‘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.
Is walmart good for America? Walmart is known as a famous store where everybody in america goes. But is walmart really benefiting the U.S. people. There is a lot of rumpus between walmart and the people. There is many pros and cons about walmart.
Walmart was founded in the summer of 1962 by Kingfisher, Oklahoma native Sam Walton. Although Walton’s original vision for the store was relatively modest, the half century since its founding has seen Walmart morph into one of the biggest companies in the world. Today headed by one Doug McMillon, Walmart boasts more than 5000 stores in the United States of America alone and employs more than 1.5 million people. Walmart is undoubtedly an American institution, yet each Walmart store feels like its own little country. Walmart seems to have its own laws and customs and the people who shop their on a regular basis appear almost primitive in their behavior as they go about raiding the store’s shelves and wrestling with fellow customers for discount flat screen televisions and bulk packages of two-ply toilet paper.
In fact, Walmart destroys more jobs than it creates for the local people of a community. Walmart drives local competition away, when they first start in a new community they put local merchants out of business due to lack of customers. The price of goods offered by Walmart can never be beaten by local business holders which again steal the customers away. Furthermore, this will cause the lack of income to families which earn their money from owning a local business. Although, Walmart claims that it creates jobs, but most of them are part time jobs.
This video brought more insight on an economic perspective when it comes to Wal-Mart. Up until now, my knowledge has admittedly come from the vast cloud of Netflix documentaries. Which tend to show a much more empathetic, personal or sociological perspective of the inner happenings of the giant company. No matter what I am watching, the theme remains the same with Wal-Mart, economic gains for those able to supply mass quantities for the demands as retailers are “urged” to ramp up production, supply Wal-Mart and ship to America from places like China. Some of what surprises me most in “Is Wal-Mart Good for America,” is how one company has managed to single handedly create a global retail and economic trade model for an entire generation.
Wal-Mart stores are one of the most successful retailing chains in the world and have an advantage over its competitors. Its low prices, size, and power are what makes Wal-Mart so helpful to Canadians. A few companies, like Walmart, create such controversies when it comes to managing low costs and high profits. So why do some people believe that Walmart is so bad for Canadians? Residents either love shopping at Walmart or they despise it.
For example, some believe “the nation’s largest private employer” (Source E) should be able to pay its workers more than the average. All in all, because of its low prices, variety of goods, and convenient locations, Walmart is good for America. One of the main reasons people love Walmart is their low prices. Walmart, according to Source B, “allows people to buy the products they need at reasonable
Walmart is beneficial because it create competition that
The company is the world’s largest employer and more than 140 million Americans shop the Walmart stores weekly. Its fiscal year revenue eclipses its closest competition. Walmart employs 1.4 million Americans. The pay is not the best but they offer the chance
"Over the past ten years, Wal-Mart has become the world's largest and arguably most powerful retailer with the highest sales per square foot, inventory turnover, and operating profit of any discount retailer." ( Lu, 2014, p.1) Wal-Mart was conceived with the aim of supplying customers with products anytime and anyplace they want them. They strived to build cost structures that allow them to offer everyday low prices and develop extremely controlled supply chain management strategies to take market leadership. "Wal-Mart stores offers retail expertise to forecast demand and manage inventory, logistics expertise to create efficient fulfillment, leverage with suppliers, and lower marketing costs (Knowledge@Wharton, 2000)."(Eidem, 2012, p.812)
Walmart have so much power to control suppliers because of their superior in the market and they can also pick the price for goods
Wal-Mart has faced numerous lawsuits for inequitable labor. The huge market enterprise values its employees with little respect. For example, it demands for long hours and overtime shifts to meet holiday sales. This is one of the reasons why the company has earned an outstanding profit over the decade. Yet, with all the affluence the company has, it still does not compensate for workers' healthcare benefits nor their low wages.
Walmart, like most big businesses strives to keep cost down both for itself and its customers. Walmart however is especially dangerous toward the American economy and American workers. Walmart pays minimum wage and gives workers no benefits, it outsources to China and gets rid of american factory and manufacturing jobs. Some say all of this is the cost of helping the consumer get cheaper products however the costs may not be worth the benefits. Walmart is known for its cheap prices however it also has another reputation.
There are many Walmart’s in the United States 4,672 is a rough estimate. Even though there are many out there, Walmart employees are paid low wages. Its low prices are possible Due to the low wages it pays it workers. “Wal-Mart and its apologists claim that these low prices are saving people hundreds of billions of dollars a year. But the truth is that Wal-Mart’s low prices serve the entire capitalist class in the United States.
Walmart, is an American multi-billion dollar low-cost retail organization that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores (Walmart, 2016). It also known as a multinational retail corporation, which started small, with the simple idea of selling more for less as a single discount store, has grown over the last 50 years into today’s largest retailer of the world (Our Story- About Us, 2016). According to Wikipedia (2016), Walmart is a family-owned business company, founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated on October 31, 1969. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, that organized under four divisions: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, Sam's Club and Global e-Commerce.
