[Vision2020] Walmart....... a different perspective?

[Kai Eiselein]

Got this in my email......

Wal-Mart: A Business We All Can Look Up To
by John Semmens

Wal-Mart is the world’s largest business. Its $250 billion in annual
sales makes it bigger than legendary giants like Exxon, General Motors,
and IBM. How did Wal-Mart get so big?

In a market economy, success goes to those businesses that best serve
consumer needs. Businesses must persuade customers to hand over money in
exchange for the merchandise. Customers are completely free to ignore
the offerings of any business.

We are all consumers, and consumers like bargains. Every dollar we save
on a purchase enables us to make additional purchases of other items.
More of our needs and wants can be fulfilled when prices are lower than
when prices are higher. Wal-Mart’s basic strategy has been to guarantee
low prices.

The sheer size of Wal-Mart attests to the success of its strategy. It
has grown into the largest business on the planet precisely because it
is accurately interpreting consumer needs and efficiently serving them.
This is what we want businesses to do.

But what about the methods Wal-Mart uses to achieve its goal of low
prices?

According to a legion of critics, Wal-Mart allegedly exploits its own
employees by paying "poverty wages" and forcing them to work unpaid
overtime. Wal-Mart also allegedly "squeezes" vendors, forcing them to
lay off American workers and ship their jobs to foreign "sweatshops."

Anyone who understands economics, however, knows these claims are
without merit. No one is forced to work at Wal-Mart. Every employment
contract is a voluntary agreement between consenting parties. The wages,
benefits, and work conditions at Wal_Mart must be as good as or better
than those elsewhere, since otherwise people wouldn’t choose to work at
Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart can’t force its employees to work overtime without
compensation. Employees are not chained to their stations. They are free
to leave and take other jobs if the working conditions or pay at
Wal-Mart are less than satisfactory.

Neither can Wal-Mart "squeeze" vendors, compelling them to accept deals
they would prefer to refuse. Of course, sellers would like to get as
high a price as possible for their wares. And buyers would like to get
as low a price as possible. Both have to settle on a price that is
mutually agreeable.

If some of Wal-Mart’s suppliers choose to manufacture their products
overseas that is because doing so lowers their costs. Wages demanded by
workers in places like Bangladesh are lower than they are in the U.S.,
but they must still be sufficient to lure workers from alternative
occupations. As bad as these "sweatshop" wages and working conditions
may appear to Americans, they are obviously cherished by those who
endure them in other countries, where the alternatives often pay much
less and can be physically demanding or dangerous.

>From an economic perspective, Wal-Mart is a major force in promoting
prosperity for everyone, including consumers, employees, shareholders,
and suppliers. The company helps consumers get more for their money,
provides jobs for willing employees, and offering a great expansion of
choices of consumer goods for consumers in small communities.

Wal-Mart’s "lowest price" policy is stimulating its suppliers and
competitors to be more efficient, which requires higher productivity.
Higher productivity, in turn, is the key to prosperity. By encouraging
international trade between the U.S. and less_developed countries,
Wal-Mart is helping put these countries on the path to higher standards
of living as well.

Wal-Mart is doing all these good things with a profit margin of less
than 4 percent. To call Wal-Mart a "corporate criminal," as an article
in the January 3 issue of The Nation does, is libel. Wal-Mart is a model
of success that should be emulated, not reviled.

Kai T. Eiselein
Editor
Latah Eagle
521 S. Jackson St.
Moscow, ID 83843
(208) 882-0666 Fax (208) 882-0130
editor at lataheagle.com