What surprised me most about the film was that retailers such as Wal-Mart are calling the shots instead of the manufacturers that provide the products to these companies. How I see it in my head is that the manufacturers are the ones who should be getting more of the power because they are the ones actually producing the products that retailers are lucky to sell. If there were no manufacturers, then there would be no need for retail stores like Wal-Mart. The thing is, retailers have learned to be nice at the beginning of the relationship with the manufacturers to get their foot in the door, but once they really start to sell the manufacturer’s products, they start demanding and threatening them. When the products start to boom and become a popular entity, the retailers feel as though they can call the shots because they are the ones who are advertising the product to the public and making the profits happen. This all would not happen though if it weren’t for the manufacturers.
Personally, I think the strategies of Wal-Mart are unfair. I do not think it is right to decide which businesses they want to have survive in America and which they want to have die due to outsourcing. “Outsourcing is a contract with other companies (often in other countries) to do some or all of the functions of a firm, like its production or accounting tasks” (pg. 6). Wal-Mart, now being the number one retailer in the U.S., has the power to decide which manufacturers they want to make deal with and which industries they want to see become extinct by the weak economy. I also think it is unfair how Wal-Mart uses outsourcing companies to help them produce their products. Places like China have tons of people working for poor pay and with little to no labor restriction rights. American companies have to abide by certain labor laws, which provide the workers with a healthy and stable working atmosphere as well as a minimum pay. In China, working conditions can be terrible and unhealthy but that will not stop the companies, or their workers, from further producing their products.
The jobs that might be eliminated due to outsourcing are the small manufacturing companies in the United States. Since Wal-Mart is the number one selling-store right now, manufacturing companies either have to make the decision to jump on the bandwagon with Wal-Mart, or take the risk that their business might not survive, due to outsourcing. Another group of people that are being negatively affected by the Wal-Mart’s outsourcing strategy is the small business owners. Since Wal-Mart has made it convenient and easy to shop for mostly everything at one place with low prices, former customers of small businesses have been drawn to the store, taking away business from the small business owners. The people that are benefiting from outsourcing are the many employee workers of Wal-Mart. As Wal-Mart is expanding, they need more and more workers, which is providing more and more American citizens with jobs. Outsourcing is also benefiting businesses in foreign countries. Since Wal-Mart depends on 80% of their product being manufactured to come from other countries, people in China and other areas are being employed as well.
The people that gain the most out of Wal-Mart’s price policies are its customers and the company itself. Since this particular organization chooses to sell their products at such low prices, this entices many to save a few and shop at Wal-Mart. This price policy of out beating all the other competitors’ sale values has helped bring way more business in than its competitors and increase the profit rates. In this case, Wal-Mart is using price leadership. They are using, “the strategy by which one or more dominant firms set the pricing practices that all competitors in an industry follow” (pg. 392). Many companies are trying to mimic what Wal-Mart has done but so far, no one has been as close to being successful as Wal-Mart in retailing. They have been the business to beat with “always low prices” in comparison of other stores. They are the ones setting the tone and the prices to beat.
I already did not like Wal-Mart due to other stories I have heard about the company but the new information that I acquired from the movie set me over the top. I do not ever want to support a company such as them because they are driving business and money out of America. I whole-heartedly prefer to shop somewhere else rather than Wal-Mart.
The people that have benefited the most from Wal-Mart are its numerous customers, especially families with a lot of financial need, and its employees. Customers are getting good quality items for cheap prices at a one-stop location and with the expansion of this retail company, there have been many job opportunities as well. The small American business owners and manufacturers have not benefited from Wal-Mart. They have been losing business and money due to outsourcing and the constant competition with this number one retail store in America.
They should have more managerial accounting members in order to balance the needs of workers, keep low prices for consumers, and keep high profits for shareholders. Managerial accounting is, “used to provide information and analyses to managers within the organization to assist them in decision making” (pg. 457). With more financial assistance, the company will be better able to keep everything balanced and under control.
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