...1. Yes, I do believe Walmart is doing enough to become more sustainable. Walmart is one of the most powerful companies internationally. As with all things that come with power, Walmart’s business practices are scrutinized thoroughly. This includes their relationships with suppliers, employees, consumers, and the environment. In recent years, the environment has become such a big issue that Walmart, as well as other companies have had to respond to this growing concern. Part of the reason Walmart has not only stayed around but has continued to grow over the years has been its ability to adapt to change in times. This ability has helped them with their environmental practices. Walmart has attempted to address the concerns of its environmental stakeholders by becoming a “greener” company. Walmart has many goals such as reducing greenhouse gases at stores, clubs, and distribution centers worldwide by 20 percent, designing prototypes to be 25 to 30 percent more efficient and developing and installing innovative energy-efficient technology into stores. Currently Walmart is working on four main green areas: waste improvement and recycling, natural resources, energy, and social/community impact. Walmart’s long-term goals are to be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy, create zero waste, and carry products that sustain the environment and its resources. 2. Walmart has faced several problems in the past such as the way they treat their employees, their workplace...
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...Wal-Mart Ethical Analysis Abstract Wal-Mart prides itself on having one of the strictest and most stringent ethics policies in the industry. Employees are not allowed to accept any type of gift, including a cup of coffee. And its 1.3 million employees are encouraged to report any ethics violations that they might suspect or see. With having such a strict policy, Wal-Mart faces around 5,000 lawsuits a year from unethical business practices. Wal-Mart's rating as a company that consumers trust and respect has steadily declined in the last few years. Their image is declining due to negative press giving the perception that Wal-Mart is bad for the economy and is unfair to workers. Wal-Mart Ethical Analysis Wal-Mart was established in 1962 when Sam Walton, who had operated stores in Arkansas and Missouri, decided to open a discount store. In fifty years Wal-Mart has grown to be the largest retail chain in the world. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is not only the largest retailer in the world; it is now also ranks as the largest corporation in the world. Wal-Mart operates over 6,000 stores in the US and 13 international markets including the UK, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Brazil and China. It also retails products through its online site. The company is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas and employs around 1.3 million people. A business Code of Ethics (COE) is a written set of guidelines issued by an organization to its workers and management to help them conduct their actions in...
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...it ethical or unethical to shop at Walmart? “If we work together, we’ll lower the cost of living for everyone… we’ll give the world an opportunity to see what it’s like to save and have a better life.” –Sam Walton (“What We Do”) Walmart was founded on the belief stated above by its founder Sam Walton in 1962. “Saving people money, so they can live better,” was the main objective when Sam Walton opened the doors to the first Walmart (“History”). Today, Walmart is the world’s largest retailer and corporation in the United States and have been awarded and recognized by various organizations for being the best employer throughout United States and other countries. By the Fortune magazine, it is listed as one of the most admired companies in America and many others praise Walmart for its accomplishments (“Is It Ethical to Shop at Walmart?”). Although, Walmart has earned popularity for the low price it provides, they are frequently faced with a lot of criticism and law suit for its employment practices made nationally and internationally. Some of the unethical practices the public criticize Walmart for are discrimination against women, low wages, and bad working conditions. Today, Sam Walton’s promise of a “better life for all” is questioned by employees, unions, environmentalists, recording artists and human rights organizations [Source]. This leaves many consumers to ponder if it is ethical or unethical to shop at Walmart? As mentioned in the above paragraph, Walmart is...
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...in an ethical manner. This paper has been designed to discuss the Walmart Corporation, its role of ethics and compliance, the procedures used to ensure ethical behavior, the processes Walmart uses to comply with SEC regulations, and a review of Walmart’s financial performance over the last two years. Role of Ethics and Compliance of Walmart The Walmart Corporation prides itself on its ethics and compliances to standards and regulations. Walmart shares all of its strategies and performance ratings in its annual reports, news releases, public filings, conference calls, and Internet resources so that all information is readily available to the public and potential and current stockholders. In regard to financial ethics of Walmart, the requirements are that the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Senior Financial Officers (SFO) must supply fair, full, understandable, and timely release of financial rankings in the periodic reports, which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) examines. The CEO and SFOs of Walmart are responsible for reporting information that there may be in regard to deficits in operations in specific or general areas that could have a negative impact on the accurate reporting of financial data. Fraud involving associates who may be acting unethically must be brought to the attention of the SFOs, CEO, and any other corporate managers so they follow appropriate disciplinary actions to resolve the issues. The CEO and SFOs of the Walmart Corporation...
