IS WAL-MART'S IMPACT GOOD OR NOT

Is Wal-Mart's impact good or not



Is Wal-Mart's impact good or not

Introduction

Wal-Mart is the largest retailer of the world. In fact it can be said that it's the largest corporation on planet. In the year the annual sales of the Wal-Mart exceeded a staggering $200 billion, and at that time analyst predicted that this figure will rise to $700 billion in the year 2010. The company was first founded by Sam Walton in the year 1962, and incorporated in the year, 1969. Initially the shares were traded in the New York stock exchange. It is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. (Stanley, 2006) In the year 2009 it successfully generated 51% of the revenues from the U.S market alone which is around $ 258billion. The Sam's Club retail warehouse is also owned by the Wal-Mart in the North America. The basic reason behind the success story of Wal-Mart in the United States of America was the philosophy of “consumerism” which prevails in the United States as people here buy things in a bulk quantity.

Discussion

When self-service and discounts have become big business in the 60's, Sam Walton defined the rules and explained them incessantly to his employees, called associates. And it established a new paradigm so powerful. Only a few years in its early stages, the average discount stores were nearly doubled and tripled their sales. In 1992, the year of the death of Sam Walton, Wal-Mart had 1,900 superstores with more than 430,000 employees. Sales reached U.S. $ 55 billion with earnings of close to two billion. (Charles, 2006) Thus was formed the world's largest hypermarket. In 1985, Forbes revealed that Sam Walton was the richest man in America. And Wal-Mart won praise for being one of the best-managed companies in the U.S.

Despite being one of the most successful and biggest corporations of the world there are few aspects where it's lacking and it questions the overall impact created by the company on the world. The general perception of the people about the corporation is that it is serving our country and significantly contributing to the economy. The other side of the picture is not well known. It is rightly said “with great powers, comes greater responsibilities”. Therefore in this essay I will be focusing on the negative impacts posed by Wal-Mart on our economy and society.

Negative impacts of Wal-Mart

According to different critics the Wal-Mart is if found guilty for creating many negative impacts to the society. Few of the major criticism are as under

The issue of paying low wages to its employees, and workers and found guilty of abusing them as well.

Indirectly spying on the customer entering a store by employing an elderly greeter at the door, which looks intimidating to most of the customers.

Destroying the local retail stores business and eventually leading to the destruction of “Main Street” look in cities and small town.

Gender based and sexual discrimination.

Creation of environmental issues.

Low wages

Wal-Mart is being criticized by many critics for paying low wagers to its ...