The Adverse Effects of Opening a New Walmart Store in a Small Town: An Argumentative Essay

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)

Wal-Mart is destroying our, as Americans, culture and environment. Wal-Mart destroys little shops from our towns, shops that were built by natives and hard-working people. Shops that overcame hardships and reasonable competition are being torn apart one by one in order not to cause too many people filing bankruptcy. Wetlands in America are not being taken care of, as they should. Wetlands are homes and safety nets for many animals. Wal-Mart has destroyed many wetlands in order to build a store in some town people do not even want there.

Wal-Mart increase completion in the area where it is located and lower prices for all consumers. Without Wal-Mart in these areas, prices will be higher and consumers would pay more. Wal-Mart prevents monopolies from occurring and encourages competition which is a very important principle of capitalism. Even Bruce Bartlett, a former deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the United States Treasury department, talks about the importance of Wal-Mart. He worries that all the backlash and this war against Wal-Mart by critics would negatively affect poor families who relies and needs Wal-Mart (Maich 6). He continues that there is no one representing the people who benefit from Wal-Mart the most, the poor, in these debates. (Maich 6) He concluded that “If you’re stuck with a low income and you can reduce the amount you pay for basic items, then your real income goes up” (Maich 6) This statement shows how Wal-Mart is a necessity for poor people and how it help poor people to save money. Thanks to Wal-Mart people are saving money and could budget more for other items.

Some may claim a Walmarts’ arrival in a community is helpful to improve the growth and development in the community, but others tell a different story. Many claim that a Walmart is great way to create new jobs in the community. They are partially right, between construction and development, plenty of jobs are created. Also, about 300 retail jobs are created based on the amount needed to run a Walmart super center twenty fours a day, seven days a week. However, Kenneth Stone, a professor of economics at Iowa State University, conducted a study in which two Super Walmart centers in two different states were evaluated. The study lasted about two years and showed that for every one job Walmart had created, 1.4 jobs were lost in local communities (Davidson 1). Walmarts’ low prices come with additional costs that we are

d. Does Wal-Mart have any dysfunctions for society? If so, what are they? How might these dysfunctions become incentives or catalysts for social change?

1) Should Wal-Mart be expected to protect small businesses in the communities within which it operates?

Wal-Mart founded in 1962 by Sam Walton is now the largest American retail corporation. With thousands of chains of stores and warehouses Wal-Mart monopolized the American retail industry. In addition, Wal-Mart is the second largest retail corporation in the world employing of two million employees world-wide. As one of the most valuable corporations in the world Wal-Mart continues to improve their sales annually while offering some of the lowest prices available. Wal-Mart’s famous low price guarantee, come at a high expense of the environment, the small businesses, education, the rights and safety of the consumer, but most importantly their employees. Although Wal-Mart has plays a dominate role in American economy, this “American”

They are able to take out valuable facts and information from their own knowledge and from research they were able to accumulate. “families who shop carefully at Wal-mart can actually budget more for investing on children funds or entertainment. And unlike other giant corporations , Wal-mart stores around the country make an attempt to provide a friendly atmosphere by spending money to hire greeters, who are often people who would have difficulty finding any other job.This is a partial solution to shoplifting problems; the solution Kmart applied (“Hey, what's in the bag?”) didn't work as well”(Brad Edmonds and Karen de Coster) This displays logos by staggering us with a factual paragraph stating that if someone really wanted to save money by shopping at Wal-mart they would have to do it carefully and then they would be able to invest on a childs fund for college or be able to save that money by investing it on something else. And Unlike other mom and pop shops Wal-Mart draws you back each time because they hire people that have a more difficult to time finding an ordinary job either because of their criminal records or because of a disability, unlike other stores they have greeters that make Walmart a more hostile environment to shop at. This strengthens her claim because it shows fact about how Wal-mart has a plan to be outgoing and be able to make it.

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?

“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

Not only does Walmart directly affect the economical situation of your community, it also puts significant strain upon the environment we live and depend on. In October of 2004, North America sued Walmart for violating the Clean Water Act CWA in nine states, causing a huge uproar both from the defensive Walmart corporation and more so from the targeted communities. Relying upon a communities oblivion, Walmart takes advantage of the situation in which it's presented, posing a threat to all nearby water supplies because of all the toxins and pesticides literally oozing from Walmart facilities worldwide. Much more costly towards the environment than the tinkling of spare change resounding in our pockets. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a single Walmart location expends countless amounts of energy to maintain,

They turned a small company into one of the largest corporations in the entire world. They have completely redefined what it means to be a big business, and have had many good impacts on society. While this is true, Wal-Mart has not always had the best business practices, receiving many different criticisms over the years. Some criticisms include its relations with people and businesses outside the United States, its role within local communities, and its labor policies and practices. Wal-Mart has always been the superstore that prides itself on lower prices, so much so that it has looked to manufacture in other countries for the cheap labor. Wal-Mart has become so big, that it has stores and plants all over the world. Wal-Mart even does most of its business overseas. “Chinese suppliers, or “partners,” reportedly provide Walmart with about 70 percent of the nearly $420 billion worth of goods that it sells globally each year” (SCHELL). Wal-Mart has even gone as far as to move one of its headquarters to China. Wal-Mart is helping China, and China is helping Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is bringing in lots of jobs and products for the Chinese people to buy, while China is providing everything Walmart needs to keep growing as rapidly as they are. Wal-Mart is one of the worst offenders of the global sweatshop problem, and because of this they had lots of criticism of their labor policies and practices. Wal-Mart is not a

 Illustrates low prices and at the same time, not portray a cheap image to consumer.

Wal-Mart is the world's largest retail and departmental store chain. Having business operations in 27 countries with 69 different brand names, Wal-Mart is able to serve a huge number of customers per day. Wal-Mart is the fastest growing and the most successful retail brand in the world. The factors which make it the strongest brand in its industry include large customer base, sound financial strength, strong brand image, and huge supply chain network. Wal-Mart has certain weaknesses in its operations and business setup like low acceptability of certain products, high employee turnover, and less recognition of newly introduced brands. These weaknesses can be overcome by availing attractive opportunities from the market and investing more in the most profitable areas. Wal-Mart faces the biggest threat from its competitors and ever-changing customer preferences.

Wal-Mart is certainly credited with changing the retail world as we know it with its low prices and big stores with huge selections but it has come at a price. They have struggled with issues that question the ethics as a company and legal issues that question how they manage people. These issues will continue to hurt their organization unless a complete change in management thinking and actions are changed. As a socially responsible organization, their management planning in this area is second to none. Lets hope they take the same effort in improving their image when it comes to ethics and legal issues.