People Are the Company

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People Are the Company |

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Brandon Kimball |

4/25/2013 |

Submitted to Professor Barclay for the partial completion of the requirements of Business Ethics 457 course. |

In a consumer driven world where demand for every day consumer goods is relentless, one well-known retailer has certainly found their secret for success. Above all known retailers, it is likely this company is the most well-known due to the sheer size as it is larger than six major retailers in the United States combined and the company has the capability to reach all consumers as it operates retail stores in all fifty states (Spector, 2013). Statistically the company has a retail store located within fifteen minutes of driving time for ninety percent of all Americans in the United States (Spector, 2013). Millions of people work inside the company’s stores enough to form the world’s second largest army (Spector, 2013). Billions of dollars are exchanged for goods daily in its more than six-thousand stores throughout the world.

The company registered approximately four-hundred forty-four billion dollars in sales in 2012 and has created one of the largest imprints on consumer retail in history of retail (Spector, 2013). The company has grown quickly from its start in 1962 to become the world’s mega retailer known as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 2013). Wal-Mart has become the symbol for capitalism in the United State and throughout the world but they have also earned the reputation as an overzealous retailer who is to blame for many of the ills of consumerism. “Although it has become the popular symbol of capitalism’s ills, Wal-Mart has a business model that works quite well. Its fanatical focus on eradicating costs aids the largest number of people—the world’s shoppers—while allowing a simple redress for others, who can take their business or labor elsewhere” (Business Week, 2013).

Wal-Mart has made claim to have started the retail revolution with its...