Week 2-strategic plannning: Week 3-Ethics and social responsibility

Walmart (strategy to beating competitors)

At some point Sam Walton made the decision to achieve higher sales volumes by keeping sales prices lower than his competitors by reducing his profit margin. By 1970, he had eleven Walton's stores Inspired by the successes of other discount department store chains, Walton opened the first store in his own discount chain in Rogers, Arkansas that year. Responsible for the purchase and maintenance of signage, Walton's assistant, Bob Bogle, came up with the name "Wal-Mart" for the new chain. By 1967, the company grew to 24 stores across the state of Arkansas, and had reached $12.6 million in sales, and by 1968, the company opened its first stores outside of Arkansas in Sikeston, Missouri and Claremore, Oklahoma.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Week 3-Ethics and social responsibility

The values that set us apart from others -- respect for the individual, service

to our customers and striving for excellence -- rest on the foundation of

personal integrity and responsibility. Associates in all areas and levels of

our business are responsible for understanding and complying with our

Statement of Ethics. I encourage you to be a champion for integrity by

engaging fellow associates in conversation and setting an example

through your words and actions.

We also expect and need you to speak up if you have concerns about any

inappropriate behavior you observe. It’s important for us to know about

issues upfront so we can work to resolve them immediately. We recognize

the responsibility that comes with that requirement. And we know that the

decision to speak up can be a difficult one. Silence can condone questionable

behavior -- and the actions or inactions of just one associate who makes a

poor choice can impact our entire company. That’s why we’re committed to

sharing the responsibility with you. We encourage you to use the resources

available to you such as the Open Door process and the Global Ethics

Helpline. The Global Ethics Helpline is a tool that is available for you to raise

your concerns confidentially and anonymously, without fear of

consequences.

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walmart

Over the last decade or so Wal-Mart has become involved in thousands of lawsuits for a variety of reasons. The majority of the suits are class action lawsuits in which employees are suing for unpaid wages. They have also run into many discrimination cases in which employees are suing for being profiled out of money or out of jobs. For instance, there were two separate cases, one in 2004 and one in 2005 in which African Americans were suing two different Wal-Marts for denying them jobs based on race. These became so popular that the reverend Jesse Jackson spoke during both of the proceedings. There are also many lawsuits in which women are suing Wal-Mart for discriminating against them. In one article written in 2004 USA today mentioned 32 different lawsuits that involved women suing Wal-Mart. All of this has not affected Wal-Mart financially however, according to Fortune 500, Wal-Mart still had $351 billion in revenue ($11 billion in profit) in 2007, a new high for the corporation.