Wal-Mart Presentation

Utilizing overseas suppliers

- In terms of suppliers, Wal-Mart is known for utilizing overseas suppliers rather than American suppliers.

- Between 2001 and 2006, Wal-Mart decided to focus the majority of its business operations towards importing goods from China. With that strategy, they had to cut 196,000 United States employees.

- In 2010, around 85 percent of all products offered at Wal-Mart was produced in China.

- The main reason they utilized the Chinese market was because of the cheaper labor and production costs. They maintained to keep their costs even lower by not meeting the minimum requirements of providing mandatory pay and benefits to their employees. Which they got a lot of criticism for.

- As of the beginning of 2013, the company has started making significant progress in trying to produce more products in America. They just now pledged to invest 50 billion dollars in U.S.-made goods over the next 10 years.

- This mainly due to the cost of producing in China has increased with 24 percent, due to the appreciation of the Chinese currency and increased labor costs.

- So actually, relocating the production to America will save the Wal-Mart nearly 15 percent on their costs, including investing in a new manufacturing facility.

Treatment of employees

- Wal-Mart has a reputation of treating their employees unethically.

- There have been several cases and lawsuits where employees stated that they’ve been discriminated because of sex, race handicaps etc.

- The most famous case is the Dukes v. Wal-Mart case from 2001 to 2011.

- It all started by a woman named Betty Dukes who worked for a Wal-Mart based in California. She claimed that she had been sexually discrimination by her employer.

- She stated that Wal-Mart had treated her unequally by denying her the training she needed to advance to a higher position.

- The same lawsuit came to expand to include 1.6 million other female workers who also had experienced discrimination based on their sex. The Dukes v. Wal-Mart lawsuit was certified as the largest class action lawsuit in history of the United States.

- Another aspect of treating their employees unethically is the wages.

- The majority of Wal-Mart full-time sales employees earn $7.50 per hour, meaning they make between $250 and $300 a week. These salaries are far below the poverty guideline set by the government.