Anjali Moncrieffe
Professor Rothman
Business 537
8 September 2016
Wal-Mart’s Social Responsibility Wal-Mart is a business that started in 1962. They started out with just one store in Arkansas and they have grown to have more than 7,000 facilities throughout 13 different countries. Wal-Mart attends to over 176 million customers per year. Wal-Mart’s founder, Sam Walton, felt really strongly about customer satisfaction. He stressed customer satisfaction and hard work. He wanted the associates of Wal-Mart to stand by the "ten-foot rule". The "ten-foot rule" was very different. It was something that was not stressed within other organizations, companies, and businesses. This rule stated that once and associate of Wal-Mart got within 10 feet of a customer that associate would have to look the customer in the eyes, acknowledge her or him and then finally ask if he or she needed help (Ferrell 315). Wal-Mart is the world 's largest corporation. Even though they are the world 's largest corporation they still get criticized by the public. They allow families to save by providing low prices. They apparently engage in unethical behaviors and misconducts in order to provide these low prices. In this research paper, I will discuss Wal-Mart’s social responsibility for their stakeholders. I will also discuss Milton Friedman and his statements on social responsibility. Lastly, I will discuss two other companies and talk about their reputation on being socially responsible toward their
Wal-mart evolved from Sam Walton’s goals for great value and great customer service. Sam believed in leadership through service. This belief that true leadership depends on willing service was the principle Walmart was built on for the past 50 years. So much of Walmart’s history is tied to the story of Sam Walton himself, and so much of our future will be rooted in Mr. Sam’s principles.
It is said that “The only social responsibility that there is, is to obey laws and pay taxes,” but according to Milton Friedman, “social responsibility is to increase profits.” This kind of responsibility also a form of giving back. Many people believe that the future of Wal-Mart is sustainability. Wal-Mart Stakeholders are the associates, otherwise known as employees, the suppliers, and the investors of this company. I believe that Wal-Mart is doing enough to become more sustainable both locally and globally by the resources, its key stakeholders.
Sam Walton made a decision to sell high volumes of the products he would carry, and keep the sale prices lower than his competitors to reduce his profit margin. He was inspired by the success of other discount department stores and hired an assistant Bob Bogle, who came up with the name Wal-Mart (Dutton, 1990). By 1967, the company had grew to a total of 24 stores across Arkansas. Shortly after, Walton moved the stores to different states in Missouri, and Oklahoma. Once the 70s hit, Wal-Mart boomed into 5 more states and had over 10,000 employees. This was also when Wal-Mart started to branch into different niche segments of the market. Some examples of these are the auto care center, pharmacy, and jewelry selections. By 1982, Walmart had expanded into Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Nebraska. This was also when Sam Walton implemented the “people greeters” in all of their stores, which was a huge hit in the public 's eye. Because of their extreme expansion and all inclusiveness about their stores, Wal-Mart in 1988, became the most profitable retailer in the United States. Although it did not surpass Kmart, and Sears in terms of items purchased until late 1990. By 1991, Wal-Mart had expanded to all 50 states and would go international with its first store outside
Since the central contradiction of corporate social responsibility ethics is reduced to a matter of noblesse oblige, not human rights. Wal-Mart have been breaking the labor in which it is unethical practices because the labor department felt they were not being treated properly and the customer felt they were not giving the right quality of merchandise in which they paid for. According to report all outlets along with the suppliers are to fully abide to the law regulations in relation to the immigration labor, safe environment health. Wal-Mart was founded in 1962 in Arkansas by a mean named Roger’s Sam in 2002 Wal-Mart had become a very popular store for consumers to shop however
Walmart is a worldwide store that a majority of the population shops at or has been to. With have 11,659 stores in 28 countries, Walmart must keep up with its publics and targeted audience. With being such a big company, Walmart has many charities and ways they give back to the community. They want to help as many people as possible with giving them affordable items for the whole family.