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...WalMart Manages Ethics and Compliance Challenges In 1950, Sam Walton purchased a small store from Luther E. Harrison in Bentonville, Arkansas called Walton’s 5 & 10. Walton’s 5 & 10 is now called WalMart Visitor’s Center in Bentonville, Arkansas. In 1962, founder Sam Walton opened the first WalMart store located in Rogers, Arkansas. Sam Walton was inspired by other discount department chain stores. By keeping his retail prices lower than the other competitors stores he was able to open his second WalMart store the same year in Rogers, Arkansas. There were a total of 24 stores in the state of Arkansas by 1967 with earnings of $12.6 million in sales. In 1968, the first store was opened outside of Arkansas in Claremore, Oklahoma and Sikestone, Missouri. WalMart expanded to South Carolina and Georgia in the early 80’s. By this time WalMart was launching their jewelry divisions, auto service centers and pharmacy departments. Later on as WalMart grew they introduced their first WalMart Supercenter in 1988 in Washington, Missouri. The WalMart Supercenter’s features one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, banks, hair and nail salons, fast food outlets and video rental stores. “Although it got off to a slow start, over the next 40 years the company grew from a small chain to more than 8,000 facilities in 27 countries” (Ferrell, Fraederich & Ferrell, p. 407). Sam Walton believed in customer satisfaction and invented the “10 foot rule” meaning all...
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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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...In the beginning when Walmart was small and maturing business, they were an ideal company in the eyes of employees. But as the company grew into a worldwide empire, so did the number of ethical issues they faced. With promises of low prices to keep to its customers, they have made decisions which have impacted employees. People say Walmart has poor management, have poor wages for both local and outsourced workers. Many people would call these things uneithical, but Walmart claims otherwise. They claim they are helping people by creating jobs, which meet minimum wage standards, and they care about the ethics within their company. There is an abundance of arguments that call out Walmart as being unethical, but what people easily ignore are these lesser known ones that argue for Walmart’s ethical side. The most predominate unethical issue Walmart has received criticism over for countless years is their poor treatment of employees. The retailer is known for paying its store associates minimum wage. These low wages make it tough for an employee to support a family let alone themselves. Because of the low wages that Walmart pays its employees, many of them have to use government assistance such as food stamps in order to survive. This is not only bad for the employees but it is also costing taxpayers. Walmart does not offer benefits to their part-time workers who work less than twenty-eight hours a week. This can be seen as unethical because the employees are already being paid such...
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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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...Walmart is the world’s largest retailer. It employs …….. employees and on average serves…….. customers a day. The ethical policy of Walmart applies to millions of its associates, management people, suppliers, contractors, consultants and other service providers. SUMMARY OF WALMART’S ETHICAL POLICY As stated in its statement of ethics the three basic beliefs of Walmart that guides its decisions and leadership are: (talk about belief as a guiding principle as per objectivism) 1. Respect for the individual 2. Service to customers 3. Striving for excellence Beside these beliefs, Walmart has guiding principles to help its associates make right decisions and to act with integrity which are as follows: Make the right decisions, and to act with integrity. Always act with integrity. Lead with integrity and expect others to work with integrity. Follow the law at all times be honest and fair. Reveal and report all information truthfully, without manipulation or misrepresentation. Work, actions, and relationships outside of your position with the company should be free of any conflicts of interest Respect and encourage diversity, and never discriminate against anyone. Ask your manager or the Global Ethics Office for help if you have questions about this Statement of Ethics, or if you face an ethical problem. Promptly report suspected violations of the Statement of Ethics. Cooperate with and maintain the private nature of any investigation of a possible ethics violation. ...
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...of Ethics: Walmart Nina Brown PHL/323: Ethics in Management August 8, 2011 David Rubenstein Evaluation of Business Code of Ethics: Walmart A code of ethics is a set of written guidelines issued by an organization to its employees and management regarding ones conduct and behavior (Business Dictionary, 2011). Principles and standards are important, but they are also crucial in everyday life expectancy as well as his or her work setting. The function of a code of ethics policy is to provide its personnel, administration, board of directors, and others an orientation that abides by a business course of action, principles, and ethical standards. Each business should develop a code of ethics as a standard for his or her industry to abide by daily. It should concentrate on major factors important to the individually industry requirements. The honesty of an industry and its workers is essential to the general success of the organization as a unit. This evaluation focus is on Wal-Mart the number one fortune 500 company in the world. This process will include general information about Walmart including its mission statement, ethical system, and it putting into practice on an employee, management, or board of director level. This paper will also include information on modifying the existing policy, reactions expected from employees and managers, effects of organizational culture and the effect on the organization itself. History In 1962 the first Walmart discounted store...
