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 and why it is experiencing opposition.
First, as the company is proving to be extremely profitable, with high number of sales each year and by providing competitive low prices and service to its consumers, its economic responsibilities are being met and there are no potential problems in this category, but Walmart still needs to maintain its bottom line progress.
Second, Walmart’s