Wal-Mart is one of the largest retail chains in the US and has grown over the years from a humble beginning when it was a single unit in Bentonville. The retailer’s business model has weakened the influence of the supplier on the market prices of commodity. With its enormous growth, the retail chain owes the American people an ethical consideration and should be seen as a citizen just like the others. One ethical consideration is in the fact that it should ensure a decent lifestyle for its employees and suppliers. Even though it strives to provide products at a cheaper price, the company must ensure that no person’s living standards should be compromised at that expense. An example is given of how Wal-Mart failed to stock Rubbermaid products due to a hike in the price caused by externalities beyond the company’s control. The result of this action was the collapse of the company and the loss of jobs of over one thousand Americans who worked for the company.

The retail store is also tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the customer’s hygiene is guaranteed during the production of food products. This is an ethical responsibility that the company should consider before selling the products to the customers. As thus it should inspect the quality of the supplies at source and ensure that only high quality ones are used in the production process. Moreover, the company should guarantee its employees of a decent lifestyle by harmonizing their pay to be commensurate with the kind of work they perform. Wal-Mart should as thus not pursue low prices on its products at the expense of the American laborer. There is a likelihood that the company might be duped to believe that the wages should be similar to the ones in China where 80% of its supplies are sourced from.

The answer to the question of whether Wal-Mart is useful to America is a definite Yes. In actual fact, people who think otherwise do so on the basis of emotions and the sheer thoughts that more Chinese national are employed by Wal-Mart than Americans. Wal-Mart is one of the most prominent and stable retail stores in America and therefore contributes greatly to the country’s development from the tax that it pays. Despite not employing many Americans, there is still a sizable share of Americans who work in the store. In this regard, the company provides a form of employment to the many people employed as managers, cashiers and security personnel.

Wal-Mart is of great value to the American people because it offers them high quality products at affordable prices. The film portrays one shopper praising the retail store for its low priced products. She says that she no longer has to compare prices because she knows she can only save money by shopping at Wal-Mart. The retail chain has also changed the notion that suppliers and manufacturers determine the price of commodities. It has put the retailer at the center and become the most influential aspect in sale of products.

The company’s policy of focusing on low costs has helped to cushion the country against inflation and ensures that customers get the same products at relatively lower prices. The film also features Brink Lindsey, an economist who attests to the relevance of Wal-Mart to the American people by providing things that they can afford to buy. According to him, that is what the American market should be about; meeting the marketing test.            To say that Wal-Mart is not good for America would therefore be a practical fallacy.

Works cited

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/

 
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