Essay Walmart Case Study

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)

Karen Olsson believes that Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer company, under pays their employees for the amount of work they do daily. They do not offer good working conditions for their employees or enough medical benefits to support themselves and their families. Sebastian Mallaby says that Wal-Mart is not wrong for the way that they run their business; he feels as though Wal-Mart does their consumers a favor by keeping the wages low and offering “low prices” (620). It’s just business! They have to do what it takes to remain the world’s top retailer and continue to, “enrich shareholders, and put rivals out of business” (620). Karen Olsson and Sebastian Mallaby both address the topic of big

In “Labouring the Wal-Mart Way”, Deenu Parmar discusses Wal-Mart’s poor business practices and mistreating of their employees. Parmar is biased in that she focuses primarily on the negative aspects of Wal-Mart and discusses mostly from the employees’ point of view. The essay attempts to sway people to stop shopping at Wal-Mart because the author portrays it as unethical by focusing on the poor wages, anti-unionization, and paying off charges instead of properly addressing the laws being broken. Parmar does point out that people will continue to shop at Wal-Mart, seemingly guilt-tripping those who do shop there. The whole article relies heavily on an emotional appeal, which forces the reader to sympathize for the employees of the company without

A corporation as wealthy and powerful as Wal-Mart should invest in the communities and environments that it inhabits, but because it isn’t profitable for them Wal-Mart, the company that claims to be in the interest of the American people, neglects them.

Ethics, in business, refers to moral principles and standards that define acceptable behavior in the world of business. Ethical decisions foster trust among individuals and in business relationships. Recognizing ethical issues is important in the workplace. An ethical issue is an identifiable problem requiring a person or organization to choose from among several actions that may be evaluated as ethical or unethical. When you’re determining is a situation is ethical or not, there are three factors to take into consideration. Individual factors, organizational factors, and opportunity. Individual factors are sets of principles that describe what a person believes are the right way to behave. Organizational factors include the influence of managers, coworkers, and the work group. Opportunity is a set of conditions that punish unfavorable behavior or reward favorable behavior. “Target thrives on competing to win in the marketplace. We compete and negotiate actively, but always with integrity. Taking advantage of anyone by manipulating or concealing

During the last 20 years, Wal-Mart has moved into many areas wiping out all the stores around causing people to loose jobs, slashing the tax base and causing many more disturbing problems to neighborhoods so people should stop supporting Wal-Mart for many of these reasons. Always low prices, does this sound familiar? Well this would be the slogan of the world’s most controlling company; Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart grew over the years into a 256 billion dollar company after making its name across the world in 1915. The major problem with Wal-Mart is that it maintains its own mini-economy. Some people believe Wal-Mart supports the American economy while most others hold that Wal-Mart’s global outsourcing will and has

Former bureau chief for the Economist, Sebastian Mallaby writes in defense of a large retailer in his essay, Progressive Wal-Mart. Really. Through his essay he explains that through the continual campaigns against the large corporation, Wal-Mart has been and still remains a benefit to working Americans seeking affordable goods. He elaborates on the crusade of Anti-Wal-Mart campaigns looking to paint the business as a detestable parasite, when all the company has done is keep costs low and earnings for its shareholders high while trying to defeat competitors, just as any company would.

The largest corporation in America with $378,799 million in revenues and employing 2,055,000 employees, Wal-Mart has become one of the greatest success stories in American history, but also one of the most controversial stories since Standard Oil (Fortune). But with all big business comes critics. Today’s critics suggest Wal-Mart unfairly uses it power of size, which is goliath, to exploit employees and impoverish nations, ruin competition, and place undue pressure on the government. However, one item most critics fail to mention is that Wal-Mart creates consumer welfare. Throughout this paper, I will analyze each criticism of Wal-Mart and sufficiently cite evidence proving the greater good that is realized with

Before walking into Walmart, the customers are guaranteed the lowest prices on every item. How can that possibly be? How can this corporation knock out its competition in every department? The answer is quite simple: Walmart is able to drop the ethics of society, pay the lowest wages, and cut the largest crucial corners to offer items for cheaper. In "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Wages", Robert Greenwald offers a completely valid argument. As a community, state, country, or world, is society educated and aware of what Walmart does to create products for dollars less? In the movie, Greenwald explains the impacts of Walmart on its employees, on farmers, on business owners, on factory workers, and, most importantly, on families. Through the use of the three rhetorical appeals (logos, ethos, and pathos), Greenwald was able to grab his audience and, ultimately, show the devastation brought to global society through the development of the Walmart Corporation.

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

Whether it's a brand new 59” LCD widescreen television or merely a pack of gum, each purchase you make from a Walmart store inadvertently results in a higher price paid; both within your community as well as the greater world around you. Relying entirely upon you-the ever consuming scavenger – to fuel the bustling utopia of the manufacturing industry, exists Walmart. More importantly, Walmart relies upon the oblivion towards matters outside of our own lives that we as society generally project. However, by looking past our own greed in a world full of price cuts and sales, we can expose Walmart for what it truly is; an entirely corrupt corporation feeding off of countries' vulnerabilities and reaping the benefits.

Over the past twenty years one company has dominated the discount retailer market. It has been hailed as the most admired company in America twice in the past five years by Fortune magazine. As of 2006 the company employed 1.6 million people that worked in one of their 6200 facilities worldwide. Despite this company’s unmatched success, it has been demonized by many in American culture, often being depicted as a destroyer of small business and the symbol of corporate greed. The company that I am referring to is Wal-Mart. No matter if you are an advocate or adversary of Wal-Mart and their business model, one thing must be mutually understood: They have mastered

Business ethics, social, and environmental guidelines frame the expectations of an organization's stakeholders including customers, employees, and regulatory bodies. An organization's ethical guidelines encompass how the organization and its employees embody ethical principles in their dealings, with each other, and other stakeholders. Therefore, Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Farrell (2008) have defined Business ethics as "The principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business" (p.6). In many situations, individuals must incorporate their personal ethics to match those of the organization's ethical culture. For this reason, business ethics theory indicates that an organization's ethics are evident in its organizational mission and vision (Hummels & Timmer, 2004). This is because the mission and vision determine organizational structure and culture, and thereby organizational and individual behavior.

1. What is the ethical dilemma facing Wal-Mart in this case ? Do Wal-Mart’s associates also face an ethical dilemma? If so, what is it ?