Is Wal-Mart Bad For America?

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Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart, a "Big-Box Retailer" employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide and has two-thousand seven-hundred stores in the United States with many more in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Central America, Chile, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom, making Wal-Mart the largest retailer in the world. "Wal-Mart accounts for upward of 30 percent of U.S. sales, and plans to more than double its sales within the next five years" (Lynn 29-36). Why is Wal-Mart so successful, and is Wal-Mart actually bad for America?

Wal-Mart was conceived and founded by Sam Walton in 1962, at Rogers, Arkansas. Sam Walton started with just a few small variety stores, funded with borrowed money. His goal was to provide affordable products to the public to make life easier. After his success with the first few stores, Sam Walton borrowed more money to build more stores, creating the Wal-Mart empire as we see it today. The retail giant proves its stoic presence in our lives with its $401 billion sales for fiscal year 2009.

The success of Wal-Mart is so great, that many people believe that Wal-Mart is becoming a monopsony . Suppliers are forced to deal with Wal-Mart because of the large percentage of sales at Wal-Mart cash registers. As such, Wal-Mart also has the ability to dictate prices of the goods it receives from the suppliers. Every day, more and more retail stores close their doors for good because Wal-Mart controls such a huge margin of the retail sector.

I don't see Wal-Mart as a huge retailer trying to take over the world with cheap prices. I see Wal-Mart as business that has played their cards the way they were dealt. Our economy is poor right now; banks are hurting because people a...

... middle of paper ...

...oyees and have many scholarships available to help put their workers though school, leading to a better career. I don't mind seeing a "monopsony" rise to power as long as it's going to be Wal-Mart.

Works Cited

Barry C Lynn. “Breaking the Chain.” Harper’s Vol. 313, No. 1874 July 2006: 29-36. SIRS RESEARCHER. Web. 29 October 2009.

Canning, Kathie. “Cover Story.” Art of Transformation: Walmart’s betting on a revamped Great Value lineup—and many other strategic changes—to keep the momentum going post-recession. (Aug. 2009): 20-26. Small Business Resource Center. Web. 5 Nov. 2009.

M. B. “Sam's Tests a Big-Box Bodega.” Daily Herald [Arlington Heights, IL] 16 Aug. 2009: 27. Print.

“The Walmart Foundation Teams Up With the AARP Foundation to Help Unemployed Women Get Back to Work.” Business Economics and Theory-Infotrac. NewsRX, 3 Sep. 2009. Web. 10 Nov. 2009.

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