Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sustainability Report
of
Walmart
Submitted to- Dr. Rajul Singh
Submitted by-
Pankaj Singh
Sec. D
PGDRM- 810
Walmart Stores Inc.
History-
Walmart was founded in 1962, with the opening of the first Walmart discount store in
Rogers, Ark. The company incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., on Oct. 31, 1969. The
company's shares began trading on OTC markets in 1970 and were listed on the New
York Stock Exchange two years later.
The company grew to 276 stores in 11 states by the end of the decade. In 1983, the
company opened its first Sam’s Club membership warehouse and in 1988 opened the
first supercenter -- now the company’s dominant format -- featuring a complete grocery
in addition to general merchandise. Walmart became an international company in 1991
when it opened its first Sam's Club near Mexico City.
Purpose-
Saving people money to help them live better was the goal that Sam Walton envisioned
when he opened the doors to the first Walmart more than 40 years ago. Today, this
mission is more important than ever to our customers and members around the world.
We work hard every day in all our markets to deliver on this promise. We operate with
the same level of integrity and respect that Mr. Sam put in place. It is because of these
values and culture that Walmart continues to make a difference in the lives of our
customers, members and associates.
Culture @ Walmart
Mr. Sam’s values-
We’re known around the world as the company that helps our customers save money so
they can live better. We’re also well known for our unique corporate culture. Sam
Walton built our business on values and morals. Those rules and customs have helped us
become one of the world’s most admired companies.
Open door-
Sundown rule-
Observing the Sundown Rule means we do our best to answer requests by the close of
business on the day we receive them. Whether it's a request from a store across the
country or a call from down the hall, we do our very best to give each other and our
customers same-day service. We do this by combining our efforts and depending upon
each other to get things done.
Sam’s philosophy lives on today in Walmart’s Grass Roots Process, our formal way of
capturing associates’ ideas, suggestions and concerns.
10-Foot Rule-
The 10-foot Rule is one of our secrets to customer service. During his many store visits,
Sam Walton encouraged associates (employees) to take this pledge with him: "I promise
that whenever I come within 10 feet of a customer, I will look him in the eye, greet him,
and ask if I can help him."
Walmart Stores
Walmart Discount Stores-
Founder Sam Waltan opened his first Walmart discount store in 1962. Today, there are 710 stores
offering a pleasant and convenient shopping experience across the United States. The size of an
average store is 108,000 square feet. Each store employs about 225 associates.
Stores feature wide, clean, brightly-lit aisles and shelves stocked with a variety of
quality, value-priced general merchandise, including:
• Family apparel
• Healthy and beauty aids
• Electronics
• Toys
• Lawn and garden items
•
• Automotive products
• Home furnishings
• Hardware
• Sporting goods
• Pet supplies
• Housewares
Walmart supercenters-
Walmart Supercenters were developed in 1988 to meet the growing demand for
convenient, one-stop family shopping featuring its famous Every Day Low Prices.
Walmart save you time and money by combining a full grocery and our general
merchandise under one roof.
There are 2,899 Supercenters nationwide, and most are open 24 hours. Supercenters
average 185,000 square feet and employ about 350 or more associates.
• Bakery goods
• Meat and dairy products
• Fresh produce
• Dry goods and staples
• Beverages
• Deli foods
• Frozen foods
• Canned and packaged goods
• Condiments and spices
• Household supplies
• Vision center
• Tire & Lube Express
• Brand-name restaurants
• Portrait studio and
one-hour photo center
First opened in 1998, there are now 181 Neighborhood Markets, each employing about
95 associates. A typical store is about 42,000 square feet.
• Fresh produce
• Meat and Dairy products
• Frozen foods
• Dry goods and staples
• Health and beauty aids
• Stationery and paper goods
• Drive-through pharmacy
• Deli foods
• Bakery items
• Canned and packaged goods
• Condiments and spices
• Pet supplies
• Household supplies
• One-hour photo center
Marketside-
Opened in 2008, Marketside stores are small community pilot grocery stores
specializing in fresh, delicious meals at great prices. In its stores, customers can shop for
a variety of fresh ingredients, restaurant-quality prepared meals and their everyday
favorite national brands - even freshly baked breads and a wide assortment of wines.
Walmart provide a fresh and convenient shopping experience for busy people who want
an easy answer to the question, 'What's for dinner?'
