Preview

Walmart

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
6499 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Walmart
WAL-MART

Group Report

Submitted To:
Jian Guan
MGT802
Ryerson University
April 2, 2008

Submitted By:
Lalit Kalra
Miri Kwun
Galant Lee
Muruhendran Mahendran
Jani Theiventhiran

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction 3
Wal-Mart and Wages 4 - 7
- Basic Facts
- Ethical Issues
- Alternatives
- Recommendations

Wal-Mart and Gender Discrimination 7 - 10
- Basic Facts
- Ethical Issues
- Alternatives
- Recommendations

Wal-Mart and Sweatshops 11 - 14
- Basic Facts
- Ethical Issues
- Alternatives
- Recommendations

Wal-Mart and Community Impact 14 - 18
- Basic Facts
- Ethical Issues
- Alternatives
- Recommendations

Lawsuits 18 - 21

Impact on Stakeholders 22

References 23

INTRODUCTION

The first Wal-Mart store was opened in Rogers Arkansas in the Year 1962. From Wal-Mart’s company website a common misconception people have in regards to discount retailing is put to rest. That being this was the year it all started, When Kmart, Target, and Wal-Mart first opened. In actuality however, the chain of variety stores Sam Walton owned during the 1950’s faced stiff competition for many regional discount stores. In 1972, Wal-Mart stock was offered for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange. With this infusion of capital, the company grew to 276 stores in 11 states by the end of the decade. Also from the company’s official website, it is important to note that in 1983 the first Sam’s Club members-warehouse store opened. The first Supercenter opened in 1988, featuring a complete grocery, and 36 departments of general merchandise. By 1989, there were 1,402 Wal-Mart stores and 123 Sam’s Club locations. Employment had increased tenfold. Sales had grown from $1 billion in 1980, to $26 billion. Wal-Mart’s company website states that Today, 7,262 stores and club locations in 14 markets employ more than 1.9 million associates,



References: REFERENCES Basker, Emek (2005) Beaver William. (2005). Battling Wal-Mart: How Communities Can Respond. Business Society Review, 110:2, 159-169 Bianco, Anthony Bloomberg (2005). Wal-Mart Didn 't Act on Internal Sex-Bias Alert. Documents Show.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Wal-Mart

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Wal-Mart’s total assets increased by 7,277 million from 2009 to 2010. Similarly, the total liabilities of Wal-Mart have increased 1,427 million from 2009 to 2010.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wal-Mart Research Paper

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The first Wal-Mart store was opened on July 2nd 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas by Sam Walton, who believed that the future of retailing lay in discounting. To avoid competing head on with companies like Sears and Woolworths which dominated big cities, Walton opened stores in less populated areas that was ignored by other retailers. The stores aimed to serve customers who, up until then, had to travel long distances to save money, and to purchase daily household goods. Now they could buy the same goods cheaply at home. This positioning proved to be critical to Wal-Mart’s success in the years to come as it expanded underneath its competitors radar screens to earn substantial market size. (Farhoomand, 2005)…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walmart History

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In 1962, Walton opened the first Wal-Mart store, Wal-Mart Discount City and within five years the company expanded to 24 stores across the state of Arkansas and reached $12.6 million in sales. In 1968, it opened its first stores outside Arkansas, in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.[4]…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wal Mart

    • 1969 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Wal-Mart is an American multinational retail corporation and one of the leading discount department retail stores (Wikipedia). It is the highest- grossing company in the United States (Fortune 2008a), and is by far one of the most successful companies worldwide. Wal-Mart offers a place to buy the majority of our goods under one roof like electronics, furniture, clothing, pharmacy, sports, food, books etc. Wal-Mart sells good at lower price than the others and this is even shown by its slogan “save money, live better”. It drives out smaller and sometimes even the expensive stores out of business due to its lower prices. Wal-Mart provides jobs for thousands of people in the society including the low-skilled people. It represents a trend of one stop shopping where we can get almost everything that we want.…

