knows, much like the post office or even city hall. Wal-Mart. That is where the oddity lies, in the fact that a retail store is just as well known as staples for towns across the nation; not to mention the fact that Wal-Mart isn’t just in the United States, but around the world. Founder of the billion dollar industry, Sam Walton, did expect success from his endeavor, but no one could have foreseen just how influential the retail store would be. Wal-Mart is an astonishingly successful business with humble beginnings, but may have a rocky road ahead in terms of social issues due to the treatment of employees and it's strong effects on the economy.
A prior market firm used by Wal-mart (GSD&M) warned Wal-mart of the public image issues they were facing and had not addressed, even though they had been advised of them for over two years. GSD&M wrote in one review to the company that “sadly, after two years of empty rhetoric and ineffective publicity stunts, we now know that Wal-Mart has not only needlessly hurt its Associates and their families, but has pointlessly hurt the image and success that Sam Walton built.” (wakeupWalMart.com, 2007). Wal-mart has acted in a manner that blends with the theory of egoism. This theory “sets as its goal the benefit, pleasure, or greatest good of the oneself alone.” (wofford.edu, 1997). “Egoist use personal advantage…as the standard for measuring an action’s rightness.” (Shaw, 2008, p. 45). Clearly Wal-mart today is acting with interests geared toward their personal advantage and not considering the wreckage it is leaving all around them.
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.
...al-Mart’s methods to keeping these prices down have been immoral. In addition, they have taken advantage of town resources for example, subsidies, employee benefits and exploitation of cheap labor. Even though they have surpassed significantly in attracting customers all over the nation, they failed to do so ethically. This has created losses to competitors, and the battle for profit is an ongoing one. Therefore, I believe that Wal-Mart has become an economical disaster to competitors and the US as a whole. This is due to the exporting of huge amounts of funds to Asian countries, which in turn reduced the funds in the US due to continuous import costs.
Walmart is one of the most successful franchises of all time and continues to take fire from multiple angles, whether it’s about the costing of jobs, the wages, the health insurance, the small business destruction, or the environmental impact, but can always back itself up by negating those claims with facts that proves that it is beneficial to the community.
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...
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in various formats in the United States and Internationally. It has two segments: The Wal-Mart Stores and The Sam's Club. The Wal-Mart Stores segment includes Discount Stores, Supercenters, and Neighborhood Markets in the United States, as well as Walmart.com. It offers apparel for women, girls, men, boys, and infants. They also offer hardware, electronics, home furnishings, small appliances, automotive accessories, sporting goods, toys, pet food, cameras, health and beauty aids, pharmaceuticals, jewelry, optical department and photo processing services. The Neighborhood Markets include dry grocery, meat, produce, deli, bakery, frozen foods, pharmaceuticals, photo processing, health and beauty aids, household chemicals, general merchandise, and a pet supplies departments. The Sam's Club segment comprises the warehouse membership clubs in the United States and samsclub.com. It offers electronics, jewelry, sporting goods, toys, tires, books, grocery items, and selected private labels. As of July 31, 2005, Wal-Mart operated 1,276 Wal-Mart stores, 1,838 Supercenters, 92 Neighborhood Markets, and 556 Sam's Clubs in 50 states in the United States. The company operates various retail formats in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. It operates 261 Canadian Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Clubs, 11 units in Argentina, 150 units in Brazil, 88 units in Germany, 16 units in South Korea, 697 units in Mexico, 54 units in Puerto Rico, and 292 units in the United Kingdom, as well as 48 units in China under joint venture agreements.
How does managerial planning for Project Impact take place at different levels within the organization?
Wal-Mart is now operating globally, and its main vision is for additional global expansion of operation and "promotion of ownership of ethical culture" to all of its stakeholders worldwide (www.walmartstores.com). The idea of Wal-Mart’s vision on ethical culture is key in globalization. Wal-Mart has had good reputation and competitive advantage worldwide because it has been able to embrace culture and diversity in its operations across nations. In promoting ethical culture, Wal-Mart helps its customers and stakeholders to take the right decisions and to do the right thing.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a renowned retail goods superstore that sits atop the Fortune list at number one. It would be very difficult to find an individual who is unaware of Walmart’s position as the largest brick-and-mortar retail chain in the world. The company has thrived over the past few years and is continuing to grow by effectively managing its store operations and distribution strategies. One of the major contributors to the business consistently meeting market expectations is directly attributable to their management approach. Walmart has revolutionized the way retail companies manage their supply chains in more ways than one. But, perhaps the most revolutionary was the practice of unprecedented coordination with suppliers (Chekwa,