• ENTRÉES AND SIDES inspired by classically trained chefs and ready to serve in
minutes.
• An assortment of HOT FOODS like pizzas, roasted chickens, soups and breads
that are fresh out of our oven.
• Daily deliveries of fresh produce, meats and flowers for GUARANTEED
FRESHNESS.
• More than 300 NATURAL AND ORGANIC products throughout the entire store.
• A vast assortment of wines, with over 200 under $10.*
• Plus, all the GROCERY BRANDS you want at low, low prices!
Walmart.com-
Founded in 2000, Walmart.com brings the convenience, great merchandise selection,
friendly service and Every Day Low Prices of your neighborhood Walmart to the
Internet.
Walmart.com features more than 1,000,000 products, plus easy-to-use music downloads
and digital one-hour photo services. And it is adding more great products every day.
During the holidays, Walmart.com features many special offers available only online.
It’s also a convenient place to find out about its exciting in-store holiday specials.
Environment Sustainability
Walmart, knows that being an efficient and profitable business and being a good steward
of the environment are goals that can work together. Our broad environmental goals at
Walmart are simple and straightforward:
“Walmart's efforts have been recognized through numerous awards which would not
be possible without the support of its customers, associates and communities around the
world.”
Greenhouse Gas
Sustainable Buildings
Alternative Fuels
Logistics
Waste
Packaging
Textiles
Electronics
Sandwich Baling-
In walmart's U.S. stores and clubs they use a “sandwich baling” process to recycle more
waste. They sandwich loose plastic — shrink wrap, garment bags and grocery bags —
between layers of cardboard and bundle it together in bales that are sent to certified
processors for recycling. Sandwich baling prevents them from sending millions of
pounds of trash to the landfill and it’s adding millions of dollars to their bottom line—
which is good for their customers.
Less packaging-
Much of their waste comes from packaging materials used in shipping. Its Packaging
Network works with suppliers to reduce their packaging and ensure that the packaging
they do use can be recycled or reused. Reduced packaging creates savings for its
suppliers, its business and most important—for its customers.
These are just a few examples of how Walmart are reducing waste:
• By reducing the packaging on one of our patio sets they are able to use 400 fewer
shipping containers to deliver them. They created less trash and saved their
customers more while doing it.
• They worked with one of their toy suppliers to help them reduce packaging on 16
items. As a result, they were able to use 230 fewer shipping containers to
distribute their products, saving about 356 barrels of oil and 1,300 trees. By
broadening this initiative to 255 items, they expect to save 1,000 barrels of oil,
3,800 trees and millions of dollars in transportation costs.
• Through sandwich baling, they estimate that they’ve diverted 1100 tons of plastic
from landfills. That's enough to fill a football field 38 feet deep.
Electronics Recycling-
Moreover, we think it’s important to partner with responsible recyclers, such as those
working with us and Samsung. Such partners aren’t allowed to incinerate, send to solid
waste landfill, or export toxic waste (defined in a manner consistent with the commonly
accepted definition of hazardous electronic waste) to developing countries. This way, we
are truly building a better world for generations to come.
Packaging-
Around the globe they are working with their suppliers to develop sustainable solutions
to product packaging. They developed an online packaging scorecard to gather
information on suppliers’ product packaging and help their buyers make more informed
purchasing decisions.
Goals-
• Reduce packaging by 5 percent globally by 2013 (2008 Baseline).
•
• Eliminate PVC from private brand packaging in the U.S.
Waste-
One of Walmart's primary sustainability goals is to create zero waste. They are working
to eliminate the waste they send to the landfill through a variety of initiatives.
They focus on the three “R’s” when thinking about their waste – reduce, reuse and
recycle.
• Reduce. They are working with suppliers to reduce the amount of packaging and
waste that enters their stores.
Plastic Bag Initiative. In 2008, they committed to reduce the plastic shopping
bag waste at their stores around the world by an average of 33 percent per store by
2013 using a 2007 baseline.
● Reuse. They are working with suppliers to integrate recycled materials into new
products and showing customers the positive environmental effect of reusing
these recycled materials.
