Introduction
Walmart is an American multinational retail outlet that has many hypermarkets spread across the world. Some of its most prominent retail shops are grocery and discount department stores. Walmart is an icon in the American retail business and has its headquarters in Arkansas, the United States, where it oversees the vision and mission of the company. Sam Walton, its founder, incorporated the company in 1969 and has continued to grow from strength to strength. The retail giant is arguably the world’s largest retailer, with estimated sales of over 500 million US dollars and a workforce of 2 million employees. Despite the many successes of the retail giant worldwide, Walmart has had considerable ethical and compliance challenges. Such issues have, in most cases, adversely impacted the realization of its vision and mission, affecting its bottom line. Although Walmart has demonstrated many success stories in its retail business, managing stakeholder relationships has been a severe bottleneck.
Part One
Walmart has continued to expand across the world and has thousands of retail outlets. As of April 2022, the company had 10,585 outlets under different names. For example, the retail chain operates under the name Walmart in Canada and the United States, while in India, it operates as Flipkart. Walmart’s ultimate goal is to help people live better lives and save money. Although the retail giant has had some past controversies that have adversely impacted its business, it has tried to regain. For example, in conjunction with Walmart Foundation, the business has an estimated 1.3 billion US dollars in cash and kind contributions. Presently, Walmart is one of the most prominent businesses in the United States that are a top donor to the charity.
Walmart is an organization that has had challenges with its business ethics in its operations over the years. Such problems have been viewed as forms of unethical behavior or dilemma in business operations. Over the years, the business has struggled to manage its ethics effectively (Tan et al., 2018). For example, one of its primary problems has been managing stakeholder relationships. Therefore, the company has had challenges with its stakeholders, such as employees, suppliers, and competitors. The moral and ethical issues involving its different associates include working conditions that are not safe, discriminatory business practices, bribery, and leadership misconduct, among others. For example, Walmart has often been accused of putting other companies out of business because of its low prices across its market segments (Izadpanah, 2020). In this case, the retail store has challenged other stores to compete favorably because of uncompetitive prices.
The ethical and moral problems that the company has had over the years have developed over a long period. For example, Walmart is known for driving other retailers or companies out of business in areas it operates because of low prices (Mendly-Zambo et al., 2021). This has not been an isolated case but rather an issue that has gone on for a long time. In many cases, such business enterprises have had lawsuits because of Walmart’s unfair, predatory prices that the company has applied over the years (Kaplan, 2020). In essence, the company has often competed unfairly with other similar businesses. For many years, its purpose has been to provide low-cost commodities to its average clients without compromising quality. For a long time, one of its primary accusations has been the ethical issue of employee benefits. This is an issue that has been of much controversy because of the way the company treats its workforce. Although a big retailer globally, the company has been blamed for meager salaries and low employee benefits.
The ethical and compliance issues that Walmart has faced over the years have brought numerous global risks. Some of the retailer’s problems include supplier issues and bribery (Pierce & Velliaris, 2019). Cases of bribery have made Walmart replace its management team, particularly in the United States and Mexico. In addition, the company has fast-tracked its efforts to reevaluate its global compliance mechanism with assistance from top law and auditing firms (Tan et al., 2018). The company has also initiated efforts to reward employees for demonstrating integrity. Emphasis has been put on employee behavior and integrity at all levels.
Part Two
Walmart could have done things differently by creating a global compliance and ethics program to ensure it is a responsible business to its stakeholders. For example, offering low benefits and wages to its employees is not viable in today’s business environment. Therefore, benchmarking for what the market offers would be good enough and can only be realized through global monitoring and compliance (Mendly-Zambo et al., 2021). Walmart needs formal ethics to engage with its workforce to make it more productive. A top monitoring system and commitment from its top executives will see employees being treated relatively, enhancing productivity.
The company has not yet recovered from the problem of demoralized and discontent employees. For example, safety issues have affected the factory workforce of its factory employees. In addition, Walmart has often been accused of not equipping its factories with the appropriate fire protection equipment because of the underlying cost implications (Kaplan, 2020). In addition, most warehouses that conduct business with the retailer have had harsh working conditions for their employees in strict violation of labor laws. Other than paying low wages to employees, the company does not observe safety standards for employees.
The crisis of employees’ poor wages and working conditions represents leadership and management challenges such as scandals that adversely impact the company’s reputation (Izadpanah, 2020). Instead of concentrating on efforts to improve the welfare of workers, most senior managers are busy looting and giving bribes. For example, Walmex is an affiliate in Mexico accused of abetting corruption by paying hefty bribes and licensing permits. Such money could have been utilized better to enhance the welfare of suffering workers.
Conclusions
In its recent social responsibility and sustainability goals, Walmart has had positive efforts that have considerably impacted in redeeming its image. In this case, the company has fast-tracked its efforts to repair its dwindling reputation and enhance its competitive advantage across its markets. Therefore, it remains one of the most preferred shopping destinations for many customers worldwide. In a world where financial meltdown is the order of the day, most consumers can only be attracted to a retailer like Walmart because of its favorable prices. Walmart can be looked at through two distinct perspectives that define its business. Most people think it is the primary cause of all the retail challenges in America and the world. On the other hand, other people think it is one of the best consumer-friendly businesses worldwide. To avoid criticism, the company has initiated goodwill with its consumers. In addition, it has continued to enhance its stakeholder relationships across the board to prove that it is an ethically responsible business. Supporters and critics are waiting to see if its current efforts will position the company as a big, socially responsible business.
References
Izadpanah, N. (2020). A study of human values at Wal-Mart company Asian Journal of Multidimensional Research (AJMR), 9(7), 61. Web.
Kaplan, A. (2020). Retailing and the ethical challenges and dilemmas behind artificial intelligence. Retail Futures, 181–191. Web.
Mendly-Zambo, Z., Raphael, D., & Taman, A. (2021). Take the money and run: How food banks became complicit with Walmart Canada’s hunger producing employment practices. Critical Public Health, 1–12. Web.
Pierce, J. M., & Velliaris, D. M. (2019). Sustainable supply chains. Emerging applications in supply chains for sustainable business development, 115–129. Web.
Tan, B., Yan, J., Chen, S., & Liu, X. (2018). The impact of blockchain on food supply chain: The case of Walmart. Smart Blockchain, 167–177. Web.