Preview

Wal-Mart Location Study

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2011 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Wal-Mart Location Study
Executive Summary Memo
To: Prof. T. Schuyler Hale
From: Rodolfo Nolasco, Miguel A Quiroga Jr., Anthony Ramirez, and John Ramirez
Subject: Hello, Wal-Mart? Case Study 2
Restatement of Problem: Wal-Mart is the largest retail corporation in the world. While many welcome its location in their communities, others do not. Suppose Wal-Mart has announced plans to seek the approval from the planning commission of a small town to build a new store. Develop a list of the main arguments, pro and con, that could be present at a public hearing on the matter by members of each of these groups: Owners of small businesses located nearby: o Increased Traffic = Increased Business (pro) o The Anchor Effect (pro) o Effects on Product Quality and Customer Service (pro) o Inability to Compete (con) o Effects on the Local Economy from Displaced Employees (con)

Town residents and residents of nearby towns: o Convenience (pro) o Increased Property Values and Sales Tax Revenues (pro) o Increase in Local Jobs (pro) o Increased Crime (con) o Increased Traffic Headaches (con) o Questionable Wage and Benefit Practices (con)

Wal-Mart boasts 10,130 stores and club locations in 27 countries, employing 2.2 million associates, and serving more than 176 million customers a year (Walmart). These staggering numbers make Wal-Mart the largest retail corporation in the world. When the retailer moves into a new area, there are strong arguments for and against its presence in the community. In the following pages, various views are presented from small business owners and local residents on the pros and cons of allowing Wal-Mart to become a new neighbor.
Small Businesses: Opportunities
Increased Traffic is Increased Business While there are some that view Wal-Mart as a threat to small businesses, there are some small businesses that believe they


Cited: Afra, Andrea. Free Press Houston. 6 September 2008. 3 2012 . Biondillo, Vincent. Norhill Realty. August 2011. March 2012 . Casey, Kevin. Intuit-Will Walmart Kill Small Business in New York. January 2011. March 2012 . Sobel, Andrea M Dean and Russell S. "Has Wal-Mart Buried Mom and Pop?" Cato Institute 2008. Walmart. Walmart Houston . . Walmartstores.com: History. March 2012 . Walmat Houston - Myth vs. Fact. . Whaley, Katherine. KHOU. October 2010. March 2012 . "Why Wal-Mart Can Be Good for Small Business." - Risky Business (usnews.com). U.S Business Money. Web. 24 Jan. 2008. .[pic]
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Wal-Fail (Effects of Walmart on the Economy)
    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Wal-Fail (Effects of Walmart on the Economy)

    Wal-Mart does not benefit the American economy. It is a privately owned business that was established in 1962 by Mr. Sam Walton in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walton opened Wal-Mart as a one-stop shop providing services at unbeatably low prices. Wal-Mart has opened many stores, and its development dominating most parts of the American society. Arguments have been raised on the implications of these low prices to the U.S economy and its communities. Film maker Robert Greenwald highlights the impacts of Wal-Mart on small American societies in the film, "Wal-Mart: The high cost of low price." Greenwald has covered different aspects of Wal-Mart in the film like increasing government spending, eliminating small business and abuse of workers. According to Greenwald, overreliance on Wal-Mart has negatively impacted the American economy and society, both locally and internationally.…

    • 602 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good 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
  • Good Essays

    Wal-Mart's Effect on America
    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Wal-Mart's Effect on America

    Wal-Mart 's army of around 3,400 stores has created some job opportunities, but think of all the jobs lost due to choking out small locally owned businesses as well as the thousands of factory jobs lost due to Wal-Mart 's low production demands. Wal-Mart 's size, convenience, as well as its variety of over 120,000 items makes Wal-Mart a fierce competitor to any business. Due to Wal-Mart being built in the majority of cities and towns no matter the social status, many striving small businesses cannot compete with Wal-Mart 's unbeatably low prices and convenience and are forced to terminate their business. This may be an example of "survival of the fittest", but this process is hurting the economy. Eighty percent of Wal-Mart 's suppliers are from China and that means the more Wal-Mart 's there are, the more foreign products floating around, and less American made production (Is Wal-Mart Good for America). This lack of American production is what causes American factories to shut down leaving their employees without jobs. Even if these employees decided to work with Wal-Mart, they would make around half of their normal salary, as well as no pension, health care, or the job security benefits that have been the norm in factory work. "A…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Pros And Cons Of Wal-Mart
    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Pros And Cons Of Wal-Mart

    Wal-Mart doesn’t limit its products to one specific need, but to any kind of need. When setting foot Into a Wal-Mart it may be overwhelming to see all of the products to choose from. “A quick look around at the store in Paris makes clear what an employee is up against: thousands of items (90,000 in a typical Wal-Mart)” (Olsson 612). To list a few items, Wal-Mart carries hardware, food, toys, and school supplies. Other stores that specialize in selling these products will lose a good percentage of customers that are needed to keep their business running. This variety can also potentially discourage customers from ever using different businesses. Nonetheless, these different areas of goods will satisfy the needs of many people when located in one area. People may come in for a specific item, simply because they are able to purchase it at the lowest price possible. Another common scenario is that someone may go there for multiple purposes instead of just one. For example, one can complete his or her grocery shopping, while purchasing a computer that is needed for school. Instead of traveling through town to find the same type of a computer for a lower price they can do it all at Wal-Mart because of the convenience the store offers. Not only small businesses but also larger companies can be hurt from this type of convenience. “The average Wal-Mart customer earns thirty-five thousand dollars a year” (Mallaby 621). Best…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

