Preview

BEG Assignment 2 1 1

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2562 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
BEG Assignment 2 1 1
Table of Contents
Summary of Case 2
Question 1 3
Question 2 3
Question 3 5
Question 4 6
Question 5 7
Question 6 8
References 10

Summary of Case

This is a case study on Wal-Mart in which it emphasizes on the ethical question being practiced by Wal-Mart. It will cover ranging from the affected stakeholders such as customers, employees, community, and suppliers to the stockholders perspectives. The employee experiences the ethical problems of Wal-Mart as they are forced to work off the clock without pay. This has also affected the tax-paying community as well as the government in term of poverty. The suppliers also had to put up with Wal-Mart, as it is a strong market leader and influencer in the world. As a result, they have the utmost power in choosing the right supplier, which can offer them the cheapest products compared to others as Wal-Mart focuses on its cost-cutting policy.

Question 1

According to Sethi (2013), Wal-Mart is the largest retail enterprise in the world with the total profits of 421.8 billion and a net income of $16.4 billion in 2011. In relation, it is also the world’s largest employer, hiring around 2.1 million employees worldwide in 2010.

The managerial philosophy of Wal-Mart can be described as low prices and they have been using this strategy until today as reflected in their marketing campaign of “Everyday low prices”. The main goal of Wal-Mart is to obtain low retail prices by leveraging its buying power as the world greatest, retailer and by controlling labour costs.

Walmart stated several values that the company follows and portrays itself as a business that was built upon a foundation of honesty, respect, fairness and integrity. In addition, the principles that are followed by Walmart, are: respect for individuals, service to customer, and striving for excellence. These are also known as the basic beliefs recognized by the founder, Sam Walton.

Principles Involved lea
Honesty
Respect
Fairness


References: Greenhouse, S. and Abelson, R. (2011). Wal-Mart Cuts Some Health Care Benefits. New York Times, 20. Moldoff, R. (2002). SAVE OUR LAND, SAVE OUR TOWNS/STORE WARS: WHEN WAL-MART COMES TO TOWN. American Planning Association. Journal of the American Planning Association, 68(3). Mufson, S. (2010). In China, Wal-Mart presses suppliers on labor, environmental standards. Washing Post. [online] Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2010/02/26/AR2010022606757.html. [Accessed 16 Jul. 2014]. Neumark, D., Zhang, J. and Ciccarella, S. (2007). The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets. [online] Papers.ssrn.com. Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=958704. [Accessed 15 Jul. 2014]. Norman, A. (2014). New York study says retailer will kill 14,000 jobs. [online] Available at: http://walmartwatch.org/blog/archives/new- york-study-says-retailer-will-kill-14000-jobs/. [Accessed 15 Jul. 2014]. Peteraf, M. (1993). The cornerstones of competitive advantage: A resource-based view. Strategic management journal, 14(3), pp.179--191. Pubadvocate.nyc.gov, (2014). News & Press | Public Advocate. [online] Available at: http://pubadvocate.nyc.gov/news/2011-01- 11/new-study-wal-mart-means-fewer-jobs-less-small-businesses-more- burden-taxpayers. [Accessed 15 Jul. 2014]. Ramcigar.com, (2005). University of Rhode Island (The Good 5 Cent Cigar) News and Classifieds. [online] Available at: http://ramcigar.com [Accessed 17 Jul. 2014]. seattlepi.com, (2014). Wal-Mart 's women -- employees and customers -- in unhealthy relationship. [online] Available at: http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/205768_focus02.html. [Accessed 15 Jul. 2014]. Sethi, S. (2013). The World of Wal-Mart. [online] Carnegiecouncil.org. Available at: http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/publications/ethics_online/0081 [Accessed 15 Jul. 2014]. Sichel, W. and Eckstein, P. (1974). Basic economic concepts. 1st ed. Chicago: Rand McNally College Pub. Co. Wakeupwalmart.com, (2007). Making Change at Walmart. [online] Available at: http://wakeupwalmart.com [Accessed 17 Jul. 2014]. Walmartstores.com, (2014) Watch, Wal-Mart, (2007). Issues and Suppliers Relationships. [online] Available at: http://walmartwatch.com/issues/supplier_relationships/. [Accessed 15 Jul. 2014].
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Karen Olsson’s Up Against Wal-Mart
    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Karen Olsson’s Up Against Wal-Mart

    In “Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson, she finds the truth about how Wal-Mart treats its customers and more importantly how the million dollar company treats its employees. In this essay, Olsson strongly believes that Wal-Mart keeps its stores understaffed and their employees overworked and underpaid, with minimal options for reasonable benefits.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Up Against Walmart By Karen Olsson Summary
    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Up Against Walmart By Karen Olsson Summary

