Term

Howard R. Stephens

Business Ethics

Do you think Walmart is doing enough to become sustainable? Yes, I do believe Wal-Mart is doing enough to become more sustainable. Wal-Mart is one of the most powerful companies internationally.   As with all things that come with power, Wal-Mart’s business practices are examined thoroughly.   This includes their relationships with suppliers, employees, consumers, and the environment.   Wal-Mart has applied many new ways of getting energy to their other stores.   They also regulate electricity usage in their stores based on a daylight dimming system.   They adjust the input of electricity in lighting based on the natural light.   They also are making efforts to regulate their heating and cooling system.

2. What are the problems that Walmart has faced, and what has the company done to address them?

Wal-Mart, as many other large companies, faces many problems and issues that would take many books to review and analyze. I’ll focus on two in this question: The employees of Wal-Mart and the effect of Wal-Mart on communities. Wal-Mart has a long history of employee disenfranchisement, from pay, health benefits, low wages, discrimination and employment of illegal immigrants the list can drag on and on. Wal-Mart discourages unions and has done so since the days of founder Sam Walton. This may be a contributing factor to why the employees get treated so poorly.  Recently Wal-Mart recognizes its failures and is trying to better its relationship with employees. Wal-Mart has been accused of failing to provide health insurance for more than 60% of its employees, when the public caught wind of this injustice, shares for the company plummeted  by 27%. In lieu of bad press received from the treatment of employees Wal-Mart raised pay tied to performance and improved its health benefits package by lowering deductibles and implementing a generic prescription drug plan estimated to save employees $25 million. In any organization of the size and...