Pros And Cons Of Wal-Mart's Abuse Of Power

This article is written using an enlightened self-interest approach. The author describes Wal-Mart behaving in a way that increases its own benefits, with the outcome of their actions being the most important consideration. An example of this is the author’s notion that Wal-Mart’s low prices are due to “the exploitation of its workers” (McLachlan, 2009, pg. 289), “systematic use of ‘maquiladoras’ in conditions of extreme exploitation” (McLachlan, 2009, pg. 289), and Wal-Mart’s threat to move production to China to obtain lower prices. In this article, the author implies that Wal-Mart’s actions demonstrate that they are not concerned with finding the most ethical behaviour; they are merely interested in the action(s) that most closely achieve their goal to remain the “biggest chain of direct sales to the consumer in North America”. (McLachlan, 2009, pg. 289)

Not only Wal-Mart is saving money for consumers, Wal-Mart creates jobs, improve economic conditions and overall improve the areas in where they operate. Wal-Mart usually open in rural and down trotted areas. A perfect example is Carol Foote. She and her friend Paula Beaulieu started a petition to open a

Wal-mart has made buying essentials cost much less money, even for people who don’t shop at Wal-mart as other companies attempt to match their prices. “Walmart ... offers foods at prices considerably lower than those at traditional supermarkets--as much as 25 percent lower.” (Kenny, Charles. 2013. Para 4). Raising the wages of employees or offering more benefits could take away from these lower prices, causing families below the poverty line to not be able to afford the products they need. It is important to those living under the poverty line that the company provides their products for such a low price. Wal-Mart conducted a study in 2008 that concluded that the company saves the average American family $2,500 a year (Hall, Randy. 2008. Para 1). People in poverty now have much more access to goods than they have in the past, simply because their money goes

Walmart is the world's largest company by revenue (approximately four hundred and eighty billion dollars) and the largest private employer in the world with two point three million employees. Walmart is also one of the world's most valuable companies by market value, and is also the largest grocery retailer in the U.S. “One Nation Under Walmart” is a case about how Walmart has taken over the retail business and the effects of their market domination. The case also shows statistics of how much percentage Walmart is of many suppliers’ sales. According to the case Walmart has a 30% market share of all household items. Twenty-eight percent of Dial’s business and twenty-four percent of Del Monte’s business go through Walmart stores. It is also worth noting that Walmart imports ten percent of all United States imports from China. The case states that Walmart is able to offer cheaper prices because they put so much pressure on their suppliers to lower their prices. The case, “One Nation Under Walmart”, explains the problems that some people have with the massive retailer. One of these problems is how Walmart has forced numerous local businesses to close their doors through their extremely competitive pricing. They are able to purchase bulk goods at such low prices and thus pass the savings onto customers. As a result of these lew costs, rivals are driven out of business which results in a loss of jobs. Jobs are vital to the success of a community and with Walmart causing job

A corporation as wealthy and powerful as Wal-Mart should invest in the communities and environments that it inhabits, but because it isn’t profitable for them Wal-Mart, the company that claims to be in the interest of the American people, neglects them.

Walmart however claims that their managers can handle complaints and grievance and that their employees do not need to pay a union to advocate for them.

Walmart is the go-to shopping center for most Americans, but are they fully aware of the negative impact Walmart has caused America? Many people shop where they can find everything at once and is in a decent distance from their home, but most shoppers don’t realize what they are really purchasing or the truth about the stores they buy from. If more Americans knew what they were really getting out of their shopping trips at Walmart they probably wouldn’t come back. Walmart has a privative effect on America more than people realize. The people they hurt in the process of trying to “Save money” and “Live Better” are the backbone of the business, the products they sell might as well be used, and their crime rate escalates more and more, and

“The World of Wal-Mart: Discounting the American Dream” is certainly a critical look at the infamous multinational corporation, but its focus shifts away from the simple takedown we’re used to and into an anthropological explanation of how Wal-Mart came to be the nexus of the American dream. Nicholas Copeland and Christine Labuski describe Wal-Mart’s rise to ubiquity as a controlled process of normalization, convenient social interest, and an uncompromising vision of neoliberal capitalism. Copeland and Labuski take a critical angle, highlighting the most notorious of the public’s grievances against Wal-Mart and explaining them in terms of their anthropological and sociological consequences. However, little attention is given to a world after Wal-Mart. The final chapter offers the suggestion that the different groups that cite Wal-Mart as their victimizer may team up, but gives no solutions or advice as to where to go from there. The book seems to suffer from the very problems it intends to expose: Wal-Mart has made itself just too big and too symbolic for anyone, including the authors, to even conceive of what can be done to stop or reform them.

