Ethical Issues Of Walmart 's Corporate Social Responsibility Using The Four Part Csr Model

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world; however they are not exempt to acting ethically. In December 2008, Wal-Mart settled 63 laws suits that spans over several years across 42 states accuses Wal-Mart of cheating workers on pay. The settlement cost Wal-Mart $352 million. Based on comments

It is said that “The only social responsibility that there is, is to obey laws and pay taxes,” but according to Milton Friedman, “social responsibility is to increase profits.” This kind of responsibility also a form of giving back. Many people believe that the future of Wal-Mart is sustainability. Wal-Mart Stakeholders are the associates, otherwise known as employees, the suppliers, and the investors of this company. I believe that Wal-Mart is doing enough to become more sustainable both locally and globally by the resources, its key stakeholders.

Low employee wage is one of the unethical business practices that saves Wal-Mart’s sufficient amount of costs. “The dynamics that create lower prices at Wal-Mart and other places are also undercutting the ability of many, many workers to earn decent wages and benefits and have a stable life”(Is Wal-Mart Good For America?, 2004). This giant wage-cutting business practice practically makes Wal-Mart employees

Although prices at Wal-Mart are considered as reasonable they are still having their own issues in relation to ethical issues and unethical practices consists of consumers were complaining about how they were not paying what they consider a fair prices for their groceries. Wal-Mart use to cover up what they were doing to their customers the advocate group followed the Food Chain Workers Alliance in order to investigate the root of the problem in the outsourcing ethical systems. Wal-Mart worker are currently complaining they are not being treated fairly because they are overworking their employees and they are not receiving enough pay based on their skills and qualifications they should determine how qualified their employees are for the job of their choice. Wal-Mart just followed existing law.

At one time, Sears prided itself as “Where America Shops” by staying in touch with consumers and upholding high product, employer, and customer standards. Today, Sears is struggling to remain a prominent American retailer. The company’s present business model reflects a poor grasp of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Riddled with lawsuits, workplace issues, and a poor reputation with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Sears consumers know today is undesirable.

Walmart has created the Global Ethics to promote its ethical culture to all associates, customers, shareholders, suppliers, and any company or individuals conducting business with them. The Global Ethics provides a Statement of Ethics which serves as a guide and resource in order to reach an ethical decision. Walmart is one of the largest corporations in the United States with a social responsibility to both the customers and the people it employs which is outlined in their Statement of Ethics.

The long-held belief that a business exists for the only purpose of generating profits for shareholders is quickly going by the wayside, as it becomes increasingly evident how much of an impact organizations have on communities and society. The ability of any enterprise to balance the ethical and economic factors and their respective agendas to joint fulfillment is the foundation of highly profitable and sustainable business for the long-term (Robert, Kodua, 2012). Staples, Inc., has one of the most advanced Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs in the retailing industry today. The Soul Program at Staples is based on a foundation of four pillars which include Community, Diversity, Ethics and Environment. Staples has taken these four foundational elements and successfully integrated them into the culture of their corporation, transforming them into a long-term competitive advantage (Field, 2009). The idealized state of CSR Programs is to provide an agile, intelligent framework for integrating economic- and ethically driven programs effective (Robert, Kodua, 2012). Staples has done this by creating a culture of accountability, one that is defined by scorecards that measure highly specific objectives in each of these four pillar areas, in addition to benchmarking the company's own performance at diversity program attainment, training, and a continual focus on attaining higher levels of delivered value

Jeffrey Seglin, a business ethics columnist for the New York Times, participated in an event sponsored by Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. He described two Wal-Marts one as evil and one as good. The evil company is very, very big and does everything to grow bigger. They use illegal immigrants to mop floors and are accused of locking employees inside overnight. They practice gender discrimination, pay low wages and deteriorate suppliers and competition. The bad one "is the enemy of all that’s good and right in our nation" (Seglin, 2004).

According to Forbes, Wal-Mart is one of the largest employers in the United States, and largest companies worldwide, with an estimated workforce of 2.2 million, and growing everyday. Although the company often touts the fact that it states it’s minimum hourly wage at $1 over the prevailing federal standard, there has been a lot of controversy over some of their labor practices. Employees have often complained of the poor working conditions at many of the corporation’s more than 11,000 worldwide locations. While some of these can be related to Wal-Mart having far more employees, and thus more complaints, there is ground to these reports. One common area that is often controversial has to deal with workplace health and safety, as well as employee’s

Walmart is the one of the biggest retailers in the United States and one of the foremost and influential corporations in America. It has become one of America 's most successful retail chains by offering “everyday goods at low prices” for middle and lower class families. Even with all of its financial success, the company cannot open a store without dealing with an abundance of protest groups. Walmart always overcomes these groups, but nonetheless there is always opposition against them. Walmart has had a reputation for unfair labor practices by refusing unionization, offering really low wages, and discrimination. The protest groups defend local store owners, the environment, employee salaries, and discrimination against various minority groups. Walmart displays an image of being charitable and giving back to the community, but they are responsible for unjust and discriminating actions in the United States. To maintain its low-cost strategy, Walmart has been involved in ethically questionable practices, including gender discrimination in promotion and pay. While the Supreme Court recently ruled against class certification of 1.5 million women in the Dukes v. Walmart case due to a lack of proof that Walmart operated under a “general policy of discrimination”, there is much evidence that shows that gender discrimination is still a problem rooted in the culture of Walmart, despite gender-neutral policies (Biskupic, 2011).

Wal-Mart, one of the largest retailers in the world, is accused of misconduct in order to provide such low prices to their customers. Wal-Mart typically saves the average family more than 2,000 dollars per year (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013). Wal-Mart states that they are working to provide their customers with the best possible price and goods as well as promoting a positive business culture for each 0f their employees. However, the company’s actions show otherwise. There are accusations of sweatshop-type working conditions, racial and gender discrimination, along with unethical leadership. For example, in years past research has shown that nearly half of all employees and their children are either on Medicaid or uninsured. Many believe

Is Wal-Mart a socially responsible corporation? This essay will seek to answer that question. Firstly there will be an overview of what exactly Wal-Mart is, their size and profit. Moving onto what conditions have lead to this question being posed with insights from various authors such as Nelson Lichtenstein and the ways in which Wal-Mart have retorted. Two main theories of corporate responsibility will be put forth; the stockholder or narrow view presented by Friedman and the stakeholder or wider view

Introduction Walmart has truly gotten a great deal of feedback with respect to its treatment of representatives, providers, and financial effects recently. With the negative image Walmart is regarded as, its executives are tasked with rebuilding its tattered reputation. Women's activists, activists, and worker's guild pioneers have all expressed their feelings that Walmart has occupied with offense keeping in mind the end goal to give low costs. Notwithstanding, in the current years, Walmart has been starting over. New efforts made regarding to diversity, charitable giving, and sustainability have added to Walmart's new picture.

After reviewing the three videos that were recommended for me to watch about Walmart, I later had a different perspective of Walmart as a company. With Walmart opening in many countries and towns it has lessened the amount of the small businesses in the area by competition. 5,000 Walmart are opened and still counting. This is an ethical problem to a certain extent. Small business owners know that they are small and that there will be some type of competition, but they probably never imagined that the competition would be a multimillion dollar company. That is not ethically Walmart’s fault. Where Walmart has a problem with is the amount of money and benefits that they give their employees. Walmart doesn’t compensate their employees the amount

1. What is the ethical dilemma facing Wal-Mart in this case ? Do Wal-Mart’s associates also face an ethical dilemma? If so, what is it ?