    Olsson argues that Wal-Mart employees are underpaid and cannot survive with the paychecks they receive from the corporation. She points out that “[g]iven its staggering size and rapid expansion, Wal-Mart increasingly sets the standard for wages and benefits throughout the U.S. economy.” Olsson quotes Greg Denier who says, “Americans can’t live on a Wal-Mart paycheck,” (Olsson 608). The average paycheck for an hourly worker at Wal-Mart is under $20,000 while the corporation brings in over $6.5 billion in profits. Olsson suggests that the average employee of Wal-Mart struggles living on the hourly wages at Wal-Mart with very few benefits (608). On the other hand, Mallaby expresses that these same Wal-Mart employees that are receiving low wages are receiving Wal-Marts’ every day low prices as a benefit. He accompanies this idea by saying, “Retail workers may take home less pay, but their purchasing power probably still grows thanks to Wal-Mart’s low prices” (Mallaby 622). He agrees that Wal-Mart retail workers do make less money, but also points out the benefit of the low prices that Wal-Mart has to offer on a daily basis and says, “[t]hese gains are especially important to poor and moderate-income families” (Mallaby 621). Wal-Mart is a superstore that drives its prices down lower than its competitors in order to make the best deals on products for their consumers,…

    • 1246 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Up Against Wal-Mart - Assignment
    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Up Against Wal-Mart - Assignment

    The article “Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson is the detailed explanation of how Wal-Mart treats their customers and more importantly how the million dollar company treats their employees. Olson kicks off the article by telling a story about Jennifer McLaughlin, who is a twenty-two year old Wal-Mart employee. She goes on to explain the daily work tasks that she completes. She complains how Wal-Mart runs their business, and also how terrible the company treats her as an employee. Jennifer is forced to work over time, is underpaid and also treated unfairly. Employees say that they cannot say no after being asked to work off the clock. The workers at Wal-Mart also started to try to create a union which highly concerned Wal-Mart. A union at Wal-Mart was never formed due to the company’s anti-union group that was started and created by Wal-Mart. In ten separate cases, Nation Labor Relations Board has ruled that Wal-Mart repeatedly broke the law by interrogation of workers, confiscating union literature, and firing union supporters (Olsson). The issue of creating a union was not the only concern of the Wal-Mart workers. They also were concerned with how they would pay for health insurance. In Jennifer’s case, for her to have Wal-Mart covered health insurance it would cost her a $85 dollar chunk out of her pay check. The work force does not understand how a company that is account for 2 percent of America’s domestic product and has had 200 billion dollars in sales cannot give their hard working employees good health insurance. This article does make Wal-Mart sound like the bad guy, but I do not think that is completely true. Wal-Mart is running a business, and sometimes running a business means cutting resources.…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Up Against Walmart Karen Olsson Analysis
    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Up Against Walmart Karen Olsson Analysis

    The essays “Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson and “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really” by Sebastian Mallaby portray Wal-Mart to two completely different lights. Olsson shames Wal-Mart for its poor health benefits, the meager pay Wal-Mart employees receive, and the managers who purposely fail to schedule enough workers. Mallaby, on the other hand, commends Wal-Mart on how much money the franchise saves customers.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Opposing viewpoints on Wal-Mart
    • 1238 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Opposing viewpoints on Wal-Mart

    When you hear the words low prices it is hard not to think of Wal-Mart. The company that revolutionized discount shopping. But what happens behind the scenes? How is it that the world’s largest retail chain can offer so many deals? In the last 20 years the anti-Walmart campaign seems to continuously be on the minds of many. Sebastian Mallaby and Karen Olsson share radically different views on the ethics of the Wal-Mart Corporation. In “Up Against Wal-Mart” we are forced to believe that Wal mart is a vicious company that shows no remorse when firing employees and cutting their benefits. The author produces factual information and eyewitness accounts pointing to these horrible deeds that the large corporation run by money hungry businessmen have cheated many employees out of proper wages, proper benefits and even their jobs. While Sebastian Mallaby depicts Wal-Mart like the average American company. In his article “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really.” He states that while Wal-Mart is responsible for many questionable deeds, they are merely doing what they have to in order to survive.…

    • 1238 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Eth/316 Week 3 Cross Cultural Perspectives
    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Eth/316 Week 3 Cross Cultural Perspectives

    As an organization goes global, there is a new set of social and ethical issues that arise. In this instance, the organization, Wal-Mart, is considered the giant of retail and one of the largest companies in the world. It has grown as a staple in America as well as on an international platform, touching base in countries such as Japan and China. Wal-Mart is the largest retailer and the largest company in the history of the world in the way it conducts business operations. Wal-Mart management has implemented ways to overcome the challenges that present the ethical and social responsibilities with regard…

    • 1060 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Why Walmart Is Good Summary
    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why Walmart Is Good Summary

    In “Why Wal-Mart is good” Steve Maich makes a number of statements supporting Walmart and its expansion, while Liza Featherstone disagrees with “Down and Out in Discount America” and supports her own statements citing Walmart’s various evils. The authors primary disagree not only over the various values that are key to the Walmart debates, but also of important factual information.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Johan Gonzalez ETH 316 Wk 3 Organizational Ethics paper