Wal-Mart’s strongest tool in fighting off unionization efforts is the weak penalties for employers that violate U.S. labor laws. Wal Mart has enormous monetary resources, which gives the company the ability to break various labor laws and only see minimal consequences from their standpoint. Ultimately, this gives Wal-Mart little incentive to obey U.S. labor laws, as the consequences for breaking the laws are minimal.

“Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson, a senior editor at Texas Monthly and who’s article appeared in Mother Jones, introduces her article through the perspective of a Wal-Mart worker. She focuses on the negatives of Wal-Mart by telling the real life struggles of different Wal-Mart employees. “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really.” by Sebastian Mallaby, a columnist for the Washington Post, focuses his article on what Wal-Mart critics say and attempts to defend Wal-Mart by comparing Wal-Mart to other retailers. Even though Karen Olsson and Sebastian Mallaby both examine the negative effects of Wal-Mart, Olsson berates Wal-Mart’s unfair treatment towards employees and the unlivable wages that the world’s largest retailer provides while Mallaby

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

Whether it's a brand new 59” LCD widescreen television or merely a pack of gum, each purchase you make from a Walmart store inadvertently results in a higher price paid; both within your community as well as the greater world around you. Relying entirely upon you-the ever consuming scavenger – to fuel the bustling utopia of the manufacturing industry, exists Walmart. More importantly, Walmart relies upon the oblivion towards matters outside of our own lives that we as society generally project. However, by looking past our own greed in a world full of price cuts and sales, we can expose Walmart for what it truly is; an entirely corrupt corporation feeding off of countries' vulnerabilities and reaping the benefits.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world 's largest retail enterprise, with total revenue of $421.8 billion and a net income of $16.4 billion in 2011. 1 It is also the world 's largest employer, with 2.1 million employees worldwide in 2010 2, not including workers hired by its providers. In my opinion, Wal-Mart provides a clear illustration through which to look at how many multinational companies (MNCs) take part in an illegal and unethical behavior. They use their bargaining power and market control to pressure countries to overlook environmental degradation and violation of national labor laws. They dictate expected pricing for products, particularly through imports from overseas countries. Labor is fulfilled mostly by underage and underpaid employees. In the United States, since 2005, Wal-Mart has paid about $1 billion in damages to U.S. employees in six different cases related to unpaid work. 3 Furthermore, Wal-Mart opposes any form of collective action, even when employees are not seeking unionization, but simply more respect. 4 The fact that Wal-Mart opposes unions exist. The company has a long history of fighting them, to the point of closing stores after employees organize. Managers have been instructed to talk to their teams about why unions are so unwanted in their business. Overseas, the company was involved in a series of scandals, including multiple cases of bribery. In April 2012, The New York Times published a story that

With around 5000 retail outlets worldwide, operating in more then a dozen countries and with over US$286 billion in annual sales, Wal-Mart is the top retail chain and number one fortune 500 company in the world. Wal-Mart is the top employer in the U.S. with 1.3 million employees, “the company accounts for 9 cents of every US retail dollar and sells around 20 per cent of the nation’s groceries and pharmaceuticals.” (Times News Network).

Walmart is now a trans-national corporation. All such corporations have major problems in the labor front. The reasons are various. Firstly Wal-Mart's motto is to give quality goods at very cheap prices. All its operations are therefore designed to that end. Walmart has suppliers who offer competitive prices. Since the company has to serve various parts of the globe, they have the policy of sticking to the most reasonable prices. Thus the awareness of cost, customers, and need for investing in continuous improvement and the bifurcation of the various retail units to small supplier stores as individual firms have made the company's functions seamless and cost effective. However it cannot be sustained for long and the natural result is that the company looks out for cheap labor and less cost of production and supply units. Thus it regards the labor at the overseas units as lesser and tries to push costs down. Thus it can be seen that in controlling cost and being conscious of costs the company has all along made the labor at the receiving end. (Christopherson; Lillie, 2005)