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...Walmart: The Main Street Merchant of Doom Sam Moore Walton, founder of Walmart, opened the first Walmart store in 1962 in a rural town using an idea he acquired while working at JCPenney. Since then the company has grown tremendously. In 2001 Walmart was considered the “world’s largest retailer” surpassing big retailers like Sears, JCPenney, Target and Kmart, its “net sales had grown to $408 billion” by 2010, and today it “operates over 11,000 retail units” throughout the world (Carroll and Buchholtz 599-600) (Walmart Stores, Inc). However, since Walmart is the largest and most known company in the world, it has become a target of criticism to many groups and individuals. Some people see Walmart as a socially responsible company, while others see it as a “billion-dollar parasite” that should be banned from communities; and these different views create perceived conflicts of interest (Carroll and Buchholtz 602). Such conflicts, coupled with society’s criticism towards the biggest retailer, include business closures, traffic congestion, and urban sprawl. In fact, to be further discussed throughout this paper, Walmart’s opponents are already trying to hinder its expansion since the company is not fulfilling all their social responsibilities and the economy could suffer long-term consequences. To be objective, a brief analysis of the company’s CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) using the four-part CSR model, can provide a better understanding of why it is causing problems...
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...Sara Jones 8/2/2015 Ethics and Enterprise BUS4801 Ned Preble Ethical Motives u3a1 Sustainability Ethical Motives Sustainability Ethical Motives There is a massive ethical dilemma concerning sustainability. This the fact that without utilizing sustainable practices the earth is suffering, this has a direct impact on our lives. From using up our earth’s natural resources for power, we have created pollution and increased global warming effects. Besides everyone on an individual basis needing to practice sustainability, it is highly important for companies to utilize sustainability ethics. Companies big and small have immensely contributed to dwindling our natural resources and polluting our planet. Raw material suppliers, manufacturers, distributers and the companies they operate for all need held accountable for their part, and each link in the chain needs to develop and implement a sustainable ethics policy. Walmart has been a big contributor to this ethical dilemma. Walmart not only operates unethically regarding sustainability in their retail, warehouse and distribution locations; they also are responsible for the unethical actions of their suppliers. Walmart has received many different scolding from activists and has been boycotted for many different unethical actions and inactions. The company has decided to tackle the ethical dilemma of sustainability directly. Walmart is taking steps to develop a standing sustainability ethics policy throughout their entire...
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...Ethical Relativism Richard Gomez Colorado University PHIL320-1303A-02 : Ethics: The Hallmark of Leaders at All Levels Phase 2 IP Professor Lawrence Tilman July 22, 2013 Ethical relativism points of view are equally valid and can be defined as the belief that nothing is impartially right or wrong as the meaning of right or wrong are contingent on the current views of an individual a culture, or even a historical time period. Meaning that certain characteristics are right due to fitting into that setting, while other characteristics are wrong because of a cultural tradition. (Rosenstand, 2013). The corrupt behaviors which were discussed in Phase 2 discussion board were of two different companies, the two companies that I chose were Walmart and Nike. However, in this particular individual project I will focus on corrupt behaviors of Walmart. In today’s culture, there are three particular factors of behavior, thought and feeling and these patterns are considered normal only because they are and can be significant and useful. Normal behavior supports unity where abnormal does not come together with in an organization and can easily destroy the organization. The behavior of Walmart has destroyed a part of their integrity as it has caused a significant profit loss for the organization. Behavior thought and feeling are all different factors where a judgment can be placed on what is right and what...
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...governs how they will reply to both an internal and external stimulus. Walmart is one of the largest organizations in the world, that’s why it was chosen for this essay. Furthermore, they deal with lots of external social pressures that influence their ethics. They have had more than their fair share of lawsuits because they was sued 4,851 times in the year 2000 alone Willing, R. (2001, August 13). Lawsuits a volume business at Wal-Mart. USA Today. Whenever an issue arises they always fall back on their code of ethics in order to figure out the best possible solution. These issues are relevant to organizational and personal decisions and it will be explained how later in this paper. The relationship between legal and ethical issues will also be covered. External Social Pressures Walmart is the world’s largest retailer and private sector employer. They employ over 2.2 million employees. With tons of money, locations, and power, they have been the target for thousands of law suits. As we all know, Walmart has replaced thousands of mom and pop businesses by carrying the same items at much lower prices. They not only made businesses shut down due to undercutting competitor prices but they also made lots of people lose well-paying jobs in the process only to pay employees poverty wages and benefits and encouraged them to seek government assistance in order to supplement their incomes (Logan 2014). Walmart experienced many external social pressures but the one that’s being...
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