I like their cheap prices but their drive to run all their competitors out of business makes me uneasy. It’s like the Microsoft of grocery stores …
Plus they squeeze their suppliers in an attempt to get lower prices 
Evil evil evil
What other countries do they operate in? It was a big news when they started in China ...
they are certainly bigger than anyone imagined they would be.. and exert a huge influence over their suppliers.. many small suppliers just cannot keep up with their damands and go under..
It's not good for them but it's good for Walmart and their consumers... How that ultimately ties into the whole economy depends on whom you ask..
EVIL....
Their practices are smart business but poor for the community...
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*Originally posted by ahmadjee: *
What other countries do they operate in? It was a big news when they started in China ...
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They now operate in UK as well under the name of "ASDA" supermarkets.
By one estimate Walmart alone will import $15 BILLION worth of goods from China to US in the current year. Thats some clout.
They are good for customers.
Its a FOR PROFIT publicly traded business. What do your guys expect them to do, buy expensive stuff and make losses on them? And the same applies to Microsoft, though they are considered evil for other reasons such as the way they got the software in the first place, how the bought out every competitor and integrated their products so much that no one else could get in and these days the $40 billion in cash.
I think there is a big difference between MS and Walmart.
Walmart so far has only tried to get the greatest performance out of its supply chain, it has not really bought out everyone around it or has a stranglehold on the market place such that no one else can get in (And thats important in comparing it to MS).
Yes they are detrimental to the small suppliers, but there are other market places out there that can deal with the smaller suppliers or deal with the specialty areas that walmart as a low end retailer cant. Also, the market segment that Walmart focuses on at least in the US is very different from what say Target focuses on.
Thats not to say that Walmart isnt a strong player in the market place, just that they have done a lot more good from what I have seen then they are given credit for. They have in a large part forced the use of EDI and other techonologies in the retailing industry, as well as the optimization of first, second and third tier suppliers.
Now if we were talking about their employees and HR, then that would be a different issue.
I think its the world largest company and has has presence in many countries as far as Indonesia.
It does drive out small ones. In our town, they drove out all small grocery stores. They used to be so good. Although Walmart is also good as it has everything. I kinda like it, whenever I miss home, I go to Walmart to pass time…
tsk tsk
have mercy on ur hamsaya qom guys :p
where r all the indians of America gona shop at if something happens to Walmart...the place is always swarming with bindianz
khayr, walmart is good if u wana go cheap but costco is even better...
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*Originally posted by hmcq: *
Also, the market segment that Walmart focuses on at least in the US is very different from what say Target focuses on.
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i think they are in a head to head competitoin!
I am torn about Wal-Mart as much as I am torn about the gay marriage and changing the constitution.
I mean on one hand, who doesn't want to buy milk, bread and dippers cheaper. They are almost 70% of our household expenses. But on the other hand I don’t like big giant cut throat corporations. They are good for the consumer only if they have a competition. It seems Wal-Mart doesn’t have one. Right now we have Albertsons, King Sooper and few local shops where we can buy our grocery.. but Wal-Mart is planning to open a super Wal-mart about 4 miles away from our house, which will mean all others will vanish along with some of the goods (like the kind of Pita Bread I like) that you can’t find at Wal-Mart and we will be forced to buy stuff from there.
Target caters to a different kind of customers, customers who are willing to pay a little more to get a better deal. They don’t have the same kind of stuff on their shelves and certainly not made in China, well most of it anyway. K-Mart comes into that category and lost big time to Wal-Mart.
Why can’t other companies do the same .. does Wal-Mart keep their profit margins very low, so low that others can’t compete? Or is it that other companies can’t go so low on supplies because they don’t buy so much in bulk to ask their suppliers to go low or don’t have contracts in China to make the prices rock bottom?
Secondly, someone mentioned they are not good for the community .. I wanna know how?
Lastly, are the allegations against them as far as HR blunders and paying their employee’s low, true?
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*Originally posted by ahmadjee: *
Secondly, someone mentioned they are not good for the community .. I wanna know how?
L
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From my understanding,
When Wal-Mart goes into a new community they purposely under price the local providers so they can pull in local customers. They do this for a while UNTIL they are able to eliminate all local competition hence local grocers/providers shut down business. They are a big enough company to withstand some short term financial loses (1-2 years). Later, the company will raise prices to be profitable but for the first few years...they do this on purpose.
These local companies then have no income and are forced to find jobs working for companies like Wal-Mart for lower wages (minimum wage), which then decreases the money in the local economy and the buying power of those individuals. You could argue that providing lower prices allows locals to have more money because of savings, but by eleminating competion, wal-mart does not have to maintain prices so low. Further, profit does not stay in the community and thus THAT money is also lost to the local economcy. I don't know much more in detail but i'm sure wal-mart probably gets tax breaks, etc....
