Walmart Case

Case 1 Walmart: The Main Street Merchant of Doom

1. The major issues in this case deal with Walmart’s size, power, and impact on society.

Using the four-part corporate social responsibility model, Walmart has succeeded in their economical responsibilities by becoming the largest retailer in the world with $405 billion in sales for the fiscal year ending in January 31, 2010. In their legal responsibilities Walmart has had some issues with lawsuits from other merchants, employees, and local communities. The employee lawsuits deal with low wages, no overtime pay, few or low benefits, and illegal immigrants. Walmart’s ethical responsibilities include their responsibility to local communities through ethical business practices. This is where Walmart gets the majority of criticism. Activists complain that Walmart is unethical because they put small local businesses out of business because they can’t compete with Walmart’s low prices and vast availability. However, supporters of Walmart claim that Walmart actually prevents local merchants from taking advantage of the community by overpricing. Statistics show that Walmart has actually lowered inflation by 1%. Walmart is one of the world leaders in philanthropic responsibility. A great majority of its charitable donations are made at the local level, where it can have the greatest impact. At the fiscal end of 2009, Walmart had given $423 million globally in donations. Walmart has won many awards for its philanthropic efforts.

Even though Walmart has a negative impact on local merchants, Walmart can still be thought of as socially responsible because of what they do for the local communities. Although Walmart is factor in urban sprawl and traffic congestion, it is widely known as one of the worlds most environmentally friendly companies. Walmart has an economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibility to each and every community in which it operates.

2. Sam Walton was known as a motivational genius because...