...Walmart Movie Analysis Threat Level Midnight MGMT 382, 12:00pm Monday Class Rheanna Ladron De Guevara Mohammad Shojaei Danielle Seymour Teresa Radtke Curtis Anson Amy Self Walmart is quite arguably one of the largest multinational grocery retailers in America. The corporation routinely produces record sales, earnings, and employs more than 2.1 million full time employees. Last year Walmart earned a record four hundred and five billion dollars in revenue. The company was founded in 1962 by business entrepreneur Sam Walton. Walmart’s past (2006) advertising slogan, “Low prices, always”, accurately reflects the appeal the store has to the masses. In an attempt to attain a wider and more diverse customer base, in recent years Walmart has adopted the new slogan: “Saving people money so they can live better lives.” While there’s no doubt about Walmart’s low prices, it’s questionable as to whether Walmart actually allows people to “live better lives.” Not only this, but the ethicality of Walmart’s business practices seem unsound to say the least. After watching the film “Walmart: the High Cost of Low Cost”, the ethicality of Walmart’s business practices and the impact the company has on the communities in which they expand into become apparent. While some argue that Walmart makes unethical decisions quite often that harm the communities they expand into, others assert that Walmart operates within the law and is simply doing business rather than acting unethically...
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...Cross Cultural Perspectives The Walmart Corporation is a major American retailer. Walmart is the largest and most successful general merchandise retailer from the US. However, when Walmart attempted to branch out into new countries they failed time and time again. Is this report I am going to cover a few of the reasons they failed in several countries. Identifying the actual issues at fault. Then describe the issues in detail and how they affect Walmart as a result of being a global company. Walmart Cultural Issues One major issue Walmart ran into is bulk sales. In America people travel longer distances with their own cars and buy enough food to last them a month or more in one trip. It is typical for foreign countries to buy food daily. Foreign cultures are more accustomed to buying fresh food from butchers or local markets. Additionally Walmart is notorious for selling items in bulk. This again is an American cultural habit. In most foreign cultures people take public transportation or walk to the stores. This they do not have the ability to buy multiple bottles of shampoo at once, and prefer to buy it one bottle at a time. On a different note, Walmart failed again on the design of their stores. I will use South Korea as example here, mainly because I lived there for four years and have experienced all of these. In South Korea everything is about presentation. Their largest vendors, E-Mart, Home-Mart, etc. are all finished with an artistic design. They...
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...Culture Change Paper Walmart is a global retailer with one of the most profitable business strategies on the planet. Walmart’s objective to offer the lowest prices to a diverse customer base has proven successful over several decades. Walmart began with a humble business model in the early 1960s. Sam Walton, original founder, wanted to provide people with the best prices possible. Sam Walton launched over a dozen locations to the public in the late 1960s. The profitable groundwork and strategy of every-day low prices spread rapidly through the next several decades. Throughout the 1990s, Walmart’s growth soared globally as they continued to facilitate a cost cutting strategy. America’s recent recession encouraged many low-income families to shop for Walmart’s low priced products. Walmart’s low prices may attract budgeting Americans, but their questionable operations are steering many others away. Walmart’s public perception is declining because of their negative organizational culture. Walmart’s employee wages are consistently below the American average, resulting in workers resorting to government aid. Discrimination lawsuits occur annually because of management’s stereotyping and poor leadership. Even Walmart’s ignorance to safe working conditions in other countries is beginning to surface in America’s media. Walmart’s leaders have attempted to address these issues, but ultimately failed to create a climate for change. Walmart’s future leadership must overcome...
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...Adams ETH/316 May 4, 2015 Michael Esquivel Organizational Ethics Walmart started from a small discount retailer in Rodgers Arkansas. There are now thousands of Walmart stores within the United States and the company has also expanded internationally. Walmart created the one stop shop for anything, anywhere and at any time with most of its stores allowing a 24 hour shopping experience to the customers. The company operates over 11,000 retail units under 71 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. ("Walmart", 2015) Over 2.2 million people are employed by the corporation around the world with 1.3 million in the United States alone. The company’s founder, Sam Walton, said “personal and moral integrity is one of our basic fundamentals and it has to start with us” when he spoke of his company’s ethics and integrity. ("Walmart", 2015). High moral and ethical standards are embedded in the company yet controversial ethical issues haunt the company like proverbial retail ghosts. One such ghost is Walmart’s treatment of its employees. Walmart has been criticized and publically assaulted due to the treatment of the retailer’s employees. A documentary titled Walmart: High Cost of Low Price, was released. The documentary included interviews of former employees and managers who presented critical views of Walmart’s policies in respect to the treatment of workers. Walmart was so concerned with the content of the documentary that the company formed...