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

    reserch paer on wal-mart

    In the 1990’s most families made a dollar stretch due to lower inflation changes. As gas prices sky rocketed, in the 2000’s, families felt trapped, thriftier, and scrapping for pennies to shop for groceries. Present day Wal-Mart has given all families a way around large corporations that control prices. As a result, Wal-Mart has given a second chance on living the American dream and stretching a dollar to unimaginable possibilities. The essay Squeeze by Charles Fisherman gave me insight towards Wal-Mart, since it mentions the large control it has over large corporations. The essay projects Wal-Mart being negative towards large company but fails to mention benefit towards community. In addition, the 51,000 square acre food stores are perceived by some as a monopoly, damaging to the economy, and forcing low wage jobs. However, this new Wal-Mart has made significant changes to better the environment, provide better wages, and help families by forcing their vendors to run more efficiently. Though the issue has divided critics, Wal-Mart benefits local communities in America, since they provide low cost produce, support the environment, and help soldiers with jobs.…

    • 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
  • Good Essays

    Is Walmart good for America?
    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Is Walmart good for America?

    Criticisms of Walmart’s effect on small retailers fall flat because of Americans’ role in that effect. Consumption is the only democratic component of the corporate world: small retailers fail because Americans choose Walmart. Walmart provides cheaper, better, more accessible services than its competition. While competing stores’ closings produce touching hard-luck stories, the shift to Walmart is beneficial for society, because Walmart is much more efficient at every stage of its business. The benefits of this efficiency are less personal and more broadly spread than the costs to smaller competitors, but such dissemination of value demonstrates one of the best qualities of Walmart – its egalitarianism. Walmart provides a good that is accessible to virtually all Americans. The 2006 book The Walmart Effect estimates that 97% of Americans live within twenty-five miles of a Walmart, and Walmart’s low prices assure that the store is also economically accessible. As long as consumers continue to choose Walmart (for understandable reasons), the onus is on small retailers to find better ways to compete.…

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

    Walmart And Country Wide Poverty Essay
    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Walmart And Country Wide Poverty Essay

    Some of these people include the wholesalers for these small companies, employees and of course the business owners themselves. All of whom have invested a lot of time, money and effort only to be put out of a job. The ironic part is that most of these unemployed individuals are turning to Wal Mart itself to replace their former jobs, as Wal Mart employs about 2% of the average countries workforce. Unfortunatley, these jobs often pay low wages, and offer part time work rather than full time work. This results in many people failing to earn enough money to make ends meet. As a result, the poor and unemployed are living from government income such as EI and Welfare for survival. This is a problem because these services are paid for indirectly by the taxpayers of the country. Furthermore, the government could be putting that tax money towards things that could advance themselves as a nation, such as education, healthcare and scientific developments. It seems that by failing to accommodate the public with available work, we are slowing down overall progress towards a brighter future and better society. In sum, while Wal Mart offers lower prices and increased convenience to the public, we must remember to read between the lines and realize that…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Karl Marx and Walmart
    • 2109 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Karl Marx and Walmart

    Gustafson, Krystina. (2014) "Time to Close Wal-Mart Stores? Analysts Think so." CNBC.com. n.p., 30 Jan.…

    • 2109 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Labor Relations and Wal-Mart
    • 684 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Labor Relations and Wal-Mart

    Labor relations are a part of our daily lives, whether we realize it or not. For those of us who work, it relates to our wages, the hours that we work and the way we are treated as an employee of an organization, no matter how large or small.…

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

    Walmart Argumentative Essay
    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Walmart Argumentative Essay

    July 2nd, 1962 Sam Walton opened the first Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas. Walmart is a name that is commonly known in every household across the United States of America. It’s right around the corner to nearly all Americans and a haven for bargain hunters, so people think. Walmart brings jobs and helps the economy when they move to the area. This is another misconception Walmart wants you to believe. Walmart actually is doing the exact opposite. Sure it creates jobs, poverty level paying jobs with less than forty hours a week and no benefits. People who own and operate their own businesses, who actually stimulate their local economy, are at risk for going bankrupt and losing everything they have. Why would people want to spend money when they can get a similar product at Walmart for half the cost? There’s a simple answer to that question, people don’t want to spend money they don’t have to. Millions of people in the United States are living paycheck to paycheck working minimum wage jobs. These people can’t afford to buy products from a local family run store. The only places they’re able to go and get everything they need is Walmart and other big box businesses who can offer cheap…

    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis
    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rhetorical Analysis

    Claim: Wal-Mart’s uncharacteristic low prices on merchandise in comparison to other businesses have jeopardized the survival of smaller companies.…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    American Dream
    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages

    American Dream

    "When Wal-Mart Comes to Town - Effect of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on Local Economies - Special Section: The World of Wal-Mart - Company Profile." CBS Interactive. CBS Interactive Business Network, 15 June 1992. Web. 24 Feb. 2012.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Is walmart changes city charcater?
    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Is walmart changes city charcater?

    Wal-Mart offers a large variety of merchandise from electronics to groceries, and has become one of the biggest chain stores in North America, continuing to expand its business worldwide (Fran, 2010, para. 4). Due to its size, buying power and purchase volumes, the company buys products at very low cost and offers them at very low prices. Wal-Mart has become the face of reality in many Canadian cities, including my neighborhood of Greater Vancouver, British Columbia. There is no doubt that such a giant company influences my community, but the growth of the Wal-Marts in the Vancouver area is not causing the community to lose part of its distinctive character.…

    • 1030 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics