Essay Wal-Mart

(3) In an effort to replace foreign- sourced goods sold at Wal-Mart stores with American-made ones, Wal-Mart developed its “Buy American” program. By 1989, the company estimated it had converted or retained over $1.7 billion in retail purchases that would have been placed or produced offshore, and created or retained over 41,000 jobs for the American work force.

In 1962, Wal-Mart opened their first store in Rogers, Arkansas. In 1970, Wal-Mart's first distribution center and home office in Bentonville, Ark. open and Wal-Mart went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Just nine years from that, Wal-Mart's annual sales exceeded one billion dollars. In 1988, Wal-Mart super centers opened across the country. In a merely three years from that, Wal-Mart opened their own store in Mexico City, Mexico; making Wal-Mart an international corporation. Not even sixty years has past, and yet, Wal-Mart is over-powering our country.

Wal-Mart, the multi-billion company and the second largest employer in the world, is the most controversial corporation in the world. Wal-Mart is a global powerhouse and affects many people around the world. Wal-Mart is constantly getting attacked from unions, human rights groups, small towns and small businesses. Wal-Mart is accused of treating their workers poorly and driving small businesses out of business. But however these accusations are false or over exaggerated. Wal-Mart offers families and low income people quality products. Also, they pay their workers competitive wages and treat them with respect. Wal-Mart opens their stores in rural and under developed areas. Wal-Mart improves the lives of the people who live rural area and

Environmental Studies is the academic field, which systematically studies human interaction with the environment in which we live in. It is a broad field of study that includes the natural environment, built environment, and the sets of relationships between them. Environmental studies takes into account many different factors that help provide an enjoyable, fruitful way of life, such as national policies, politics, laws, economics, sociology and other social aspects, planning, pollution control, natural resources, and the interactions of human beings and nature.

Its size, power, and low prices are what make Walmart so helpful to America. So why do some people think that Walmart is so bad for the American people? Many people believe that this is a true debate. Everyone has his or her own point of view. If you think about it, is Walmart really good for America? Walmart has made many changes since it was first opened in 1962, by Sam Walton. By August 31, 2014 there were 11,095, retail Walmart stores and there were 642 Sam's Club's. After going over all the facts, Walmart is good for America.

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

Wal-Mart Corporation is one of the largest retail stores in the world. They serve customers in meeting their needs with low cost saving items. On October 31, 1962, Wal-Mart was founded and incorporated by Sam Walton in Bentonville, Arkansas. Mr. Walton went into business because he felt that items sold were too high for the average customer to afford. His focus was to sell products at low prices to get higher volume sales at a lower profit margin. He bought bulk products from different suppliers so he could incorporate savings into his pricing to lower cost for customers. Under the savings cost concept, Wal-Mart grew rapidly and surpassed its competitors in sales and generating profits.

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. The position Wal-Mart holds gives the company a large responsibility to contribute to the community that supports the stores. As an organization Wal-Mart owes its success to the stake holders of their business. Wal-Mart requires the community to continue business operations, Trevino and Nelson state that “a major stakeholder in business must be the communities of which corporations and other organizations are a part” (2011). Wal-Mart must consider the community happiness with their business decisions to remain profitable.

“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

Being such a large company with many stores and employees Wal-Mart faces many issues. Some of the issues the retail giant faces are; wages, gender discrimination, and health benefits. It seems too many that Wal-Marts has lost its way. When the recession hit Wal-Mart laid off many of its employees and because of that consumers feel the shelves are not being restock and they can’t find what they are looking for. According to Bloomberg Business Week Wal-Mart went from having 343 employees in a store in 2008 to 301 employees in a store in 2013. Even though the employee cut seems logical it is costing the retail giant business. There is no man power to keep the shelves stock and give customers the great customer service that Sam Walton envisioned. (Bloomberbusinessweek)

“Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production; and the interest of the producer ought to be attended to only so far as it may be necessary for promoting that of the consumer...” Adam Smith. Wal-Mart is a producer who has the sole purpose of promoting consumption of the consumer. Wal-Mart and its quest for capital improvement are playing a major and vital role in the evolution of economic life. Wal-Mart brings positive change to towns in the U.S. They increase competition between retailers, stimulating the economy, and they also bring more capital and tax revenue to at town, some of which desperately need a positive change.

Most full-time employees work up to 35 hours or more a week. By working that long, proper health care benefits are needed. Looking at Wal-Mart 's website, they listed about ten health and well-being benefits, while Costco lists about four. That seems like a big difference and shows that working in Wal-Mart is great when it comes to health care benefits, but that is not true if someone worked part-time. In 2014, Wal-Mart had "announced that it would eliminate health benefits for part-time employees working less than an average of 30 hours a week – or about 30,000 workers" (Berman). 30,000 may not seem like a significant number, but that is still a lot of people not receiving any health care benefits. That is why Costco is "widely praised for the way it treats its workers, and the decision to keep health benefits will likely solidify that reputation…" (Berman). "The company provides health coverage for employees working an average

Sam Walton founded Walmart in 1962. He was a businessman who started working in retail in 1940 at a J.C. Penney store in Des Moines, Iowa. In 1945, he ran a retail store in Newport, Arkansas, part of a chain of variety stores named Ben Franklin. Instead of renewing his lease, however, he decided to open a new Ben Franklin franchise in Bentonville, Arkansas and called it “Walton’s Five and Dime.” He succeeded by selling at a discount. Walmart’s purpose best exemplifies what the company still stands for today:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the largest corporation in the world that specializes in selling goods at the lowest possible price. Having low prices attracts more customers and results in an increase in total profits even though, the markup per product is at bare minimum (Press 2004). Walmart’s products include food, beverages, home products, personal care products, toys, clothing, electronics, and much more (Walmart 2016). Walmart’s stock of such a large variety of products makes it one of most useful retail company for an everyday consumer. This and the willingness to expand and innovate is probably why Walmart is so successful today.

2. Do you agree with Wal-Mart’s entry strategy? From a cross-cultural perspective, what are the inherent risks? Do you think that a faster market entry would be more effective?