Write an essay response to three different discussions below
Discussion one
Whenever Wal-Mart opens in town most of the retailers contract and wrinkle and die. Only those retailers who analyse their strengths and weaknesses may be able to survive and prosper. The situation is that Wal-Mart not only puts pressure on its suppliers but it remains a competitive nightmare for many of its competitors, especially small rivals in the local market. Wal-Mart is quite prominent and is able to trim costs by successfully bargaining with the suppliers, which the local retailers are unable to perform. Wal-Mart’s aggressive negotiating tactics have demeaned U.S. manufacturing firms and pushes American jobs overseas. It also seeks to render small businesses obsolete in communities in which it operates. Senator John Kerry is of the opinion that Wal-Mart is a disgraceful and claims that it costs about 50 retail jobs for every 100 jobs it creates.
Critics are concerned about Wal-Mart’s wages and poor health care coverage, despite its economic benefits to customers. It seems taxpayers are forced to pay for Wal-Mart’ Associates, and it has stopped providing health insurance coverage for part-time employees. It’s healthcare plans fail to provide cover to hundreds of thousands of associate. Moreover, many workers are forced to utilize state subsidized benefits, and for a long time, Wal-Mart has denied its employees the right to organize and right to collectively bargain. When it comes to environmental emissions, Walmart has failed to account for major, fast growing sources of pollution and is one of the largest, fastest growing climate polluters in America.
Discussion two
Since its founding in 1962, Walmart has not only blown the competition away, they have also beaten them down. They are the world’s largest company by revenue, approximately $485 billion according to Fortune Global 500 list for the year 2016 with their closest competitor, Amazon, coming in at only $135.98 billion. They are also the largest private employer in the world with over 2 million employees. These large numbers come at a great cost to the communities that surround them and the employment it takes away from those places.
While many people like the idea of a Walmart coming to their area, they don’t quite know the adverse effect it will take on their city. Many communities find that not long after a new store is opened, many of the mom-and-pop businesses that have been staples of their community are not able to survive because they cannot compete with the global giant. They also use foreign labor, to include child workers to help cut costs of goods, which in turn costs the jobs of many Americans. They have also been found to overwork their employees and not compensate them for their time. For example in Pennsylvania, workers sued Walmart for forcing them to work through unpaid breaks and other instances, and the workers won and Walmart was forced to pay $151 million to workers. While the company promises low prices and great deals on everything from groceries to electronics, its actions behind the scenes lead more and more people to not want to shop there.
Many people initially like the idea of a Walmart opening and the convenience it will allow and the money they save. But the wake of destruction that it leaves behind it is something that just can’t be ignored and its time people really started taking a look at it. More and more people these days are wishing they still have those mom-and-pop stores to be able to go to and spend a little extra rather than give to the evil empire, unfortunately by the time they realize it, it is too late.
References:
Making Change at Walmart. (2017). Workers. Walmart and Workers. Retrieved from: http://changewalmart.org/issues/workers/
Ostendorf, C. (2015, May 23). 10 reasons Wal-Mart is the worst company in America. Retrieved November 08, 2017, from https://www.salon.com/2015/05/25/10_reasons_wal_mart_is_the_worst_company_in_america_partner
Fortune Global 500 List 2017: See Who Made It. (n.d.). Retrieved November 08, 2017, from http://fortune.com/global500/list/filtered
Discussion three
Walmart- Competitive Wonder or Community Nightmare
Walmart has definitely been successful enough to have fulfilled the virtues of competition. Walmart has been the most successful store in retail for a long period of time. Walmart was founded by Sam Walton in 1962. Walmart is the world’s largest retail company as well as the largest grocery retailer. The only company that is remotely close to catching up to the success of Walmart is Amazon.
Walmart being such a huge success has had a cost against other retailers and even community members. There are other retail stores such as, K-Mart, Macy’s and others that are shutting down multiple sites of stores due to the competition of Walmart. While community members have the option of shopping at Walmart, what happens to those people that had jobs at those other places? “The research, done by a Northwest community group, estimates that one Walmart store, which is set to open in a Washington neighborhood, will decrease the community’s economic output over 20 years by an estimated $13 million. It also estimates the Walmart will cost the community an additional $14 million in lost wages over the next 20 years.” (Mielach, 2012)Walmart does not pay the employees there a high wage either; this will continue to not be a benefit to the economy in local areas.
The most serious charges against Walmart are the complaints for alleged unfair labor practices. The National Labor Relations Board, which protects the rights of workers, warned Walmart that this could happen. “The agency also said Wal-Mart stores in 14 states unlawfully threatened or disciplined workers who participated in legal strikes and protests. The complaint involves more than 60 employees, 19 of whom were allegedly fired as a result of their participation in the protests. It also named more than 60 Wal-Mart supervisors and one corporate officer. (Fox, 2014)
The most significant benefit that Walmart offe5rs is the jobs that it can give to people so that they have employment. However, not just employment but Walmart offers good health benefits. They will offer benefits to spouses, dependents and they are offering health benefits to the workers’ domestic partners as well. This is probably the most beneficial things that Walmart as a company can do.
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