Wal-Mart

[Bibliography]
SUBJECT OF BOOKS
Anthony Bianco. Wal-Wart: How the High Cost
of Everyday Low Prices Is Hurting America.
Random House. 2007.
Stanley D. Brunn (editor). Wal-Mart World: The
World's Biggest Corporation in the Global
Economy. CRC Press. 2006.
John Dicker. The United States of Wal-Mart.
Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin. 2005. 245
Liza Featherstone. Selling Women Short: The
Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-
Mart. Basic Books. 2005.
Charles Fishman. The Wal-Mart Effect: How the
World's Most Powerful Company Really Works:
And how It's Transforming the American
Economy. Penguin Group. 2006.
Nelson Lichtenstein. Wal-Mart: The Face of
Twenty-First-Century Capitalism. New Press.
2006.
William H. Marquard. Wal-Smart: What It Really
Takes to Profit in a Wal-Mart World. McGraw-
Hill Professional. 2006.
Bob Ortega. In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story
of Sam Walton and How Wal-Mart Is Devouring
the World. Kogan Page Publishers. 1999. .
David Porter; Chester L. Mirsky. Megamall on
the Hudson: Planning, Wal-Mart and Grassroots
Resistance. Trafford Publishing. 2002.
Bill Quinn. How Wal-Mart is Destroying America
(and the World) and what You Can Do About It.
Ten Speed Press. 2000. 171pp.
Donald Soderquist. The Wal-Mart Way: The
Inside Story of the Success of the World's
Largest Company. T. Nelson. 2005. 210pp.
Greg Spotts. Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low
Price. The Disinformation Company. 2005.
221pp.
Sandra Stringer Vance; Roy V. Scott. Wal-Mart:
A History of Sam Walton's Retail Phenomenon.
Gale Group. 1997. 256pp.
Richard K. Vedder; Wendell Cox. The Wal-Mart
Revolution: How Big-box Stores Benefit
Consumers, Workers, and the Economy. AEI
Press. 2006. 210pp.
INTRODUCTION
Wal-Mart's history is one of innovation,
leadership and success. Wal-Mart was
founded by Sam Walton in 1962, it was
incorporated on October 31, 1969, and
listed on the New York Stock Exchange in
1972. It started with a single store in
Rogers, Arkansas in 1962 and has grown to
what is now the world's largest and
arguably, the most emulated retailer. Some
researchers refer to Wal-Mart as the
industry trendsetter. Today, this retailing
pioneer has annual revenues of over $100
billion, 3,000 stores and more than 750,000
employees worldwide. Wal-Mart operates
each store, from the products it stocks, to
the front-end equipment that helps speed
checkout, with the same philosophy:
provide everyday low prices and superior
customer service. Lower prices also
eliminate the expense of frequent sales
promotions and sales are more predictable.
Wal-Mart has invested heavily in its unique
cross-docking inventory system. Cross
docking has enabled Wal-Mart to achieve
economies of scale which reduce its costs of
sales. With this system, goods are
continuously delivered to stores within 48
hours and often without having to stock
them. This allows Wal-Mart to replenish the
shelves 4 times faster than its competition.
Wal-Mart's ability to replenish theirs
shelves four times faster than its
competition is just another advantage they
have over competition. Wal-Mart leverages
its buying power through purchasing in
bulks and distributing the goods on it' own.
Wal-Mart guarantees everyday low prices
and considers them the one stop shop.
Wal-Mart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in
the UK as ASDA, and in Japan as Seiyu. It
has wholly owned operations in Argentina,
Brazil, Canada, and Puertorico. Wal-Mart's
investments outside North America have
had mixed results: its operations in South
America and China are highly successful,
while it was forced to pull out of Germany
and South Korea when ventures there were
unsuccessful. Consumers can also shop
Wal-Mart through their easily accessable
website on the internet by visiting
http://www.walmart.com
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc
is an American public corporation that runs
a chain of large discount department stores
and a chain of warehouse stores. In 2010 it
wasthe world's largest public corporation
by revenue, according to the ForbesGlobal
2000 for that year. The company was
founded by Sam Walton in
1962,incorporated on October 31, 1969,
and publicly traded on the New York Stock
Exchange in 1972.
workforce
With over 2.2 million employees worldwide,
Walmart has faced a torrent of lawsuits and
issues with regards to its workforce. These
issues involve low wages, poor working
conditions, inadequate health care, as well
as issues involving the company's strong
anti-union policies. In November 2013 the
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
announced that it had found that in 13 U.S.
states Wal-Mart had pressured employees
not to engage in strikes on Black Friday, and
had illegally disciplined workers who had
engaged in strikes. Critics point to
Walmart's high turnover rate as evidence of
an unhappy workforce, although other
factors may be involved. Approximately
70% of its employees leave within the first
year. Despite this turnover rate, the
company is still able to affect
unemployment rates. This was found in a
study by Oklahoma State University which
states, "Walmart is found to have
substantially lowered the relative
unemployment rates of blacks in those
counties where it is present, but to have
had only a limited impact on relative
incomes after the influences of other socio-
economic variables were taken into
account."
Walmart is the largest private employer in
the United States, employing almost five
times as many people as IBM, the second
largest employer. Walmart employs more
African Americans than any other private
employer in the United States.
On February 23, 2015, Walmart announced
that it is bumping its minimum wage to $10
an hour by February 2016.