Review the Subject Whether Walmart Was Good for America (Essay Sample)

TITLE: IS WAL-MART GOOD FOR AMERICA
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Abstract
Walmart is a leading multinational cooperation enterprise that sells goods and services in several countries (can also be viewed as an offshore enterprise). Started by Sam Walton in 1962 his primary focus was on selling products at low prices to get higher-volume sales at a lower profit margin, portraying it as a crusade for the consumer. This company has taken total control in the worlds market and suppressed other stores by using their opening price point (the price for which something is sold on the retail market, especially in relation to a range of competitive prices) lower than most other enterprises.
In the documentary we realize that the shareholders meetings are more of cheering and stage performances to celebrate their huge gains. This isn’t a shareholders meeting like any other since there is no such extravagance just to set up a meeting with so many shareholders or cheer groups to be precise! Normal shareholders meetings don’t have stage performances but rather focus on formal methods to listen to the presentation of sales, profit, cash flow, statement of financial position and returns to the shareholders.
Walmart relies heavily on technology to speed up its inventory control and track its stock. Wal-Mart pushed the retail industry to establish the universal bar code, which forced manufacturers to adopt common labeling. The bar allowed retailers to generate all kinds of information creating an elusive shift of power from manufacturers to retailers. By using the bar code inventory stock control could monitor information about different items and see their trends at any time! Wal-Mart became especially good at exploiting the information behind the bar code and is considered a pioneer in developing sophisticated technology to track its inventory and cut the fat out of its supply chain. Recently, Wal-Mart became the first major retailer to demand manufacturers use radio frequency identification technology (RFID). The technology uses radio frequencies to transmit data stored on small tags attached to pallets or individual products. RFID tags hold significantly more data than bar codes. At midnight the system could be able to automatically send an order to the producers and by the morning every item would be resupplied as required.
By keeping track of inventory Wal-Mart could for instance, certain stores (those within a certain distance of a geographical center) had the option of having inventory replenished within a day. This means that stores could managing their own stocks from within and are therefore better able to make good decisions about keeping inventory on hand and about what inventory might be ready for markdowns. By using this inventory tracking system, Wal-Mart was able to reduce overall inventory supply while still insuring that their stores across the country still have adequate supply.it allows technicians and Wal-Mart executives to easily communicate to individual stores, access sales records, and troubleshoot and manage problems. In short, the system provides a comprehensive picture of how the entire organization is performing.
However the rapid growth of Walmart did not yield positive results to the producers who initially determined what goods were to be made, how many goods were to be made and how they would cost. The tables have been overturned and the pull production method has to be adopted to the producers. Manufacturing companies no longer know the trends and whenever they meet with Wal-Mart executives to discuss annual terms for costs per items then they have nothing to do other than comply with their client's demand (Walmart). This scenario led to the decline of one known company called Rubbermaid.
Rubber maid was a leading manufacturer of plastic goods until the year 1994 when the cost of resin (a key raw material in rubber synthesis) sky rocketed. Manufacturers saw that the cost to produce Rubbermaid products increased substantially. This forced them to charge retailers more, in order to keep their profits standard. Wal-Mart would not accept this price increase, therefore they slowly decreased the amount of R...