Well given that the initial Wal 
Mart thread is lost, thought I would start off another one with this particular article.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6700787/site/newsweek/
If you think Wal Mart is huge, think again. China has given permission to Wal Mart to expand at will in China. Only two other retailers are given this permission Carrefour of France (which Wal Mart might be buying) and Metro Group of Germany.
There seems to be a special relationship between Wal Mart and China as "Wal-Mart buys so many Chinese-made products that if it were a country, it would be China's sixth largest export market (after Germany) and its eighth largest trade partner."
Another interesting bit (to a certain extent) is that Wal Mart has allowed its shops in China to form unions. But of course, it should be noted that in China all (legal) unions has to fall under the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and union leaders also happen to be company executives.
It takes two hands to clap and so unless one is a local retailer, it would seem that some consumers have "voted" with their cash to choose Wal Mart over the higher priced local retailers. It does create lower paying jobs as a result but does this mean that the previous jobs were overpaid? Or perhaps the economy is changing and that one should seek higher education rather than rely on lower paying retail jobs? For example, IBM recently sold its computer arm to a Chinese company, thus perhaps suggesting that to stay competitive one should move higher up the chain from manufacturing to research and development.
2) Anti-Union Sentiment
That may be true but there are plenty of other companies that have adopted such a practice AND union rates in US is at a paltry 13%. So it seems the norm in US is for companies not to be unionised. Of course, this does not take away from the fact that there are a number of cases of workers that are treated badly at Wal Mart and also the ongoing discrimination lawsuit against the company.
3) Pseudo Protectionism
As mentioned above, Wal Mart gets a lot of its products from China. So is this a form of pseudo protectionism? It seems odd that often the same people who are against globalisation or Wal Mart using workers in "sweat shops" are the same people who call for greater aid to developing nations. It is like saying, it is ok as long as you remain in a subservient position awaiting our handouts (so we can feel better about ourselves) but the moment you start trying to compete and improve oneself it suddenly becomes evil or exploitation. With friends like this who needs enemies.
Mart thread is lost, thought I would start off another one with this particular article.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6700787/site/newsweek/
If you think Wal Mart is huge, think again. China has given permission to Wal Mart to expand at will in China. Only two other retailers are given this permission Carrefour of France (which Wal Mart might be buying) and Metro Group of Germany.
There seems to be a special relationship between Wal Mart and China as "Wal-Mart buys so many Chinese-made products that if it were a country, it would be China's sixth largest export market (after Germany) and its eighth largest trade partner."
Another interesting bit (to a certain extent) is that Wal Mart has allowed its shops in China to form unions. But of course, it should be noted that in China all (legal) unions has to fall under the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and union leaders also happen to be company executives.
So why do some people hate Wal Mart?
1) Drive smaller local retailers out.It takes two hands to clap and so unless one is a local retailer, it would seem that some consumers have "voted" with their cash to choose Wal Mart over the higher priced local retailers. It does create lower paying jobs as a result but does this mean that the previous jobs were overpaid? Or perhaps the economy is changing and that one should seek higher education rather than rely on lower paying retail jobs? For example, IBM recently sold its computer arm to a Chinese company, thus perhaps suggesting that to stay competitive one should move higher up the chain from manufacturing to research and development.
2) Anti-Union Sentiment
That may be true but there are plenty of other companies that have adopted such a practice AND union rates in US is at a paltry 13%. So it seems the norm in US is for companies not to be unionised. Of course, this does not take away from the fact that there are a number of cases of workers that are treated badly at Wal Mart and also the ongoing discrimination lawsuit against the company.
3) Pseudo Protectionism
As mentioned above, Wal Mart gets a lot of its products from China. So is this a form of pseudo protectionism? It seems odd that often the same people who are against globalisation or Wal Mart using workers in "sweat shops" are the same people who call for greater aid to developing nations. It is like saying, it is ok as long as you remain in a subservient position awaiting our handouts (so we can feel better about ourselves) but the moment you start trying to compete and improve oneself it suddenly becomes evil or exploitation. With friends like this who needs enemies.
Thought you would! 