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...Running head: THE UNETHICAL WORLD OF WAL-MART.1 OL 500: Human Behavior in Organization Final Draft SNHU Dr. Castellon Roger McGinness Abstract Ethical issues are problems faced by thousands of corporate workers on a daily basis. With technological advances these problems are more magnified than ever before and when you are the world’s largest employer and sit atop the Forbes Fortune Fifty list your ethical dilemmas become the focal point of millions. Building ethical principles and guidelines are vital to help Wal-Mart remain on top of the Fortune Fifty list and prevent unethical or immoral issues from rising. This paper will take an in depth look into policies, procedures and practices that are in place at Wal-Mart and have the nation if not the World debating their fairness. There are a number of people in which the blame can easily be placed to include corporate leaders and political figures however a vast majority of Wal-Marts unscrupulous business practices could be elevated by simple satisfaction of a smaller profit margin. Bigger Not Always Better In the internet, 24 hour news world we live in today business practices are more visible and evident than ever before. There is a saying that when you do something nice for a person they may tell one or two people, however do wrong by them and they will notify everyone they know. This saying holds very true with employees and corporations today. A quick internet search on unscrupulous business practices...
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...Case Analysis: Wal-Mart Alfonso Soloiro 10/28/13 BUS 365 Walmart is known worldwide as a powerhouse in consumer goods retailing. You could almost find anything you want at Walmart at the most affordable price, however Walmart has gained a negative reputation regards ethical behaviors and their working environment. Walmart first began in 1962, when its founder Sam Walton opened the first Walmart Discount store in Arkansas. His plans towards Walmart and its ethical behavior seems the total opposite than what he had planned for its future and sustainability. Walton believed in customer satisfaction and hard work. Walmart claimed early on that a formal ethics program was unnecessary because the company already had Walton’s tradition of ethics. As the years went by Walmart would go from the most admired company in America to one of the most hated. One of the main ethical issues that’s been haunting them for years involves their employees and their treatment. Wal-Mart is known for its poor treatment of all employees. In fact, the average Wal-Mart hourly sales employee earns under $250 per week. Most full-time employees are working for $7.50 per hour for 28-40 hours a week. As a result of this pay scale, the majority of Wal-Mart employees are living well below the poverty line (PBS, 2010). Part of the reason that that Wal-Mart’s employees receive such low pay is that Wal-Mart is a notoriously antiunion company. The unionized retail...
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...Starbucks is an internationally known coffee shop that started in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks’ first international coffeehouse opened in Tokyo back in 1996, and it has grown in popularity in 59 additional countries. Since Hawaii is the only state in America able to grow coffee beans (The Huffington Post, 2013), Starbucks relies heavily on fair trade coffee beans to fulfill the coffee cravings millions of people have every day. Fair trade ensures the coffee beans are grown and harvested by international employees who responsibly grown and ethically trade beans. By 2015, Starbucks wants to ensure 100% of their coffee is ethically sourced, an increase from 86% in 2011 (Starbucks, n.d.). Europe is one the 60 countries Starbucks operates in, and is the number one coffee consuming country (Ferdman, 2014). As an international company, Starbucks must follow trade practices and agreements for every country it resides in. Starbucks has several coffee shops in Europe, but the stores fail miserably compared to those in America and Asia. The coffee shop culture in Europe is extremely different. Americans commonly use coffee shops as a place to access the internet, business, or quickly grab a drink before work. Most of Starbuck’s profits come from grab-and-go customers (Alderman, 2012). Europeans use coffee shops as a place to relax and socialize. Coffee shops in Europe are usually up-scale establishments where people can relax. European Starbucks are attempting to appeal...