Reusable bags In October 2007, they started selling reusable bags at Sam's Club
and Walmart stores in the U.S. In 2008, they expanded their reusable bag selection
at Walmart stores to include two bags, a black bag and blue bag, which are both
made out of recycled materials and can be recycled when they wear out. They
estimate over their lifetime, the bags:
● Recycle. Their stores around the world are recycling millions of pounds of
materials generated from the back of our stores. They’re reducing the amount of
waste sent to landfills and their need to use virgin materials.
Closed Loop. They are developing a closed-loop program to send some of their
materials to suppliers who then use the material to make new products that return
to Walmart’s shelves or operations.
● Super Sandwich Bale. Many recyclable trash items – such as loose plastic,
plastic hangers, office paper, aluminum cans – are unruly and hard to collect for
recycling, so they implemented a super sandwich bale at all of their stores and
clubs in the U.S.
● Like a sandwich, the recyclable items are pressed between two stacks of
cardboard then bundled for transportation.
● This process helps them recycle more than 30 commodities, including:
● loose plastic and bags,
● cardboard,
● aluminum cans,
● plastic hangers,
● plastic water and soda bottles,
● office paper, and
● paperback books amongst other items.
● Since integrating this process into their facilities, they have redirected:
● 182 million pounds of plastic,
● 18.9 million pounds of plastic hangers,
● 12.4 million pounds of office paper, and
● 1.3 million pounds of aluminum from going to landfills.
Walmart joined with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in 2005 to help preserve
their nation’s most precious lands and natural resources. That program, Acres for
America, has succeeded far beyond its early goals—and, in the process, has become a
model of successful cooperation between the corporate and the environmental
communities.
Alternative Fuels-
In an effort to reach their goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy, their
Alternative Fuels Network is incorporating renewable fuels into their retail fuel
locations and in their fleet of trucks.
Greenhouse Gases-
Every company has a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as it
can. Walmart is committed to reducing their carbon footprint and they are working with
our suppliers and customers to do the same.
• Design and open a viable store prototype that is 25-30 percent more energy
efficient and will produce up to 30 percent fewer greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions by 2009 globally (2005 Baseline).
• Reduce GHG at their existing store, club and distribution center base around the
world by 20 percent by 2012 (2005 Baseline).
• Eliminate 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from
Walmart's global supply chain by the end of 2015.
Walmart is actively engaged in reducing their carbon footprint. Their climate program
has four inter-related components:
They are investing in renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency in our buildings
and trucks, reducing waste from our store and club operations, working with suppliers to
take carbon out of product manufacturing, packaging, transportation, and use, and
supporting legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Renewable Energy-
At Walmart, they know that being a profitable and efficient business goes hand-in-hand
with being a good steward of the environment. In an effort to reach Walmart’s larger
goal of being supplied by 100 percent renewable energy, they are committed to finding
more ways to implement and utilize renewable energy sources in their stores, clubs and
distribution centers.
When it comes to energy, they continue making progress towards our long-term goal by
using more renewable sources and becoming more efficient. For example, they have
installed a significant number of micro wind turbines at our Sam's Club in Palmdale,
California, and store in Worchester, Mass., they are using solar energy in California and
Hawaii and purchasing wind energy in Texas and Mexico.
• Wind Power
• Solar Power
Sustainable Buildings-
They continue to integrate innovative ways to make their stores, Sam’s Club and all
other facilities more energy efficient, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, conserve water
and increase the use of recycled materials that reduce their use of virgin materials.
• Design and open a viable store prototype that is 25-30 percent more energy
efficient and will produce up to 30 percent fewer GHG emissions by 2009
globally (2005 Baseline).
• Reduce greenhouse gases at their existing store, club and distribution center base
around the world by 20 percent by 2012 (2005 Baseline).
• Looking at the emissions created from their adjusted baseline of stores, clubs and
distribution centers in 2008 compared to 2005, their most recent complete annual
data shows that they have been able to decrease the GHG emissions created by
those facilities around the world by 5.1 percent, meaning that they are about 25
percent of the way toward achieving their goal. They have achieved this current
level of reduction by installing energy-efficient technologies into their buildings.
They are continuing to pursue this challenging goal.
Conclusion
Saving people money to help them live better is the goal that Sam Walton envisioned
when he opened the doors to the first Walmart store in 1962, and it remains their focus
today. They contineued to find ways to reduce costs and make a healthy sustainable
environment while bringing quality products to their customers.