The Wal-Mart Effect - 5Chapter 9 – Wal-Mart & the Decent SocietyWal-Mart Customer AttitudesIs Wal-Mart Good or Bad?The Wal-Mart ConversationSlide 6Early 20th Century Trusts & Wal-MartThe Wal-Mart Effect - 5Chapters 9 & Epilogue01/14/19 BUS-115 Introduction to Business 2Chapter 9 – Wal-Mart & the Decent Society“The question of how to assure that American capitalism creates a decent society is one that will engage all of us in the era ahead.”-Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott01/14/19 BUS-115 Introduction to Business 3Wal-Mart Customer AttitudesWal-Mart customer attitudesChampionsEnthusiastsConflictedRejectersSecond most important group of customers (conflicted) actively dislike the stores01/14/19 BUS-115 Introduction to Business 4Is Wal-Mart Good or Bad?Wal-Mart is something utterly newWal-Mart is carefully disguised as something ordinary, familiarWal-Mart plays “by the rules”Are the rules antiquated? Are the rules from an other era?Has Wal-Mart outgrown the rules (and we are just noticing)?01/14/19 BUS-115 Introduction to Business 5The Wal-Mart ConversationBefore the invention of the car, there was no need to devise rules for automobilesNational conversation about Wal-MartPrioritiesValuesWhat kind of country this isWhat kind of country it’s going to beA conversation about power and competing visions of the future01/14/19 BUS-115 Introduction to Business 6The Wal-Mart ConversationA conversation about power and competing visions of the futureDo we value cheap merchandise more than good factory jobs?Do we value convenience more than charming main streets with local shopkeepers?Do we value the freedom of a business to decide more than the responsibility of a local government to safeguard the shape and character of a townIn a democracy, do we want a single company to have the reach and power that Wal-Mart has?Do we value the “rules” of economic fair play as they are written now more than our ability to recognize and manage a totally new kind of economic power?01/14/19 BUS-115 Introduction to Business 7Early 20th Century Trusts & Wal-MartStandard Oil, U.S. Steel accumulated power on behalf of themselves and their executives – to hell with everyone else!Weren’t permitted to surviveWal-Mart has the scale of these early trustsWal-Mart does exactly the oppositeAccumulates power on behalf of consumersLowest prices
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