Wal- Mart` negative impact on the community and the economy of the US.

Wal-Mart ' Negative Impact on the Community and the Economy of the U .S

Introduction

Retail business establishments have their own unique promotional strategy to get

patronage from customers . Some of them opt to make the fazade of their store attractive to

customers and offer competitive prices of their products . Other business establishments

implement a family member atmosphere in the store to get the nod of the customers and keep

them coming back . The most effective strategy based from common sense is simply give the

customers what they want

, and that is a lowest price that no other competitor stores in the

locality can give . This has been the strategy being implemented by Wal-Mart . Their unique

selling proposition (USP in Marketing parlance ) is Every Day Low Prices ( Wal-Mart Fact Sheet

n .d . 2nd paragaraph . This strategy of Wal-Mart Sores , Inc . earned for them the world 's largest retailer ( Wal-Mart Fact Sheet , n .d .1st para ) with sales of 285 .2 billion in 2005 . The Fact Sheet reported that the

company employs1 .6 million satisfied associates worldwide in 3 ,600 facilities in the U .S . and 1 ,570

stores worldwide . Because of this volume of business , the Fact Sheet added that Wal-Mart Sam 's Club

Foundation was able to donate 170 million to fund the needs of the communities where their stores are

located last 2005 . The Fact Sheet further claims that Wal-Mart was presented with the Ron Brown

Award for Corporate Leadership , a presidential award that recognizes companies for outstanding

achievement in employee relations and community initiatives ( 4th para

At the back of these laurels and awards , widespread poverty and deterioration of the

communities around Wal-Mart stores were observed . Goetz , S . J . and Swaminathan , H ( 2006 ) attested to

this observation and concluded from their study that counties with more initial (1987 ) Wal-Mart

stores and counties with more additions of stores between 1987 and 1998 experienced greater

increases (or smaller decreases ) in family-poverty rates during the 1990s economic boom

period . This aims to document the negative impact of Wal-Mart to the community and the

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economy of U .S . and explain why these negative impacts came into being despite the fact that

the company is multi-awarded for community service and employee relation

11 . Wal-Mart Stores outside the U .S

Wal-Mart stores are present in Mexico , Puerto Rico , Canada , Argentina Brazil , China , Korea

Germany and the United Kingdom ( Wal-Mart Fact Sheet , 1st paragraph In these countries (except

Germany and U .K ) it is an accepted reality that widespread oppression of workers in factories making

products for Wal-Mart are rampant . In the Philippines , Wal-Mart is not yet present as of year 2000 , but a

transshipment warehouse was established to cater to stores in Japan and the rest of Asia ( union-

network .org , 2000 . Although Wal-Mart is not actively retailing in the Philippines , they have

commissioned a number of garment factories to make clothes for them . One such company is Chong Won

Fashion Factory , Korean -owned and operating in one of...