Wal-Mart

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Type	Discount store/Public (NYSE: WMT)
Founded	Rogers, Arkansas (1962)
Location	Bentonville, Arkansas, USA
Key people	Sam Walton (1918–1992), Founder H. Lee Scott, CEO S. Robson Walton, Chairman
Industry	Retail
Products	Department stores, grocery stores, and hypermarkets
Revenue	Image:Green Arrow Up.svg$315.654 Billion USD (2006)
Net income	Image:Green Arrow Up.svg$11.231 Billion USD (2006)
Employees	1.6 Million (2006)
Website	www.walmartstores.com

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) was founded by Sam Walton in 1962. It is the largest retailer in the world and was formerly the largest corporation in the world based on revenue for 2004 (see Fortune Global 500). In 2006, it was surpassed by three of the major global oil companies.

There has been much criticism of Wal-Mart. Specific areas of controversy include the company's product origins, treatment of employees and suppliers, right wing leaning store policies, environmental policies, extraction of public subsidies (corporate welfare), availability of prescription contraceptives at Wal-Mart pharmacy counters, and store impacts on local communities and businesses. ^{[1] [2]}

Business

Wal-Mart operates retail department stores selling a range of non-grocery products, though emphasis is now focused on the "supercenters" which include more grocery items. Wal-Mart also operates Sam's Club, a "warehouse club" (similar to Costco and BJ's) that sells merchandise, often in large quantities or volume, to customers who pay an annual fee for the privilege of shopping there.

In addition to its wholly-owned international operations, Wal-Mart owns a 42% stake in The Seiyu Co., Ltd. in Japan, with a proposed $597 million to increase its stake to 50%. This purchase has been approved by Seiyu Group shareholders and The Seiyu will be consolidated into Wal-Mart International in FYE 2006.

In September 2005, Wal-Mart acquired 33.3% of the Central American Retail Holding Company (CARHCO), and in March 2006, increased its holdings to 51%. Wal-Mart Central America was formed from the 375 supermarkets and other store formats, operating in 5 Central American countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

In the past, Wal-Mart operated dot Discount Drugs, Bud's Discount City, Hypermart*USA, OneSource Nutrition Centers, and Save-Co Home Improvement stores. In [1990]], Wal-Mart acquired The McLane Company, a foodservice distributor. In 2003, McLane Company was sold to Berkshire Hathaway.

Wal-Mart stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WMT, and it is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Competition in the United States

Wal-Mart's chief competitors in low-end general merchandise nationally include Sears Holdings Corporation's Kmart chain and Target. Many smaller regional chains, such as Meijer in the midwest, are also competitors. Wal-Mart's move into the grocery business has also positioned it against major grocery chains such as HEB, Kroger, Albertsons, Publix, Giant Eagle, Safeway and many other regional chains and independents. Chief competitors of Wal-Mart's Sam's Club division are Costco, with a slightly higher gross than Sam's Club outlets, as well as the smaller BJ's Wholesale Club chain operating mainly in the eastern United States.

Some people believe that Wal-Mart has driven smaller businesses out of the market. A niche has been carved out of Wal-Mart's dominance by several retail corporations.^[3] By focusing on a small number of low-cost products, dollar store retailers such as Family Dollar and Dollar General have successfully competed head-to-head with Wal-Mart for home consumer sales. In 2004, Wal-Mart responded by testing their own dollar store concept, a subsection of some stores known as "Pennies-n-Cents."^[4]

Employees

Wal-Mart refers to its employees as "associates,"^[5] and encourages managers to think of themselves as "servant leaders." Each shift at every store, club, and distribution center is supposed to start with a store-wide meeting where managers discuss with hourly employees daily sales figures, company news, and goals for the day. This may or may not be true in practice. ^[6]

All Wal-Mart stores in the United States and Canada have employees referred to as "people greeters". They welcome people to the store and may help prevent shoplifting. At some stores, these employees inspect the contents of the shopping carts of exiting customers who either assume greeters have the right to inspect their bags or don't care.