    • 1969 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The issues in this case revolve around social responsibility. Although the company’s initial ideals were based on providing a better alternative to price-fixing local businesses, Wal-Mart has taken the right to choose away from the consumer. Wal-Mart provides a very desirable situation for the consumer that is looking for the lowest prices. But for the employees of the company, which may have no other option but to be employed there, they are not receiving the same consideration. The reduced wages and lack of competitive benefits is a sign of negligence on social responsibility. Wal-Mart also has the power to strip a community of its independence and character. Not only do they strip the community of the businesses that have shaped the community for many years, they create structures that tower over the unique architecture of the community by erecting unsightly and value lowering structures. Can you imagine how hard it is to sell a house that is next door to a Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart attempts to tap into any market that is lacking one of their stores. Establishing stores in communities that lack the infrastructure, building in elite communities, and creating a need where the need is not desired are all examples of Wal-Mart’s socially irresponsible…

    • 1532 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wal-Mart Epic Idea Essay

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The year the birth of discount retailing began. The chain of variety stores that Sam Walton owned during the 1950’s faced stiff competition from the many regional discount stores. Before the opening of Wal-Mart, Mr. Walton traveled the country studying just about everything about discount retailing. He noticed that American consumers wanted a fresh new type of store. Acting on instinct, Sam and his wife Helen invested about 95 percent of their income into their first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas. In 1972, many other discounters expanded, yet Wal-Mart only opened 15 stores. Later, Wal-Mart stock was offered to the New York Stock Exchange. With the infusion of capital, the company then grew to 216 stores in 11 states by the end of the decade. By the year of 1981, there were 1402 Wal-Mart stores. Employment had increased tenfold; sales had grown from 1 billion in 1980, to 26 billion. Today, 8416 stores and club locations have been opened. Wal-Mart employs more than 2.1 million associates, serving more than 176 million customers a year. Wal-Mart is a perfect example of how to manage growth without losing sight of your…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Wal-Mart Strategic Analysis

    • 2316 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Bibliography: 12. Thompson, Arthur A. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.: A New Set of Challenges. The McGraw-Hill Companies. 2004. P. 180-205.…

    • 2316 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sam Walton opened the firs Walmart in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas with the foundation being that it would offer “The Lowest Prices Anytime, Anywhere” (Walmart Corporate, 2014c), and by 1967 it had over 24 stores and $12.7 million in sales. By 1969, the company was officially incorporated and offered an initial public offering to raise funds to build a distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas (Johnson & Mark, 2013, p. 3).…

    • 3997 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Starting out with a single store in Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart has not stopped expanding. The First Wal-Mart store was opened in 1962 by a Mr. Sam Walton. He opened the store with one intention: sell products people need at the lowest price available. Wal-Mart has since blown up into a globally known and used corporation. Currently, more than fifty percent of all Americans live within five miles of a Wal-Mart store, which is less than a ten mile drive away. Ninety percent of Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart. (Fishman, 2006). Wal-Mart is bordering on 9000 locations worldwide including operations in Mexico, United Kingdom, Japan, and India.…

    • 3172 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assignment About Wal-Mart

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Nowadays, Wal-Mart is quite common in our daily life and it also impacts us unconsciously, such as the shopping habits. Although this global chain supermarket asserts that they bring positive effect on the area where they located in and commissioned the consulting firm Global Insight to write a report in order to prove their point, some people still distrust it. For example, Jared Bernstein and L. Josh Bivens had composed a brief named “The Wal-Mart debate a false choice between prices and wages” in 2006 to doubt the Wal-Mart’s claim. Moreover, Irwin, E.G., and Clark, J’s research about the local costs and benefits of Wal-Mart is also supply some evidence.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walmart

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1. Do you believe Walmart is engaging in predatory pricing with its $4 generic drug program? Why or why not?…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Wal-Mart

