The Walmart de Mexico Scandal Essay

The author Robert Solomon argues that ethics has to an integral part with regard to business management. He does not believe that business management must include unethical or illegal methods to be able to succeed. Solomon preaches that business management is not as simple as obtaining revenue. “Businesses need to abide by fair policies and their owners have to be ethical in dealing with their customers” (Shaw p. 37). The author acknowledges that while illegal practices in business management could bring positive results at first, eventually the business is bound to fail. This is why Solomon recommended eight important policies that can help businesses in integrating ethics into their operations.

In the corporate world, everything is a competition. With so many companies fighting to be on top, do some ethical dilemmas get slid under the rug? In 1991 Walmart opened its first international store in Mexico City. Since then, Walmart has rapidly taken over the supercenter industry employing 2.3 million associates worldwide and ending the fiscal year of 2016 with a total revenue of $485.9 billion. (Walmart, Inc.). How has Walmart been able to grow so much so quickly? Ever since the Wal-Mart de Mexico’s bribery scandal that surfaced in 2005, the company has been under fire for allowing such illegal acts to take place. It’s first important to understand how Walmart got involved in the bribes, how corporate dealt with the allegations when they became aware of them, and then discuss ways in which Walmart can improve their policies and practices to make sure that this undesired behavior doesn’t happen again.

The company uses foreign labor, including child workers, and sweatshops. This creates a hard life for those who are forced to meet Walmart’s needs. The company has been accused of paying officials in foreign companies in order to keep many details silent. But, we cannot know if those allegations are

First, it is important to define ethics and how its components play an extensive role in our society. The term ethics is defined as “Moral principles that govern a person 's behaviour or the conducting of an activity.” (Oxford); ethical decisions are the ones that per se determine whether or not murder is wrong. Likewise, ethics consists of different ramifications and perspectives from many philosophers. Moreover,

Wal-Mart’s practices can be seen to be unethical due to the effect it has had, predominately on factory workers, and manufacturers, but also other citizens in the United States as well. However, the benefits that China and some other countries have reaped due to the massive amounts of revenue that Wal-Mart and other companies

Wal-Mart would rather bribe factories money to move on and brush it under the carpet instead of taking responsibility for their involvement. So, one would have to think this is not due to the lack of knowledge of the practices in the factories, but the choice to ignore and not care of these practices. In 2012, Wal-Mart choose to “make payments to Mexican officials of more than $24 million noted by The New York Times and in Asia there were 90 reports within a year and half period” (Sethi) to cover situations up demonstrating that money talks.

Mars, formally the chief administrative officer for Wal-Mart in the United States, stepped down. Jose Luiz Rodriquezmacedo Rivera, once the general counsel at Wal-Mart’s Mexican division, quietly left the company. And H. Lee Scot Jr., who was Wal-Mart’s chief executive, will retire from the board. These men belong to the list of executives from the uppermost reaches of Wal-Mart’s management who held critical positions when corruption scandals engulfed the company’s

Ethics is the system of rules that governs the ethical systems of values. In class, we defined four universal principles of ethics: universalism, egoism, utilitarianism, relativism, and virtue ethics. Of the four listed above, I agree with the utilitarianism concept. Utilitarianism is an ethical system stating that the greatest good for the number should be the overriding concern of decision makers. I believe of the four approaches, utilitarianism is the best option for multiple reasons. It makes the decision-maker appear and act selflessly, work for the greater good, and ultimately listen to the majority of the individuals they are representing by doing what they ask/request.

The first Wal-Mart was opened on July 2, 1962 in Rogers Arkansas. Wal-Mart since then has now opened their stores in 27 different countries outside the United States. Walmart has had problems in their business. One of the major problems Walmart has had is it’s low wages to their employees. Another problem is Wal-Mart has violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which has caused them to pay millions of dollars. Last of all, in recent studies it has shown that were a Walmart is build has a correlation with crimes. Walmart has had questionable ethical business practices in their stores.

Ethics and ethical behaviors are the essential parts of healthy management. From a management perspective, behaving ethically is an integral part of long-term career success. Wide access to information and more business opportunities than in the past qualifies ethics as a key necessity in business world. Management ethics is the ethical treatment of employees, stockholders, owners and the public by a company in a fair manner. A company should have commendable ethics in place besides striving to make profits. In other words, employees should be treated well, whether they are employed in their hometown, country or overseas. By being respectful of the environment in the community a company demonstrates exceptional ethics. Excellent record keeping also play a pivotal role since this acts as a respectful gesture towards stakeholders and owners. Furthermore, it

Wal-Mart took action in defending its image. In 2005 the company launched an internal investigation that dug into the operations of Wal-Mart de Mexico. The reports put

In 1962 Wal-Mart Inc. was founded by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas. Mr. Walton desire was that “true leadership depends on willing service” which became the foundation that Walmart was built upon. Not to mention how that is main reason why the business has been successful in the past fifty years. Having a business which sold products that were lower in price and offered great services was the advantage point of why Walmart has been so widespread. One special reason why Mr. Walton had a difference perspective in running Walmart was that he depended upon his associates and the relationship he created with them shaped much of the achievement in the business. He started building Walmart in small towns not considering what other people told him

Walmart is under investigation for the allegations of bribery carried out by executives in Mexico eager to boost the company’s growth in that Market. The New York Times was first to break the story describing the Mexican scandal as “a prolonged struggle within the company that pitted its much publicized commitment to the highest moral and ethical standards against its relentless pursuit of growth”.

Wal-Mart emerged in the early 1960’s as a one-stop shop, advertising everyday low prices. The idea quickly took off and expanded beyond the original store in Arkansas to all across the U.S. by the 1980’s. People loved the convenience Wal-Mart provided, eliminating multiple trips to different stores and saving time. They also saved money by shopping here, so it was an obvious choice for many consumers to shop at and support Wal-Mart. But behind their low prices and convenience, a more sinister motive exists. The true price of big business like this is unfair wages, unethical practices, destruction of the environment and damage to local companies.

Due to the increase of public awareness in the recent years, a company needs to maintain its moral image. This has also led to the governments all over the world becoming more vigilant in their regulation of these organizations. Government restriction, taxes and environmentally sensitive areas are some of the biggest and most expensive hindrances faced by business organizations, costing them millions of dollars. For some cases, it becomes too expensive for companies to be ethical in tackling various obligations. This forces them to change their approach and look for alternative actions.