    • 836 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Johan Gonzalez ETH 316 Wk 3 Organizational Ethics paper

    Logan, J. (2014). The mounting Guerilla War against the Reign of Walmart. New Labor Forum (Sage Publications Inc.), 23(1), 22-29. doi:10.1177/1095796013513435.…

    • 836 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Up against Wal-Mart
    • 1555 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Up against Wal-Mart

    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 business in today’s economy, but I find Karen Olsson’s argument to be the most persuasive because she has more information and quotes to support her opinion and views of the way that Wal-Mart treats their workers, while Sebastian Mallaby’s article is quite the opposite. Their opinions are very different but they share common interests which are: Wal-Mart, their customers, and their workers.…

    • 1555 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Gb 560 Unit 1 Assignment
    • 4576 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Gb 560 Unit 1 Assignment

    Q#1) Provide the name of the organization (this must be a real organization and you may use the organization where you currently work; describe the organization’s size and summarize the primary mission of the organization. Don’t simply copy from the organization’s mission statement.…

    • 4576 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    reserch paer on wal-mart
    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages

    reserch paer on wal-mart

    According to Robert B. Reich, the former labor secretary and a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University,” Wal-Mart is the logical end point and the future of the economy in a society whose preeminent value is getting the best deal”(Reich). As…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Walmart Destroying Small Communities
    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Walmart Destroying Small Communities

    In 1988 Sam Walton founder of the greatest discount store of all time was awarded a title. Walton’s name was found in Times Magazine as most influential person to have lived in the 20th century. The founder of Walmart’s goal was to achieve having a store that provided“ a one stop shopping center, with an unlimited supply of product at unbeatable prices”. What Walton failed to foresee, was the destruction and, negative effects that his business would bring all over the globe. Is it possible that the biggest company in the world could bring harm to there own employees? The answer is yes; they would and continue to do so. They come into cities affecting a large amount of members in the communities; right after settling in they do a great deal of damage. Walmart is a supermarket that changed the industry of retail, though it ended up ruining the lives of thousands of hard working citizens. These people are Americans who want to keep a job but have to endure inexcusable treatment from Walmart. Employees have been treated so poorly that lawsuits and protestors around the world have come to stand outside of the nearest Walmart in town to protest. The negative affect of these huge supermarkets led to the spiral of many great pharmacy’s, clothing, hardware stores etc. These types of stores went down the drain as soon as “Big Walmart” came into town. Since the existence of Walmart it has challenged communities big or small to stay open and keep there employee’s wages down and there cost of merchandise down, leaving the other store owners with no profit forcing them to close down. This is the only way Walmart has operated and that’s lowering cost and making sure all other surrounding competitors shut down. Some do not speak up because as a consumer, they do not see a reason to why they should complain if what they are buying is a complete bargain. That way of thinking keeps many unemployed and many Walmart workers receiving the same…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Is Walmart Good For America
    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Is Walmart Good For America

    Wal-Mart operates as a distributor, and retailer of consumer goods. Wal-Mart's history is one of innovation, leadership and success. It started with a single store in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 and has grown to what is now the world's largest - and arguably, the most emulated - retailer. Some researchers refer to Wal-Mart as the industry trendsetter. 1.4 million Employees worldwide, Wal-Mart's workforce is now larger than that of GM, Ford, GE, and IBM combined. Wal-Mart has enormously affected local communities and US economy. What role does Wal-Mart play in our society? Does Wal-Mart represent the American dream or is it just a monstrous capitalist empire? In order to examine the matter from a sociologist's point of view one…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Eth 316: Code Of Ethics In Business
    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Eth 316: Code Of Ethics In Business

    Walmart is the largest retailer in the universe and has the most jobs in the private sector currently. They presently have more than 2.2 million people employed worldwide. With a large amount of money, stores, and influence, they have been part of thousands of legal issues. Over the past 10 years, Walmart has put out of business a number of individuals by having the same products at a lower price. They have not only shut down a number of businesses due to the undercutting of competitor prices but they also made a great deal of people lose higher paying jobs during their expansion to pay their employees very low wages with marginal benefits (Logan 2014). Walmart has seen a great deal of external social pressures however we will focus on the external social pressures they have encountered due to their direct effect on the economy. Since Walmart is a big factor in regards to the economy a number of people look to them for assistance in acquiring a job. Nonetheless, Walmart has impacted the economy by not offering well-paying jobs to employees and having very…

    • 977 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Walmart Effect
    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Walmart Effect

    In The Wal-Mart effect: Poison or Antidote for Local Communities author Terry J. Fitzgerald attempts to submerge to the bottom of the issues people have with Wal-Mart. He does so by using results from Wal-Mart’s effect by entering non Wal-Mart counties economy’s. He uses the research to show that Wal-Mart doesn’t affect a community as much as most think. However, no matter what side of the issue you fall on, it still affects your community in a good or bad manner.…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics