Pros And Disadvantages Of Walmart

Is Wal-mart the ideal store to shop it? Austrian economic and business professional Karen De Coster and banker Brad Edmonds believe that Wal-mart improves the lives of people in rural areas because it gives them access to a lifestyle that they would not have if Wal-mart did not exist.

The largest corporation in America with $378,799 million in revenues and employing 2,055,000 employees, Wal-Mart has become one of the greatest success stories in American history, but also one of the most controversial stories since Standard Oil (Fortune). But with all big business comes critics. Today’s critics suggest Wal-Mart unfairly uses it power of size, which is goliath, to exploit employees and impoverish nations, ruin competition, and place undue pressure on the government. However, one item most critics fail to mention is that Wal-Mart creates consumer welfare. Throughout this paper, I will analyze each criticism of Wal-Mart and sufficiently cite evidence proving the greater good that is realized with

First off I will be talking about Walmart’s products. Walmart is a commercially big box store. There are two kinds of big box stores, general merchandise, or specialty stores. Walmart is a general merchandise store which means it doesn’t just have a specific item it sells.

Many people may ask the same question. “Is Wal-Mart good for the economy?” or even “What are Wal-Mart’s standards for suppliers?” Wal-Mart currently has over 4,000 stores in the United Stated and about over 3,000 internationally. As many people may know, Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. In the year of 2004 Wal-Mart had accounted for 6.5 percent of the retail sales. The wellbeing and prosperity of specialists over their production network is the Mindful Sourcing bunch 's top need, which may be the reason Wal-Mart suppliers are contractually needed to sign their “Benchmarks for Suppliers” before they can even be endorsed to deliver stock available to be purchased at Wal-Mart. These Norms for Suppliers make clear their essential desires for suppliers and processing plants in regards to the treatment of laborers and effect on nature. Suppliers are as well needed to show the “Norms for Suppliers” in the nearby dialect in all industrial facilities where items have been made for them, so specialists know the desires of suppliers and plant administration. In this case, many citizens may believe that Wal-Mart may be both good and bad for America in many different ways. This store has been the cost of many people losing their jobs, but it has also helped keep the United States inflation down. Although Wal-Mart does help create many jobs for people, it does not pay them at

Wal-Mart is now the largest grocer, largest retailer, largest corporation in the world. "If Wal-Mart was a nation, it would have a bigger economy than 80 percent of the world's countries"(Singer and Mason). About "138 million people go to one of Wal-Mart's 5,000 stores in the United States and nine other countries", and purchase more than $300 billion every year (Singer and Mason). With a 1.6 million global workforce, Wal-Mart has become the biggest private employer "in the United States, as well as in Mexico and Canada"(Singer and Mason). "Wal-Mart already has 11 percent of all U.S. Grocery store sales," and "by 2013 that figure is likely to rise to 21 percent"(Singer and

Walmart is the go-to shopping center for most Americans, but are they fully aware of the negative impact Walmart has caused America? Many people shop where they can find everything at once and is in a decent distance from their home, but most shoppers don’t realize what they are really purchasing or the truth about the stores they buy from. If more Americans knew what they were really getting out of their shopping trips at Walmart they probably wouldn’t come back. Walmart has a privative effect on America more than people realize. The people they hurt in the process of trying to “Save money” and “Live Better” are the backbone of the business, the products they sell might as well be used, and their crime rate escalates more and more, and

“Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson, a senior editor at Texas Monthly and who’s article appeared in Mother Jones, introduces her article through the perspective of a Wal-Mart worker. She focuses on the negatives of Wal-Mart by telling the real life struggles of different Wal-Mart employees. “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really.” by Sebastian Mallaby, a columnist for the Washington Post, focuses his article on what Wal-Mart critics say and attempts to defend Wal-Mart by comparing Wal-Mart to other retailers. Even though Karen Olsson and Sebastian Mallaby both examine the negative effects of Wal-Mart, Olsson berates Wal-Mart’s unfair treatment towards employees and the unlivable wages that the world’s largest retailer provides while Mallaby

by taking actions other than reducing consumer transaction costs and through devising new products and services. Wal-Mart.com will offer products from all 25 categories you can find in a regular Wal-Mart store. To create additional value, it will offer a richer choice of high quality products, for example DVD players and cameras. But not only will it offer these higher-priced items, it will also offer them as complements, which means that Wal-Mart.com for example will sell DVD players with a set of the latest DVDs.

Wal-Mart is arguably the most dynamic corporation in the last 50 years in the United States, if not the world. Arising from its beginnings in Bentonville, Arkansas, it has grown to over 4,400 discount stores, super centers and corner markets worldwide. Wal-Mart continues to expand despite public criticism of its labor practices as well as complaints about their treatment of competitors. The many strengths of Wal-Mart, like their low cost production and marketing practices, will aid Wal-Mart as it continues to grow in the retail

Competition among retailers is aggressive, as the demand side of the industry is driven by consumers who expect to get the best value for their money. “Competitive advantage is anything a company has, or does better, that customers value but the competition cannot match” (Romero, 2005). Walmart has a sustainable competitive advantage over other retailers, largely due to their centralized focus of cost leadership and differentiation strategies.

Walmart is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores. Wal-Mart controls over 11,500 stores in 28 countries around the world. It was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton. Walmart’s CEO is Doug McMillon and the Chairperson of Board of Directors is Greg Penner. Walmart as we know it today evolved from Sam Walton’s goals for great value and great customer service. He

SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: Effective supply chain management is one of the most important operational strategies that allow company to enjoy sustainable competitive advantage. More than the manufacturing expenses the distribution costs are high. If a retail firm has a proper supply chain management it can cut down the cost and have a competitive advantage of providing goods at lower cost. The cross docking concept that was introduced by the Wal-Mart was one of effective concept.

The threat of substitutes: where it refers to substitute product as those that are available in other industry which can also fulfil the need and want of the consumers. It can affect competition in an industry by placing an invisible ceiling on prices which companies within the industry can charge, due to the fact that if the cost of substitute is low then the consumers will tend to purchase substitutes, therefore limiting the prices that a company can place on certain items to gain maximum profit. For example, lemonade can be substituted for a soft drink. Generally, competitive pressures arising from substitute products increase as the relative price of substitute products declines and as consumer 's switching costs decrease.

Customers can choose to purchase handbags and accessories from boutiques that don’t have the brand name

A substitute is defined as a product or service that a consumer sees as the same or similar to another product. For example, when the price of coffee goes up, people start leaning more towards cheaper substitutes of coffee, such as tea or hot chocolate. In the office supply industry, the threat of substitutes is very high because the threat does not only come from substitute products but it also comes from the threat of online retailers and the general merchandisers, such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco. These types of sellers are substitutes due to the fact that they are not in the office supply industry, yet they offer office supplies at a cheaper price.