There has been heavy criticisms of Wal-Mart's treatment of its workers, including low pay and the controversial "lock-ins" ^[7] During a "lock-in," night managers lock the employees in the building overnight, supposedly to prevent theft. Workers in the building are then unable to leave. As of 2004, this practice was in effect in approximately 10% of Wal-Marts in the United States. In one case in Florida, an employee was "deathly ill" according to coworkers, yet the manager refused to come immediately to unlock the building. Instead, the manager told the employees to "Fine [sic] one of the mattresses. Have him lay down on the floor."

Wal-Mart benefits

According to an October 2005 article in BusinessWeek, Wal-Mart's health insurance covers 44% or approximately 572,000 of its 1.3 million U.S. workers. ^[8] In comparison, Wal-Mart rival Costco insures approximately 96% of its eligible workers. ^[9] Further, Wal-Mart spends $3,500 on average per employee for health care while the average money spent for health care per employee for the entire retail industry is $4,800, 27% more.^[10] Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott acknowledged benefits could improve by claiming Wal-Mart employees can get better value from taxpayer funded health care than from Wal-Mart's own health plans: "In some of our states, the public program may actually be a better value - with relatively high income limits to qualify, and low premiums." ^[11] On April 17th, 2006, Wal-Mart announced it was making a health care plan available to part-time workers after 1 year of service, instead of the prior 2 year requirement. One criticism of the new plan is that it provides benefit only after a $1,000 deductible is paid ($3,000 for a family). These deductibles may financially be out of reach for eligible part-time workers. Wal-Mart estimates this change can add 150,000 workers to health coverage plans, if all who are eligible take part. [1]

The State of Maryland passed a controversial bill in January of 2006 requiring that all corporations with more than 10,000 employees in the state spend at least 8% of their payroll on employee benefits, or pay into a state fund for the uninsured. Wal-Mart, with about 17,000 employees in Maryland, was the only known company to not meet this requirement before the bill passed. ^[12]

Unionization

Main article: Wal-Mart employee and labor relations

Wal-Mart has largely thwarted unionization by its U.S. employees with aggressively anti-union tactics. For example, when meat cutters at the Jacksonville, Texas supercenter voted to unionize in 2000, Wal-Mart closed its meat department ^[13] and began shipping in pre-packaged meats at all stores. Similarly, when workers at a Jonquières, Quebec Wal-Mart voted to unionize, Wal-Mart closed the store^[14] five months later, claiming it was due to weak profits. Critics allege Wal-Mart closed the store as an anti-union tactic.

Another store in St Hyacinthe, QC. voted to unionize and Wal-Mart lost a court challenge^[15] to the certification process in April, 2006.

The corporation's anti-union policies are a matter of public record via internal documents^[16] leaked by present or past employees.

Financial results

Wal-Mart is now the largest grocery chain in the U.S., with 14 percent of all grocery sales—nearly twice the sales of Kroger ($95 billion vs. $51 billion). Wal-Mart also does 20 percent of the retail toy business.

Wal-Mart went public on October 1, 1970. Since then its stock has climbed from 5 cents (split adjusted) to a high of $63 in March 2002. Its stock has dropped more than 20% since then, reaching a low price of $42.31 on September 22, 2005.

For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2006, Wal-Mart reported net income of US$11.2 billion on US$316 billion of sales revenue (3.5% profit margin). It is the largest private employer in the United States, Mexico and Canada. It holds an 8.9 percent retail store market share, with $8.90 out of every $100 spent in U.S. retail stores being spent at Wal-Mart.

Different explanations have been offered for this success:

• The company has always paid a great deal of attention to site selection; in the company's early years, Sam Walton would fly over small towns in a private plane to identify prospective locations. The company claims it analyzes potential locations to find those that would support "one and a half" stores. Although the intended location was a seemingly small rural town, being up in a plane would reveal a lucrative market if the surrounding communities were taken into account, defying the conventional wisdom that a discount store requires a sizable city. Wal-Mart then promptly moved quickly to pre-empt these discovered locations, since allowing a competitor to locate would likely cause a price war that would make both discount stores unprofitable. Lastly, rural towns were less likely to have organized unions and community activists than large urban centers. "This strategy gave Wal-Mart a near monopoly in its local markets and enabled the company to ride out the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s more successfully than its then larger competitors such as K-Mart." ^[17]

• Wal-Mart benefits from economies of scale in manufacturing and logistics; the purchase of massive quantities of items from its suppliers combined with a very efficient stock control system help make Wal-Mart's operating costs lower than those of its competitors. They are leaders in the field of vendor managed inventory—asking large suppliers to oversee stock control for a category and make recommendations to Wal-Mart buyers. This reduces the overhead of having a large inventory control and buying department. Wal-Mart's vast purchasing power also gives it the leverage to force manufacturers to change their production (usually by creating cheaper products) to suit its wishes: a single Wal-Mart order can easily comprise a double-digit percentage of a supplier's annual output.
• One particular aspect of the economy of scale is the aggregation effect, used in other business such as The Home Depot and Wells Fargo, whereby Wal-Mart sells as many different items as possible. This allows the company to grow revenue over its fixed cost base (more sales out of the same store). This is why Wal-Mart began to sell low margin groceries.
• Information Systems: Wal-Mart helped push the retail industry to adopt UPC codes and bar-code scanning equipment. Also, Wal-Mart's focus on cost reduction has led to its involvement in a standards effort ^[18]

to use RFID-based Electronic Product Codes to lower the costs of supply chain

• Other Automation: Wal-mart has implemented several types of automation that have reduced labor costs including automated UPC scanning devices and automated climate controls.^[19]

Several of these automation techniques make use of a central computer system residing in Wal-Mart headquarters and thus eliminating store specific labor costs.

Marketing experiments

Wal-Mart has experimented publicly with changes to certain of its business practices.

Renewable energy

Recently, Wal-Mart has designed two experimental stores ^[20] , one in McKinney, Texas and the other in Aurora, Colorado, which feature wind turbines, photovoltaic solar panels, and biofuel-capable boilers. The buildings also include many other energy and cost-saving technologies. Critics, such as the Institute for Local Self-Reliance ^[21] , contend that gestures at two Wal-Mart stores among several thousand have negligible impact and are little more than public relations exercises far outweighed by the company's negative environmental impact across all of its locations. Wal-Mart is said to drive sprawl, consume unnecessarily large amounts of land, and to sometimes build on environmentally sensitive sites, among other things.

Attracting upscale consumers

In March 2006, Wal-Mart opened a new Supercenter in Plano, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, that is decidedly fancier than other Wal-Mart stores. It is part of their effort to attract a more affluent demographic, who tend to view Wal-Mart product offerings as inferior to those of such stores as Costco and Target. Differences from conventional Wal-Mart Supercenters include wooden floors, wider aisles, a sushi bar, a coffee/sandwich shop (with free Wi-Fi Internet access) instead of the usual fast food venue, and pricier items, including expensive wines and high-end electronics. This Wal-Mart is also the first and only store to implement employee baggers at the checkout lines. The exterior sports the less-common hunter green background behind the Wal-Mart letters instead of the trademark blue. Wal-Mart states that this type of store is not planned to be duplicated anywhere else.^[22]

Organic food

In 2006, Wal-Mart announced plans to increase the amount of organic food available in it's stores.^[23] Both conventionally grown and organic versions of certain products will be available, but Wal-Mart intends to keep the price of the organic versions to no more than 10% over the price of the conventionally grown counterparts.

Because Wal-Mart is one of the nation's largest grocery retailers, their move into selling organic food has some people worried^[24] . Specifically, the increase in demand for organic food will require that more organic produce be imported.^[25] Secondly, the push to lower prices "would virtually guarantee that Wal-Mart's version of cheap organic food is not sustainable".^[26]

Advertising in local newspapers

After complaints by newspaper publishers in early 2005 that Wal-Mart did not advertise in smaller newspapers, the company placed ads in 336 Missouri and Oklahoma newspapers preceding the 2005 holiday shopping season. In April 2006 Wal-Mart claimed, "our test showed that it did increase product sales, but our margins are so thin that we didn't even come close to offsetting the cost of the ads."

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart is a target of much criticism. Critics, including community groups, grassroots organisations, trade unions, and environmental groups believe Wal-Mart's success derives from business practices harmful to employees, local communities, the economy and the environment.^{[1] [2]}

Reaction to criticism

In 2005, Wal-Mart officials embarked on a public relations campaign to counter some of the criticism it receives, through its public relations website as well as through television commercials which show employees who have had a medical emergency and have been sent by Wal-Mart to the Mayo Clinic.

It was reported in the New York Times on November 1, 2005 that in response to increased criticism the public relations firm Edelman had been retained. Edelman has set up an internal "war room", a rapid-response public relations team, staffed with high-profile political operatives to respond to negative media attention. ^[27]

Wal-Mart's public relations effort has also included e-mailing favorable material to bloggers, some of whom have disseminated it without disclosing that it was written by the company. ^[28]

"Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters." ^[28]

April 2006 entries appearing on the websites Whitedust and Slashdot insinuated that Wal-Mart's public relations wing has been involved in an edit war of the company's Wikipedia article for the past two years. Tactics cited include removing unfavorable information, shunting unfavorable information off to separate articles, and including copious passages of positive information. ^{[29] [30]}

Economic impact studies in the United States

As Wal-Mart is the second-largest corporation in the world in terms of 2005 revenue, it significantly impacts economies wherever it operates. At least two dozen studies have been conducted to determined the nature and extent of this effect, most of which are indexed here or here (both sites emphasize negatives of big boxes).

Kenneth E. Stone of Iowa State University has published several studies on Wal-Mart. In 1997, Stone found that small towns "lose up to 47 percent of their retail trade after 10 years of Wal-Mart stores nearby." ^[31] In 2003, Stone collaborated with Georgeanne Artz, also of Iowa State University, and Albert Myles of Mississippi State University to show that there "are both positive and negative impacts on existing stores in the area where the new supercenter locates." ^[32]

In 2002, the state of Georgia's survey of children in the state's subsidized health care system, PeachCare, found that Wal-Mart employed more of the parents of these children than any other employer. More than 10,000 children who qualified for the program had parents working at Wal-Mart. The next largest employer employed the parents of less than 800 children in the program.

A 2002 study ^[33] by Emek Basker of the University of Missouri examined the impact of Wal-Mart on local employment. Basker found that Wal-Mart's entry into a county increased net retail employment in that county by 100 jobs in the short term. Half of this increase disappeared as other retail establishments close or reduce employment over a five-year period "leaving a long-run statistically significant net gain of 50 jobs." Basker's Study, which did not distinguish between low-paying and high-paying jobs, did not comment on whether the increase in jobs was a net economic benefit or loss for the county.

In 2004, the University of California, Berkeley published a study which asserted that Wal-Mart's low wages and benefits resulted in an increased burden on the social safety net, costing California taxpayers $86 million. ^[34]

A 2005 study ^[35] by Jerry Hausman of MIT and Ephraim Leibtag of the USDA found that because the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not take into account lower prices at discount retailers, like Wal-Mart, that food at home inflation was overstated by as much as 15% per year. Another 2005 study ^[36] the same authors measures the effect on consumer welfare of the presence of discount retailers.

A 2005 study by Global Insight ^[37] commissioned by Wal-Mart found the company has had a positive net economic impact on the U.S. economy ^[8] . From 1985-2004, Wal-Mart "can be associated with a cumulative decline of 9.1% in food-at-home prices, a 4.2% decline in commodities (goods) prices, and a 3.1% decline in overall consumer prices," and that this has saved consumers $263 billion in that time frame ($2329 per household). Also in that time period, it is responsible for the creation of 210,000 net jobs for the economy. The study indicates that "nominal wages are 2.2% lower, but given that consumer prices are 3.1% lower, real disposable income is 0.9% higher than it would have been in a world without Wal-Mart." Other papers presented at the conference ^[38] contradict some of Global Insight's claims.

Statistics

Retail operations

Main article: List of assets owned by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Wal-Mart operates 5 major retail formats under 3 retail divisions:

• Wal-Mart Stores, USA
  • Wal-Mart Discount Stores — Average 100,000 square feet (9,290 m²) and include a selection of general merchandise, including apparel, electronics, health and beauty aids, toys, sporting goods, and household products. The stores also have an in-house-branded food court. There were 1,209 Wal-Mart Discount Stores in the U.S. as of January 31, 2006.
  • Wal-Mart Supercenter — Average 200,000 square feet (19,290 m²) and combine a standard Wal-Mart Discount Store with a full-line supermarket (commonly known as big box stores or hypermarkets). The stores also typically feature a tire and oil change shop (Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Express), Wal-Mart Vision Center, and numerous alcove shops such as a Wal-Mart Money Center, hair and nail salons, a Movie Gallery video store, an arcade, and a branch from a local bank in the area. The food courts with full-menu McDonald's plus Subway, Wal-Mart Cafe, Dunkin' Donuts, and Baskin-Robbins have also been located. Some locations also sell gasoline through Murphy USA. There were 1,980 Wal-Mart Supercenters in the U.S. as of January 31, 2006.
  • Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market — Average 43,000 square feet (4,000 m²) and include grocery, pharmacy, and limited general merchandise products. There were 101 Neighborhood Markets in the U.S. as of January 31, 2006. The concept will be introduced into Canada in 2006 with 3 stores (one in London, Ontario and 2 in the Greater Toronto Area).
  • Walmart.com — Online shopping site that offers merchandise different from that in stores. The walmart.com site also offers digital music downloads with digital rights management (DRM) and online photo processing.
• Sam's Club — a membership-only wholesale warehouse club focused mainly on serving small business owners. Clubs average 128,000 square feet (11,891 m²). Like some Wal-Mart Supercenters, some Sam's Club locations sell gasoline through Murphy USA. There were 567 Sam's Clubs in the U.S. as of January 31, 2006. Sam's Club also operates in Canada.
• Wal-Mart International — operates various formats internationally, including (but not limited to) SAM'S CLUB, Discount Stores, Supercenters, Supermarkets, and restaurants.

In the United Kingdom, the Wal-Mart name is only used as part of the main retail name (in conjunction with the ASDA brand) for the ultra large hypermarket format. In addition to the standard ASDA stores, the company also runs the high street George clothes store brand.

Store counts and revenue

Store Counts (as of June 1, 2006) & Revenue (for FYE January 31, 2006):

• Company Total: 6,577 stores (US$312.4 billion)
  • Wal-Mart Stores USA (3,889 stores, excluding Puerto Rico) (US$209.9 billion)
    • Discount Stores: 1,163
    • Supercenters: 2,056
    • Sam's Club (United States): 566 Clubs (US$39.7 billion total)
    • Neighborhood Markets: 104
  • International: 2,688 (US$62.7 billion total)
    • Argentina: 12
    • Brazil: 293
    • Canada: 278
    • China: 57
    • Costa Rica: 128
    • El Salvador: 58
    • Germany: 87
    • Guatemala: 120
    • Honduras: 37
    • Japan: 395 (through consildation with Seiyu Group)
    • Mexico: 797
    • Nicaragua: 33
    • Puerto Rico (United States insular area): 54
    • United Kingdom (ASDA): 321

Wal-Mart sold its stores in South Korea to Shinsegae in late-May 2006.

Wal-Mart's international operations are large, but by no means as successful as its U.S. business. It has exited several countries after failing to find a profitable strategy and continues to struggle is some of its other markets. ASDA in the United Kingdom is by far the largest of the international businesses by sales, but as of 2006 it is missing profit targets and losing market share. In Germany, after eight years in the market, Wal-Mart's yearly revenue is still less than one-tenth of the leading retailer, EDEKA. The presence of unions, the difficulty of obtaining building permits and high competition are some possible reasons for this lack of success. With Aldi and Lidl there are also two established discounters in the market that drive the same price policy as Wal-Mart.

Corporate governance

• Current List and Biographies of Board of Directors
• Directory of All Senior Officers

Former members of the board of directors of Wal-Mart include Hillary Clinton (1985-1992), who also worked for Wal-Mart as a lawyer, ^[39] and Tom Coughlin, who went on to be vice chairman. He has since plead guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return related to embezzlement and theft from Wal-Mart while serving as a member of its board. ^[40]

Wal-Mart Television Network

The Wal-Mart Television Network is an in-store network showing commercials for products sold in the stores, concert clips and music videos for a recording artist's media sold in the stores, trailers for upcoming movie releases, and news. According to Wal-Mart and its advertising agency, it is seen by 130 million people a month, making it the fifth largest network in America.^[41] .

Wal-Mart in popular culture

• Billie Letts' 1995 novel Where the Heart Is depicts 17-year-old Novalee Nation moving in to, and giving birth in, an Oklahoma Wal-Mart.
• The chain banned Sheryl Crow's 1996 self-titled album because the lyrics in the song Love is a Good Thing contained: "Watch out sister/Watch out brother/Watch our children as they kill each other/with a gun they bought at the Wal-Mart discount stores." ^[42]

• "Sprawl-Mart" and Monstromart are big-box retailers in Springfield on Fox's The Simpsons.
• "Wall-to-Wall Mart" is a major store featured in Nickelodeon's Fairly Odd Parents.
• "Mega Lo Mart" (with a pronunciation similar to "megalomania") is a large discount retailer on Fox's King of the Hill. ^[43]

• PBS's FrontLine ran a special called "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" the entirety of which is available online.
• A "Wall-Mart" built in Comedy Central's South Park episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes" runs all local stores out of business. The shows attempts to tell viewers aware that it's up to them to make or break Wal-Mart by choosing where to do their shopping. The Wall-Mart's "heart" is simply a mirror, showing Wall-Mart (or mom and pop businesses) live or dies by people's choices. Once the mirror is broken, the store dissapears in mid-air.
• A JibJab cartoon called "Big Box Mart" premiered on the October 13, 2005 Tonight Show with Jay Leno. It tells the story of a middle-aged man who shops regularly at Wal-Mart, but finds that he ends up working for the company when his former employer outsources his job to "the slums of east Beijing" in order to compete with Wal-Mart's rock-bottom prices.
• Former Miami Herald humor columnist Dave Barry penned a column on spending the night in an RV parked outside Wal-Mart.
• Robert Greenwald, documentary filmmaker of "OutFoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" released "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price", a film highly critical of Wal-Mart in 2005.

See also

• ASDA
• List of assets owned by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• List of Wal-Mart brands
• Superstore
• Wal-Mart Employee and Labor Relations
• Walmarting
• Wal Mart Canada

References

1. ^ ^a b Research Done on Walmart. Wakeupwalmart.com. Retrieved on May 5, 2006.
2. ^ ^a b What does Wal-Mart really cost you?. Wal-Mart Watch. Retrieved on May 5, 2006.
3. ^ Stilgoe, John. Wal-Mart giant can be tamed The Boston Globe, November 23, 2003. Accessed January 11, 2006.
4. ^ Berner, Robert. "Out-Discounting The Discounter." Business Week. May 10, 2004.
5. ^ WalmartFacts.com, "Associates". Wal-Mart Corporation.
6. ^ Cox, Stan, "Dispatches from Wal-Mart's Front Lines", alternet.org, 2003-11-17.
7. ^ Greenhouse, Steven, "Workers Assail Night Lock-Ins by Wal-Mart", New York Times, 2004-01-18.
8. ^ ^a b Bernstein, Aaron, "A Stepped-Up Assault on Wal-Mart", Business Week, 2005-10-20.
9. ^ Abelson, Reed, "States Are Battling Against Wal-Mart Over Health Care", New York Times, 2004-11-01.(article archived on Global Exchange).
10. ^ Wysocki, Bernard Jr., and Ann Zimmerman. "Wal-Mart Cost-Cutting Finds a Big Target in Health Benefits", Wall Street Journal, 2003-09-30, p. 1.
11. ^ Fulton, Deirde, "No sympathy for the devil", Boston Phoenix, 2005-10-14.. Quote taken from April 5, 2005 speech by Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott.
12. ^ "Md. forces Wal-Mart to spend more on health", Associated Press, 2006-01-13.
13. ^ Dicker, John (2002). ""Union Blues at Wal-Mart"". The Nation (July 8).
14. ^ Bianco, Anthony, "No Union Please, We're Wal-Mart", Business Week, 2006-02-16. Retrieved on 2006-05-06.
15. ^ "Wal-Mart faces Canadian labour clash", Financial Times, 2006-04-30. Retrieved on 2006-05-06.
16. ^ Internal Documents of Wal-Mart. reclaimdemocracy.org.
17. ^ Head, Simon. Inside the Leviathan. New York Review of Books, v. 51, n. 20, December 16, 2004.
18. ^ EPC Global, Inc., "About EPC Global." Accessed May 5, 2006.
19. ^ http://www.cob.ohio-state.edu/~kinard_1/russian_dl/course/bis/task/Focus1.html
20. ^ WalmartFacts.com, "Environment". Accessed May 5, 2006.
21. ^ Response to Wal-Mart's New "Green" Store in McKinney, Texas. (2005-07-20). Retrieved on 2006-05-24.
22. ^ "Wal-Mart targeting upscale shoppers", Associated Press, 2006-03-22. Retrieved on 2006-03-22.
23. ^ Warner, Melanie, "Wal-Mart Eyes Organic Foods", New York Times, May 12, 2006.
24. ^ Scheuer, Kif (2006). Wal-mart's organic bomb. (html) Grist Magazine. Retrieved on 2006-06-04.
25. ^ Gogoi, Pallavi, "Wal-Mart's Organic Offensive", Business Week, March 29, 2006.
26. ^ Pollan, Michael, "Mass Natural", New York Times Magazine, June 4, 2006.
27. ^ Barbaro, Michael, "A New Weapon For Wal-Mart: A War Room", New York Times, 2005-11-01, p. A1.
28. ^ ^a b Barbaro, Michael, "Wal-Mart Enlists Bloggers in P.R. Campaign", New York Times, 2006-03-07. Retrieved on 2006-05-05.
29. ^ Demsyn, Richard (2006). Wal-Mart's Wikipedia War. Whitedust. Retrieved on May 3, 2006.
30. ^ Wal-mart's Wikipedia War. Slashdot: Your Rights Online. (2006). Retrieved on May 3, 2006.[]
31. ^ Stone, Kenneth E. (1997). "Impact of the Wal-Mart Phenomenon on Rural Communities". Proceedings of Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies - 1997, Farm Foundation, Chicago, Illinois. Retrieved on 2006-05-05.
32. ^ Stone, Kenneth E., Artz, Georgeanne, and Myles, Albert. (2003). "The Economic Impact of Wal-Mart Supercenters on Existing Businesses in Mississippi". publication M1283 (700-12-02). Mississippi State University Extension Service. Retrieved on 2006-05-05.
33. ^ Basker, Emek (2002). "Job Creation or Destruction? Labor-Market Effects of Wal-Mart Expansion".
34. ^ Dube, Arindrajit, and Ken Jacobs (2004-08-02). "Hidden Cost of Wal-Mart Jobs". UC Berkeley Labor Center (Briefiing Paper Series).
35. ^ Hausman, Jerry, and Leibtag, Ephraim (2005-06-10). "CPI Bias from Supercenters: Does the BLS Know that Wal-Mart Exists?". Revised.
36. ^ Hausman, Jerry, and Leibtag, Ephraim (2005-10). "Consumer Benefits from Increased Competition in Shopping Outlets: Measuring the Effect of Wal-Mart".
37. ^ Global Insight, Inc. (2005-11-05). "The Economic Impact of Wal-Mart". Global Insight, Inc..
38. ^ Papers Presented at Global Insight's Conference on Economic Impacts of Wal-Mart. ReclaimDemocracy.org: (2005). Retrieved on May 5, 2006.
39. ^ Harkavy, Ward, "Wal-Mart’s First Lady", Village Voice, 2000-05-24. Retrieved on 2006-05-05.
40. ^ Boulden, Jennifer, and Van Voris, Bob. "Wal-Mart Former Vice Chairman Coughlin Admits Fraud", Bloomberg, 2006-01-31. Retrieved on 2006-05-08.
41. ^ Wal-Mart Is Upgrading Its Vast In-Store Television Network The New York Times, February 21, 2005. Accessed April 29, 2006.
42. ^ Errico, Marcus, "Wal-Mart Bans Sheryl Crow's Next Album", E! Online, E! Entertainment Television, 1996-09-10. Retrieved on 2006-05-05.
43. ^ King of the Hill: Propane Boom (1). TV.com Episode Summaries.

Further reading

• Bergdahl, Michael (2004). What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World. ISBN 0471679984.
• Bianco, Anthony (2006). The Bully of Bentonville: How the High Cost of Wal-Mart's Everyday Low Prices Is Hurting America. ISBN 0385513569.
• Dicker, John (2005). The United States of Wal-Mart. Jeremy P. Tarcher. ISBN 1585424226.
• Ehrenreich, Barbara (2002). Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America. Owl Books. ISBN 0745318460.
• Featherstone, Liza (2004). Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart. Basic Books. ISBN 0465023169.
• Fishman, Charles (2005). The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy. Penguin Press. ISBN 1594200769.
• Joseph, Marc & Fischer, Rusty (2005). The Secrets of Retailing, or: How to Beat Wal-Mart!. Silverback Books. ISBN 1596370378.
• Lichtenstein, Nelson (2006). Wal-Mart: A Field Guide to America's Largest Company and the World's Largest Employer. New Press. ISBN 1595580352.
• Ortega, Bob (1998). In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and Wal-Mart, the World's Most Powerful Retailer. ISBN 0812963776.
• Peacock, Joe (2005). Mentally Incontinent: A Joe The Peacock Book, The Wal-Mart Story. ISBN 0977418405.
• Porter, David (2003). Megamall on the Hudson: Planning, Wal-Mart, and Grassroots Resistance. Trafford. ISBN 155369855X.
• Quinn, Bill (2005). How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America and the World: And What You Can Do about It (3rd edition). Ten Speed Press. ISBN 1580086683.
• Slater, Robert (2003). The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company. ISBN 1591840066.
• Slater, Robert (2004). The Wal-Mart Triumph: Inside the World's #1 Company. ISBN 1591840430.
• Soderquist, Don (2005). The Wal-Mart Way: The Inside Story of the Success of the World's Largest Company. ISBN 0785261192.
• Spotts, Greg (2005). Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. Disinformation Company. ISBN 1932857249.
• Westerman, Paul (2000). Data Warehousing: Using the Wal-Mart Model. ISBN 155860684X.

External links

• Official websites
  • Primary/e-commerce
  • Corporate

• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Company Profile at Yahoo! Finance

• In Defense of Wal-Mart at Mark Valenti's Liberty Page

• Articles, Studies and Resources on Wal-Mart at ReclaimDemocracy.org

• Wal-Mart Watch, watchdog group critical of Wal-Mart