Daniel Snyder

Business and Society

11/29/11

HW #9: Is Walmart Good for America?

One thing in the film that really stood out to me is how Wal-Mart actually outsources. Prior to watching this video, I had no idea that Wal-Mart heavily contributed to the bankruptcy of several American businesses, all due to Wal-Mart’s outsourcing.

I believe that the strategies Wal-Mart is using, is not good for America. They’re contributing to the bankruptcy of American businesses, and eliminating more jobs in America. Wal-Mart’s outsourcing is creating more jobs in foreign markets, but because they outsource so much; American businesses are closing and filing for bankruptcy, and more jobs are being eliminated than created.

Ultimately, Wal-Mart benefits most from the price policies. In the video, it showed marketing strategies of cheap deals around certain sections of merchandise to lure customers in. As the customer gets further into the section, prices go up. However, Wal-Mart has a lot of cheap products that their customers benefit from.

This documentary has influenced my opinion of Wal-Mart in a negative manner. I think that they’re very Un-American and really self-centered. The only products I would buy from Wal-Mart are ones in the electronic section, and since I’ve been at school I haven’t even used my PS3 ten times. So if anything, this documentary has influenced me even more not to buy products from Wal-Mart.

I think that lower income families benefit from the everyday low prices of their products. Wal-Mart isn’t helping American businesses and they are eliminating more job opportunities for American citizens.

I think that the only way Wal-Mart is able to balance the needs for worker benefits, low prices for consumers and high profits for shareholders is though outsourcing. If Wal-Mart didn’t outsource, more jobs would be open in America but the pay to American citizens would be higher. This would then take a lot of money out of Wal-Mart’s annual profit because Wal-Mart pays the foreign factory workers very poorly. With Wal-Mart as big as it is today, the only way I see them continuing their success is through outsourcing.