Summary Of Is Walmart Good For America

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‘Is Wal-Mart Good for America?’ On PBS Frontline, May 11, 2015 ‘Is Wal-Mart Good for America?’ is a documentary that examines the relationship between Wal-Mart’s rapid growth and its impact on the US economy ever since it blossomed in trade productivity in the mid 20th century. The documentary, published on February 2014 by PBS Frontline, conveys a deep understanding of how Wal-Mart changed the living standards of many Americans and took consumerism and retail logistics in the U.S. to another level; by cutting costs through offshore outsourcing to China and employing cheap Chinese labor. The documentary focuses on the changing relationship between big retailers and manufacturers and the transition in pricing and decision-making. Wal-Mart …show more content…

In Wooster, Ohio, a company called Rubber Maid who was once very successful around the year 1994 in producing plastic pails and waste cans of excellent quality, became one of Wal-Mart’s suppliers, which helped it grow and grow yet Rubber Maid was not able to sustain this growth since the price of its main raw material called Resin increased thus Rubber Maid had to propose an increase in its prices, however Wal-Mart refused that increase and Rubber Maid eventually sold out in the year 1999 and as mentioned in the documentary a 1000 jobs were lost. It is important to mention that Wal-Mart made it clear to Rubber Maid that if it wanted to stay in business it had to maintain low prices or else it would lose its major …show more content…

This seems like a smart marketing trick that is surely used in other retailers. And what really matters here is that the average American or even those who cannot afford buying things from regular superstores can actually enjoy shopping at Wal-Mart and buy just anything they need at preferential prices. This is the result of Asian-based imports where cutting costs helps Wal-Mart sell at the lowest prices possible thus being able to serve all classes of the