Wal-Mart in offensive to boost image
We have got to eliminate this constant barrage of negatives…that cause people to wonder [whether] Wal-Mart was going to be allowed to grow. Because, clearly, the customer is going to allow us to grow. We have not got our story out to the extent that we need to. We as a company have failed to tell people that we in fact don’t have a majority of part-time jobs - almost 80 per cent of our jobs are full-time jobs. We don’t pay the minimum wage. We spent $2bn in health benefits last year.
- Lee Scott, CEO, WalMart
If a company has a reputation for underpaying and mistreating it’s workers, for squeezing it’s suppliers, for killing small business, or for discriminating against it’s female employees, you’d think that company would do the right thing and work to rectify the problem, right? Well, perhaps you shouldn’t be so $%#*!)@ naive, eh?
Here’s one lesson you’re going to need to learn if you’re going to survive in the pressure-cooker world of Big Business: it’s about the bottom line, stupid. If it doesn’t add value for shareholders, you can kiss it good-bye. Period. End of story.
If you’re WalMart, the problem is the image, not the reality. Hey, there’s no problem that can’t be fixed with just the right PR spin, eh?
Wal-Mart vowed to go on the offensive to protect its reputation from critics of its business and labour practices, and said growing opposition would not slow its growth.
Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s chief executive, told a Goldman Sachs retail conference in New York that the world’s largest company was engaged in an “outreach programme” to get its story across.
The company has faced growing publicity over the past year over its poor pay and benefits for workers. It has also met increased opposition to new stores - often organised by labour unions - particularly as it expands into urban areas.
It faces a series of lawsuits, including a sex discrimination suit involving up to 1.6m women that could be the biggest civil rights class action against a US private employer. Other suits allege that it forced staff to work unpaid overtime….
The Wal-Mart chief said it was important to get its message across to people who did not live near a Wal-Mart store and did not know the company.
“A different group of stakeholders is important to us - people who are not familiar with Wal-Mart stores, so their view of Wal-Mart is what they read in the newspapers or see on TV.”
OK, so for the three or four of you out there who don’t live near a WalMart…well, you probably don’t have electricity or running water, either. And you probably have to hunt and kill your dinner. WalMart has become so successful and so pervasive that it can go pretty much wherever it wants and do whatever it chooses.
Being the 800-lb. retail gorilla is not something that is universally well-received. Not everyone is willing to sacrifice their lifestyle and quality of life on the altar of low-priced boxer shorts. Virtually wherever WalMart goes, small business takes a hit. Economies of scale may be good from a business standpoint, but many people live in Smallville because they enjoy the quality of life. A WalMart in your back yard doesn’t exactly contribute to this quality of life- though you can probably get a good deal on a snowblower.
Yes, the company can argue that it brings jobs, but it’s not as if those jobs pay well. You try raising a family on $8/hr; I sure as hell don’t want to.
Personally, I refuse to spend my money at WalMart. This personal boycott stems out of a disdain for the company’s business practices, the way it treats employees, and the way it impacts communities. Of course, in this respect it is really no different that any number of other large retailers. For too long, though, WalMart has achieved it’s success on the backs of it’s employees and suppliers while trampling the desires of small communities across the country.
Having grown up in a town of less than a thousand people in Minnesota’s north woods, I can remember how small “Mom & Pop” businesses impacted the quality of life. Yes, things are changing, and this is a much smaller world than it used to be. That doesn’t mean that I have to support the 800-lb. retail gorilla, though.