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...Michella Amonson ETH/316 January 16, 2014 Mr. Harralson Cross-Cultural Perspectives This paper is an overview and analysis of the ethical perspective and cultural issues that a global organization faces when interacting outside the United States. I will address and identify the cultural and ethical perspective of the global organization named Walmart. I will also analyze ethical and social responsibility issues that WalMart deals with as a result of being a global organization. I will further compare these ethical perspectives with other cultures that do business with Walmart. Walmart’s Ethical Perspective Walmart belief is built on a foundation of integrity , values of honesty, fairness and objectivity. Sam Walton founded Walmart with the strong conviction that a retailer could help people save money and live better. Since, Sam’s passing away, Mike Duke, Chief Executive Officer, President and CEO of Walmart states “culture is how we work together to fulfill that purpose. It's incorporated into every aspect of our business”. He further states “Our beliefs are the foundation of our culture: service to our customers, respect for the individual, and striving for excellence which rest on the foundation of personal integrity and responsibility(p.1).” Strong adherence to these principles has created a unique work culture at Walmart. No matter where you go — to any of our stores and offices in any of our brands around the world — our associates live these values”...
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...05/19/2015 Dr. Maja Zelihic Business Research Ethics Target is one of the world’s largest Retail organizations, well next to Walmart but unlike them, Target has been named one of the world’s most ethical business on Forbes list this year. Target is a company that is committed to conducting business lawfully and ethically. Target expects their employees to act at all times with honesty and integrity. They expect their employees to have good judgement towards business decisions and to know the corporation’s policies and comply with them. Target as a whole sets reachable goals for their corporation which allows them to be considered an ethical business. All companies can have moments of downfall and that brings moments of when certain situations can be unethical. One particular incident that happened with Target was in 2013, when more than seventy million of Target’s customers were targeted by a credit card hacker, which lead to Target losing a lot of profit months afterwards. The hackers were able to hack into Target’s system and retrieve credit card information from the cardholder’s name all the way to the CVV number on the back. This allowed the hacker to sell this type of information on the black market and allow people all over the world to use those cardholder’s information and get away with it. The unethical part of this situation is Target not taking responsibility for their action in not upgrading their card reading system that they have in place....
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...Summary of Case Table of Contents Summary of Case History Overview: * Vision, Mission, and Goals Major Issues Swot Analysis CSR Analysis - “Buy American” program and “Environmental Awareness” program Sam Walton: A motivational Genius? Walmart’s responsibility to it employees Stakeholder analysis Competitors Ethical Practice towards Walmart Walmart’s and the international arena Critique Recommendations References History Overview Walmart’s mission statement is “We save people money so they can live better.” Walmart's vision statement is to 'promote ownership of Walmart's ethical culture to all stakeholders globally.’ Walmart Corporation has guidelines to help associates to uphold this vision. Some of these guidelines are following all laws, being fair, having integrity, respecting others and embracing diversity. They also believe in the idea of “working together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone, and give an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” One of their many goals is to become an international brand. Walmart was founded and opened by Sam and Helen Walton in Rogers, Ark. in 1962 while using their family home as collateral. The store was just 18,000 square feet of selling space, and had clothing racks made of plumbing pipes. Store 1 was modest, but customers loved the great prices and the wide assortment. Starting off with Sam Walton’s idea of low prices in the 1940s, Wal-Mart has since then become the world’s...
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...THE PAPER Everyone handles themselves differently, and as we all know...Each individual has their own opinion. Business ethics multiplies the discussion, and getting everyone to agree is never a walk in the park. In the world of ethics a thin line separating ethical and un-ethical actions can quickly be crossed. Is a mass merchant like Wal-Mart acting ethically and good for America? Or has this monopoly game gone on too unethically long? Wal-Mart has a broad span of likes and dislikes from America, but after given the facts I can bet most would agree that Wal-Mart is bad for America. There are numerous ethical problems with Wal-Mart as well as numerous things that just don’t seem right with the company. Wal-Mart is nationally known for having awful wages for their employees. I believe this is unethical simply for the fact that what Wal-Mart pays their normal employees is not enough to support one self and not enough to live. The money a Wal-Mart employee makes in one year is a couple thousand dollars below the poverty line. There for making the statement that if you work at Wal-Mart you will be broke and poor and won’t be able to support another person, let alone a whole family. Another problem with Wal-Mart is the working conditions. Employees at Wal-Mart have been forced to work off the clock, have been locked in the building during night shifts, have had their overtime pay not paid in full, have had random wage decreases. Wal-Mart is also known for discriminating against...