Wal-Mart is a general merchandise discount retailer, which was incorporated in 1962. Wal-Mart’s history is based on one man, Sam Walton, who changed the course of retailing forever. Sam Walton first entered retailing when he was a management trainee at J.C. Penny Co. in 1940 in Des Moines, Iowa. After serving in the Army in World War II, Walton acquired a Ben Franklin variety store franchise with his brother James Walton in Newport Arkansas, until they lost the lease to the store in 1950. By 1962, when the first Wal-Mart Discount City was opened in Rogers Arkansas, both Walton’s were operating fifteen stores under the “Walton 5 & 10” name, and were the largest Ben Franklin franchisee in the
In the early ‘80s the Johnson & Johnson company was a very successful brand. So successful, that some of their most popular brands were able to corner more than a third of their market. However, all of their accomplishments were threatened when a series of unfortunate murders tarnished one their most popular names: Tylenol.
Throughout me working with Wal-Mart’s assets protection, I feel as though equal pay and internals are the two biggest social issues throughout our agency or the store that I work. It is a Wal-Mart policy that we must not discuss our wages whether good or bad to other employees because everyone doesn't get paid the same amount. This issue mainly comes into place when people do the same job but get paid differently and coworker start to tell each other about there hourly wage. Many people may not see this as a social issue however it is a social issue and at least to my next issue which is internal theft. Internal Theft could be anything including: money, time on the clock, information, supplies, and/or merchandise that
Wal-Marts recent sustainability will make a change in stakeholder orientation if they continue to follow through on their promise they made in 2005 - “CEO Lee Scott set three aspirational sustainability goals for Walmart: to create zero waste, operate with 100 percent renewable energy and sell products "that sustain resources and the environment” (Makower, 2016). If you go to walmart.com and search sustainability, they are advertising exactly what the CEO has stated. This will hopefully help lower their costs’ in other ways besides having their suppliers lower their costs’ to keep Wal-Mart as a buyer. This is most ethical thing to do for the stakeholders, which in turn will help build a better reputation for the company.
Wal-Mart is the largest grocery chain in the world, second largest company on Fortune’s 500 2012 list, and the largest employer in North America. Wal-Mart is faced with many dilemmas and issues that can be expected of such a large and imposing organization. These problems include environmental issues, employee’s issues, leadership issues, supplier issues and creating an uncompetitive market. This is not an exhaustive list, and Wal-Mart has other dilemmas as well, but this paper will concentrate on the issues involving Wal-Mart interaction with employees and the problems Wal-Mart faces with them.
Sam Walton, founded Wal-Mart over forty years ago, where it started as a five-and-ten store in Bentonville, Arkansas (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). Since then it has become one of the largest retail stores in the world, with an estimated annual sales of close to $300 billion (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). His business philosophy was to provide low prices to its customers everyday (Stanwick & Stanwick, 2009). With such tremendous success in profits and growth, it has also brought many challenges relating to ethical issues in regards to; off-the-clock-work, sexual discrimination, health benefits, the role of unions,
Corporations, an indispensable part of society, has existed for a long time. In order to better the long-term development and be competitive, having a deep understanding of corporate social responsibility is key to the survival of a particular corporation. Over the past few decades, the social responsibility of corporations has been considered as a controversial issue among experts. Friedman (1970), a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics and Sciences, claimed that the only social responsibility of business is to increase its profit. However, still others disagree with this point of view. By contrast, they argue that if corporations consider increasing as their only social responsibility, it will not only harm the right of employees, but also trigger social problems. This essay aims to explore what should be the social responsibilities of corporations, and to analyze whether the only responsibility of corporations should be increasing its profit. In order to solve the problem, firstly, it is necessary to expound what corporate social responsibility is. Then, it is indispensable to clarify Friedman’s view regarding the only social responsibility of the business. Subsequently, different social responsibilities of corporations, such as ethical responsibilities, philanthropic responsibilities and legal responsibilities, raised by Carroll also need to be evaluated. Finally, another
In order to understand Wal-Mart’s history and view towards its associates, one has to look at its roots and the policies that were instituted by Sam Walton in their early years. Sam Walton started Wal-Mart at the age of 44 and approached the management
There is no need to introduce its background anymore; I think everyone knows the super supermarket leader’s name which is called Walmart. Here is the point that in this case why the CEO of Walmart Scott announced to do the business sustainability strategy in 2005. The sustainability will be the most focused in the 21century when the environment get worse every day. This strategy seems that Walmart will increase its cost and make a great contribution to the world. There is no doubt that the sustainability is quite good for the world environment we live. On the other side, as the Scott said “being a good steward of the environment and
In this essay, the case of Wal-Mart will be discussed by applying the Milton Friedman’s argument on CSR and utilitarianism.