HMCQ
Yes, microsoft and walmart are doing what any business would do however, they are creating monopolies which by virtue of being a monopoly eventually decrease innovation and success...they also reduce the financial benefit to the consumer.
I think it's evil. More appropriately, unnecessary.
I kinda see the controversy over WalMart like that of sports player salaries.. wouldn't be anything to complain about if folks weren't so willing to pay to keep them in business at that level.
Myself, I'm willing to pay a few extra bucks for what I need. I don't have a WalMart around here (Germany) but when I was in the States WalMart was just a place to be bored in at 3 in the morning. We used to play basketball there, that or just raise hell in general :D
Not a fan of wal-mart, they take away cities/towns personality by undercutting the ma and pop stores and forcing them under as everyone has stated.
But they are good for the U.S. in the globalization sense
I work at Wal-Mart, infact I've been working for Wal-Mart for the past 2 years as a Sales Associate.
I can honestly say, it may have it's problems but their focus seems more on money. The old workers that have been there for 20-30 years, bitch about it everyday in the breakroom but still work there. Everyone is supposedly waiting for the Stakeholders cheque which is determined by how good you store does, price of Walmart shares, which equals to a sum of $1500 per individual.
I guess this is a way for Wal-Mart to please it's underpaid associates.
But on the contrary, the managers get paid hefty amounts when the stakeholders cheque comes around in March. My store manager makes a salary of $125,000+. So you can see the difference from him and the 30 years ladies working in clothing.
Sure, I could bash the stuff Wal-Mart does with its employee's for a long time. Why am I still there? I dunno. Mainly because they've given me a scholarship, and FIL program which will help me get a corporate job with them after my Bachlors or MBA.
But trust me, Wal-Mart needs to treat it's employee's better. They are scared of the word union, and every manager has his/her own book which says "What to do if you hear the word Union at your store". They just dial some 1-800 number.
Sam Walton's pictures is EVERYWHERE (lounges, offices, etc.) , as if he's some God. If he was alive, I'm sure he would have made this company more respected.
Peoples Champ,
Wal-Mart is in the business of making money. If they won't do that, they will end up in Chapter 11, like K-Mart. I know for a fact, that most employees have very limited focus and can't see beyond their own salary slip, so I won't hold it against the employees or the Corporation :)
amelie,
I think Walmart's prices are fairly uniform. Any item I see on their website is priced the same in their physical store. So how do they under-cut in a specific locality?
underthedome,
I think Walmart is an epitome as to why "globalization" has not proved to such a good idea for the US economy as a whole. The $15 billion of stuff that they buy from China, means all those jobs are in China and not in the US, anymore. Yes, the US consumer wins, but the enormous job losses is the price to pay. You can only buy cheap sweaters if you have some money to pay for it, right? :)
Short-term pain Faisal. You can't sell anything to people who don't have jobs so by providing jobs to China and India you're creating a market that in due time you will be able to tap into. 10,000 burgers are sold everyday at the Beijing McDonalds during lunch, 10,000, that's a hugh market and it's just the beginning.
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*Originally posted by underthedome: *
10,000 burgers are sold everyday at the Beijing McDonalds during lunch, 10,000, that's a hugh market and it's just the beginning.
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I agree that 10,000 burgers may be sold in Beijing.. but how much of the economic benefit is really coming back to US?
Yes, McDonalds started out as a US company, and it probably still has its Corporate HQ somewhere in US... but I don't think they pay much, if any taxes in the US on the income they generate world wide. No jobs are created in the US for the burgers sold in China. Even the machinery McD uses to make those burgers is not fabricated in the US. You get the idea? :)
So, point is, globalization is a fantastic concept for big corporations and other countries... but not so for US, either in short-term or in the long-term. Not atleast till the cost of living in rest of the world comes at par with US, at which time, US will lose the unwanted distinction that it is more expensive to produce stuff in here compared to China/India.
Getting cheaper stuff for US customers is an extremely small benefit compared to major economic problems globalization has caused in the US. Its almost like putting the cart infront of the horse.
Tell a US mechanic in Idaho who lost his job to a Chinese mechanic in Shanghai that now he can buy a shirt in Walmart for only $15 bucks as opposed to $20 a while ago, and he will tell you what he feels about globalization. :)
Although I agree that if some of these major economies - China, India etc to name a few - grow and offer billions of customers to American coporations to sell their products, it may benefit US. For example, Microsoft may be able to sell many more Windows, assuming, ofcourse, by then Microsoft has not itself moved its R&D to Israel and India. And also assuming Microsoft has such crappy tax accountants that they end up paying taxes to IRS on their foreign income, by way of repatriation of huge dividends and lack of transfer pricing. 
Ah! the wonders of globalization :k: