Thursday, September 17, 2009
PBS Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good for America?
The PBS investigative news series Frontline has a great episode on Wal-Mart. Check out the accompanying web site for supporting materials. You can watch the show online.
Also check out this Friedman interview with Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online, from April of 2005. Friedman spends a lot of time discussing the role of Wal-Mart and the global supply chain.
Also check out this Friedman interview with Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online, from April of 2005. Friedman spends a lot of time discussing the role of Wal-Mart and the global supply chain.
Labels: Wal-Mart
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Come on Wal-Mart
After watching the video about wal-mart in class, i went home to finish it because i was interested about the topic. I do shop at wal-mart a lot because they do have low prices on the basic things i need, things like q-tips, deodorant and soap etc. Even without watching the video about wal-mart i knew of some of their policy's and practices because they were in the news a lot. Then after watching the video in class and finishing it at home, i watched the other wal-mart video called "The High Cost of Low Price", which was along the same lines of the PBS video just more in depth.
So i watched both these videos and i was shocked at the way employees here and over seas were treated but i also knew that this was common practice with many other companies. The labor laws overseas are much different then the ones here and companies recognize this and take advantage of it. I don't know what can be done to correct the overseas practices and also if there was some sort of universal minimum wage then companies like wal-mart who deliver the lowest prices would be useless and price competition would be far less i believe.
But something has to be done about employees who work here in America, where there are labor laws. I think its crazy that a majority of wal-marts employees are either on welfare or some form of a gov't assistance program. To be fair, those types of programs are supposed to be for people who may not have a job or who are going through some very hard times, and they are not designed for people who actually have a job. Wal-mart makes billions of dollars a year and they should be forced to pay their employees more money or at least offer them some good health care programs. They can afford it.
Wal-mart's new slogan by the way is "Save Money, Live Better"
Ironic
So i watched both these videos and i was shocked at the way employees here and over seas were treated but i also knew that this was common practice with many other companies. The labor laws overseas are much different then the ones here and companies recognize this and take advantage of it. I don't know what can be done to correct the overseas practices and also if there was some sort of universal minimum wage then companies like wal-mart who deliver the lowest prices would be useless and price competition would be far less i believe.
But something has to be done about employees who work here in America, where there are labor laws. I think its crazy that a majority of wal-marts employees are either on welfare or some form of a gov't assistance program. To be fair, those types of programs are supposed to be for people who may not have a job or who are going through some very hard times, and they are not designed for people who actually have a job. Wal-mart makes billions of dollars a year and they should be forced to pay their employees more money or at least offer them some good health care programs. They can afford it.
Wal-mart's new slogan by the way is "Save Money, Live Better"
Ironic
Labels: The High Cost Of Low Price, Wal-Mart