    • 4912 Words
    • 20 Pages

    Expected Contribution This research paper will ascertain whether the factors such as labour issues, cultural differences, and logistics and supply chain issues in South Africa and Chile will stall WalMart’s success in these countries or not; and if they do, how will they impact its operations and growth in these countries. This will serve as a good learning for any global retail player planning to foray into any similar new emerging world market.…

    • 4912 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Best Essays

    Walmart

    • 4726 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Wailgum, T. (2007). 45 years of wal-mart history: a technology time line. CIO Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.cio.com/article/147005/45_Years_of_Wal_Mart_History_A_Technology_Ti me_Line…

    • 4726 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bibliography: Clark, Michael (Unknown). Michael Clark 's Arkansas Memory Project. Retrieved February 25, 2007, from Michael Clark 's Arkansas Memory Project Web site: http://asms.k12.ar.us/armem/clark/index3.htm Govindarajan, Vijay (2002). Retrieved February 25, 2007, from http://mba.tuck.dartmouth.edu/cgl/downloads/20013_WalmartCase.pdf Web site: HRDM, (Unknown). Wal-Marts Culture Stories. Retrieved February 25, 2007, from HRDM FORUM Web site: http://www.hrdm.net/en/wal-mart.htm "News," "About Wal-Mart," and "Investor Relations"." Wal-mart Facts. February 24, 2007. 25 Feb 2007 http://www.walmartfacts.com/default.aspx. Vance, Sandra. Wal-Mart. 'A History of Sam Walton 's Retail Phenomenon '. New York: Twayne Publishing, 1994 Zaba, (2004).The Hidden Public Costs of Law-wage Jobs in California. University of California, Berkeley. 142. Unknown, (2007, 01 29). OUT IN FRONT. Retrieved February 26, 2007, from www.walmartfacts.com Web site: http://www.walmartfacts.com/FactSheets/1292007_WalMart__Out_in_Front_.pdf Media (Unknown). WAL-MART STORES, INC. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE GUIDELINES. Retrieved February 26, 2007, from media.corporate-ir.net Web site: http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/IROL/11/112761/corpgov/corpgovguidelines.pdf Wal-Mart (Unknown). Sam 's Rules For Business Building. Retrieved February 23, 2007, from walmartstores.com Web site: http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=255 Unknown, (2007). My Home. Retrieved February 22, 2007, from Walmartstores.com Web site: http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=608…

    • 11565 Words
    • 47 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Walmart China

    • 12431 Words
    • 50 Pages

    Summer was making its picture-perfect debut in New South Wales that day in October 2011, but Mr Greg Foran hardly noticed. Newly hired away from his role as head of Australia’s leading supermarket chain, Woolworth’s Supermarket Division, he was set to work as a senior vice president at Wal-Mart International, the fastest growing division of the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Corporation. However, what exactly he would be doing was still open to discussion. It was not until the sudden and somewhat mysterious departure of Mr Ed Chan, the president of Wal-Mart China, that Foran’s new role suddenly emerged. That Australian summer, far from the approaching winter back in Bentonville, Arkansas, Wal-Mart’s corporate headquarters in the United States, Foran tried to learn more about why Chan had resigned after only four years at Wal-Mart China’s helm. China promised Wal-Mart a market potential like none seen since the company’s own monumental growth and retail dominance in the United States decades earlier. Was it the pork-labelling probe that temporarily shut all 13 of Wal-Mart’s stores in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing (not to mention the detaining of over two dozen employees) nine days earlier that forced Chan’s departure? Or was it the resignations, only five months earlier, of Chan’s chief financial officer and his chief operating officer? Although all the executives cited “personal reasons”, the financial media suggested that it was Wal-Mart International’s plans to introduce its Every Day Low Price (“EDLP”) pricing strategy in China that prompted the resignations. But how could such a successful model for cost reduction be viewed as negative in the Middle Kingdom? Foran found out the answers to many of his questions when, five months later, in early February 2012, Mr Scott Price, then president and CEO of Wal-Mart Asia and the interim CEO for Wal-Mart China, announced Foran’s…

    • 12431 Words
    • 50 Pages
    Good Essays