Case Study Wal-Mart

Brittney Carrington

Ethics 306

26 January 2010

Case Study Wal-Mart

Case Study #1 – Wal-Mart

1. Evaluate how Wal-Mart has ranked and responded to various stakeholders.

Wal-Mart is known worldwide for its Every Day Low Prices (EDLP). The thing that is not focused on is that, the continuous push by Wal-Mart for lower prices affects the suppliers in various ways. On more than one occasion suppliers have been forced to move their production outside the United States to compensate the difference between cost of materials and the demanding low price that Wal-Mart insists on. It is unfortunate to the employees that work for Wal-Mart at the time of transfer because all of the employees are impelled to either quit or their job will be terminated.

There are many companies the believe that supplying Wal-Mart is holding their business together, needless to say, there are also those who feel as if they conflict with Wal-Mart and the best thing for their company and business is to discontinue service with them. Various stakeholders, such as vendors, workers, communities and customers are being served poorly, and no business can survive working this way because not only does the business itself suffer, the competitors have so much they can exploit. It makes complete sense as to why Wal-Mart works so hard to shape perceptions. If many of these weaknesses were well known and understood, Wal-Mart could not survive.

2. Why do you think Wal-Mart has had a recent number of ethical issues that have been in the news almost constantly?

The current situation our economy is in leads us to inquire more about prices and take a deeper look at ethical relations within our retail markets. With Wal-Mart being the world’s largest retailer, they are put in the primary spot light. Wal-Mart creates an illusion to become more successful than its competitors. Consumers strongly believe that Wal-Mart’s prices are lower than any other retail market. Because consumers think that...