Walmart is surprising many Americans with its change from a cheap retailer of cheap stuf and driver out of main street mom & pop stores to interest in something beyond pure operational efficiency. More business need to show the way toward sustainable business models that can be measured in numerous ways. Most people are only convinced about the environment when they are shown quantifiable information rather than philosophical arguments.
Isn’t Walmart simply turning sustainability and ethical behaviour into sell-able commodities that it can hide behind whenever its core commercial activity comes under scrutiny? They do not appear to think that paying people properly, providing appropriate benefits and enabling workplace representation are part of their business sustainability model.
To little to late. I stopped shopping there long ago for several reasons and will never return. I hope there efforts do make a difference, but their heart is in the wrong place. If they weren’t losing customers because of this issue they would not be doing it at all.
COMMENTS
BY Bruce Walling
ON March 13, 2008 06:00 PM
Wal-Mart is doing what our government can’t or won’t do. I hope this model will be copied in more of our larger corp.
BY Catherine Carey
ON March 14, 2008 02:00 PM
Thought provoking. Other corporations should craft similar approaches.
What if McDonald’s used free range eggs?
BY Allen Cross
ON March 27, 2008 12:02 PM
Walmart is surprising many Americans with its change from a cheap retailer of cheap stuf and driver out of main street mom & pop stores to interest in something beyond pure operational efficiency. More business need to show the way toward sustainable business models that can be measured in numerous ways. Most people are only convinced about the environment when they are shown quantifiable information rather than philosophical arguments.
BY Leslie Forsyth
ON April 11, 2008 04:29 AM
Isn’t Walmart simply turning sustainability and ethical behaviour into sell-able commodities that it can hide behind whenever its core commercial activity comes under scrutiny? They do not appear to think that paying people properly, providing appropriate benefits and enabling workplace representation are part of their business sustainability model.
BY Vicki Barnes
ON April 11, 2008 11:54 AM
To little to late. I stopped shopping there long ago for several reasons and will never return. I hope there efforts do make a difference, but their heart is in the wrong place. If they weren’t losing customers because of this issue they would not be doing it at all.