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...Global Economic Interdependence and the Effect of Trade Practices and Agreements Global Economics Interdependence is defined by the business dictionary as, “mutual dependence at a global level” (Business dictionary, 2012). This is where one country depends on another country and that country will depend on another country and so on; this will eventually mean global independence (Business dictionary, 2012). Importing and exporting different goods is a large part of Global Economic Interdependence. Wal-Mart does everything in their power to help the customers save money on the products and merchandise they purchase by offering these products at lower prices than many of their competitors. People throughout the world want to shop at a place that they know will save them money and even possibly time. Wal-Mart is continually increasing their customer base because of the low prices and one-stop-shopping. This is helping with the sustainability of Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart would not be able to offer these low prices to their customers if it were not for China. China supplies the...
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...unions, communities, religous affiliations, and political groups. Wal-Mart is constantly in the public eye and is being criticized for its business policies and procedures. These complaints have stemmed from worker’s compensation law suits, employee benefits lawsuits and failure to comply with the equal employment opportunity act. Advocacy groups called Wake-Up Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart Watch were formed in 2005 in efforts of bringing realization to Wal-Mart’s disgrunteled employees (cite pg3#3). These groups aimed to educate the community of the wrongful doings of Wal-Mart urging the m to question the company’s moral. These groups wanted to force the company to improve its practices for their employees, customers, and community in a more ethical way. The publics view from all the negative publicity Wal-Mart began receiving was beginning to catch up with the company. Wal-Mart...
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...Walmart LAW/531 November 7, 2013 Thane Messinger Walmart Walmart opened its doors in 1962 based on Sam Walton’s strategy of creating the lowest prices anytime, anywhere. By 1967, the Walton family was running 24 stores bringing in $12.7 million in sales. By 2012, the company served more than 200 million customers each week, employed 2.2 million associates worldwide, in more than 10,000 stores in 27 countries. After waiting years to open a “Superstore” in India, ambitious plans to expand in the country have seized to continue. India, the world’s largest retailer, has a difficult time with the regulations of the country as well as finding a foreign chain to help invest in the country’s $400 billion retail sector (Pasricha, 2013). Walmart has said it would end its joint venture with Bharti Enterprise Limited amid continued difficulties navigating regulations on foreign investments. To continue the organizational success Walmart has achieved, the organization will need to continue to research several key factors. These factors include: India’s restrictive rules on foreign firm operations, the target market blunder, Walmart’s past efforts to penetrate the retail industry in India, and any challenges encountered in partnership with Bharti. Walmart ceases operations in India because of failed partnership and restrictive government regulations on foreign investments. Walmart’s Ethics Walmart set its business foundation on values and ethics that leads the company. The...
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...Wal-Mart This paper will discuss the structure of Wal-Mart's corporate culture and how it influences their employees. In order to understand an Organization Behavior there are different elements that will create the employees perspective of the organization’s culture such as the management’s philosophy, vision, values, and goals. The driving force of these elements will create the culture of the organization. An organization’s culture will define the leadership, and dynamics of the organization. With each element listed the employees of the organization will identify this as work life that will guide their level of motivation. Depending on which level of motivation the employees are at will determine the outcome of their performance, along with their satisfaction, and development. The entire elements combine helps to build the framework in the way the organization operates. (Davis, 1993) It is important for Wal-Mart to understand their employees’ job satisfaction, fairness, personal development and growth within its organization. Wal-Mart was founded by Sam Walton in 1962. Sam Walton business strategy was to supply products for customers at low prices. Sam Walton began the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Ark. While Wal-Mart was at their beginning stage their competitor Kmart was growing rapidly. During that time Walton was only able to invest in 15 stores. In the 1970s Wal-Mart offered stock which helped to expand the company with 276 stores in 11 states...
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