Walmart Scandal in Mexico

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.

The impact that this could have on society is that fact that the company may lose the integrity and trust from the public. The company stock may drop so therefore the people that own stock will lose some money. What has happened in the company not only will affect the employees but will affect the business because when society gets word of the things that were done, the shopping will stop. Prices might even go up so the consumer will have to purchase less and that will always hurt any business when you stifle how much the customer can buy. The theory that comes to mind would be the goal ethical theory because it seems like the managers or the company was only looking out for the outcomes of the business. This type of concern is so unethical because it affects so many other people. This time the employees were affected and the company acted improperly.

People know and choose Wal-Mart because of its daily low prices. Wal-Mart sells its bargains every opportunity it gets, and convinces customers forgetting about everything except the low prices. Undoubtedly, Wal-Mart is one of the most successful corporations of all time. However, the tremendous success of Wal-Mart certainly comes with a correspondingly massive amount of responsibility. The strategy of low prices usually comes at a deadly unethical cost. Although some of its business practices such as “Low prices, always”, and helping in saving money are ethical, most of its business practices are unethical.

By demanding that all associates lead with integrity in the workplace this means fewer problems for employees or customers. Integrity helps to cover issues dealing with bribery, relationships between employees, and financial integrity. Some social benefits to integrity and honesty are that Wal-Mart reports their financial information without trying to disclose their personal information. This also helps Wal-Mart to make better business choices with accurate financial information. Wal-Mart also believes in free and open trade and will not accept any types of bribes in our country or abroad. This ensures that even overseas Wal-Mart is continuing to remain ethical and fair with trade. Wal-Mart complies with all laws both in the United States and out of the country.

Another moral issue that WalMart has had press on was "Who 's Responsible for the WalMart Mexico Scandal?". This story hit the New York Times in April 2012, expressing that WalMart was included in a pay off in a Mexican auxiliary. It was purportedly said that WalMart

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

Wal-Mart’s management behaves immorally towards its employees. They do not value their employees’ needs, rights, or the labor laws that the US put into place to protect them. Wal-Mart’s low price on everyday household products is what sets them apart from other discount retailers. Their employees help make it possible for them to dominate their competitors in the

The practices of Wal-mart has impacted American workers and our economy in unthinkable ways. Charles Fishman reported that the chain is ‘helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China.” Walmart has doubled its imports from China from 1999 to 2003, buying some 12 billion in merchandise in 2002. Fishman also states that “The giant retailer is at least partly responsible for the low rate of U.S. inflation, and a McKinsey & Co. study concluded that about 12% of the economy's productivity gains in the second half of the 1990s could be traced to Wal-Mart alone.” One way that I as a consumer confront the problems caused by globalization is to shop at local business that do not produce their products in low wage

Business Article: Walmart’s Discounted Ethics The New York Times investigation of Wal-Mart in 2012 found Wal-Mart guilty of paying off Mexican officials over 24 million dollars. The Time Magazine article: “Wal-Mart’s Discounted Ethics” takes a look at Wal-Mart in several corrupt countries where they are developing new stores. The Times investigation found that this was not the time Wal-Mart was unethical, but that in 2006 Walmart was cited in 31 cases of potential corporate crimes across the globe. The Times found that paying off countries is not an odd occurrence in the largest growing areas of the world.

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

In 1962 in Rogers, AR, a man by the name Sam Walton founded the well-known retail store Wal-Mart, dedicated to make a difference in the lives of their customers by offering everyday low prices. (Walmart, 2014). Despite their effort trying to save people money, Wal-Mart has been caught up in some scandals, which has given the company a bad reputation. In 2005 Wal-Mart paid bribes in Mexico to win market dominance and to speed up building permits. It is said that it is difficult to get all the permits needed to open a business without paying off low-level officials. The former Wal-Mart executive gave names, dates and bribe amounts. He knew a lot, he said it was because he had been the lawyer in charge of obtaining construction permits for Wal-Marts in Mexico, which they refer to as Wal-Mart de Mexico. Wal-Mart sent investigators to Mexico City, where they uncovered evidence of widespread bribery. There was a paper trail of

There were several unethical transgressions that took place in the case of the Walmart expansion in Mexico. Walmart resorted to taking advantage of Mexico because its economic system was easy to corrupt. There was bribery, tax evasion, and local labor laws being broken to operate at low cost for more profit.

Unlike Johnson & Johnson, Wal-Mart has not shown a clear and concise message of ‘never again’, but instead have made many moves that just seem calculated. For one, while the Department of Justice has investigated the Wal-Mart bribery case, the company has funded a Chamber of Commerce initiative to roll back certain portions of US bribery laws. In addition, the company has never officially admitted or denied the charges, but instead seemed to hedge its

Businesses should have certain ethical guidelines to enforce manufacturers to adhere to or refuse to do business with these manufacturers if certain standards cannot be met. However, the only thing Wal-Mart is interested in is making a profit and apparently at any cost and in any conditions. There should be more follow through with government regulations and importing of said merchandise to discourage such participation in such practices. While other retailers have assisted to make conditions better in finding solutions to make these factories better for their workers and want to contribute financially to improve the environment, “but Wal-Mart declined to participate in the 2011 in relation to the fire related deaths and injuries, because it would increase the company’s cost documented by Senior Official of Bangladesh’s ministry of Labor and Employment” (Sethi).

U.S. Immigration agents raided over sixty stores in 2003 for alleged use of illegal aliens to clean the stores. The janitorial staff was subcontracted by Walmart, however, it was alleged they had knowledge in the subcontractors use of illegal immigrant labor. Walmart settled by paying an $11MM fine in 2005.