Two say Wal-Mart image on mend
Posted on Friday, September 19, 2008
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Wal-Mart Coverage
Stories pertaining to Wal-Mart Stores, Sam's Club, or other related Wal-Mart coverage from the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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- · Two say Wal-Mart image on mend (09-19-2008)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has markedly improved its image over the past three years and is helping set the agenda for this year’s elections, a company executive and an author of a book that detailed Wal-Mart’s business practices said Thursday.
Wal-Mart is “trying to undergo the most drastic change in its history” by addressing the unintended consequences of its business practices such as pollution and deplorable working conditions at supplier factories overseas, said Charles Fishman, author of the 2006 book The Wal-Mart Effect.
Previously, eliminating costs to keep product prices low was the entire focus, he said.
Mona Williams, Wal-Mart’s vice president for corporate communications, said the focus on better business practices will be stepped up when the company hosts a conference in China next month to “have a real conversation” about what’s ethical and sustainable.
Williams and Fishman spoke at the annual meeting of the National Conference of Editorial Writers at the Peabody Little Rock hotel.
Both agreed that Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was a turning point for the retailer. Wal-Mart drew widespread praise for delivering needed food, drinking water and other necessities into hard-hit New Orleans and other communities devastated by the hurricane.
In New Orleans, Williams said, thousands of people cheered the arrival of the trucks, prompting top company executives to ask, “What if we were this kind of company all the time ?”
Fishman said he “stumbled into” writing about Wal-Mart when his editor at the magazine Fast Company wanted a story about executives from supplier companies who were “miserable” after being sent to work near Wal-Mart’s Bentonville headquarters.
He said he concluded that Bentonville was “a charming place to live,” and instead spent the next two years researching and writing about the impact Wal-Mart’s business practices have on suppliers and competitors.
His new focus regarding Wal-Mart, he said, is to examine the impact the company has when it is “behaving well,” such as its push for concentrated liquid detergents. Because of its clout with suppliers, Fishman said, Wal-Mart was able to eliminate 30 million pounds of plastic and 40 million pounds of cardboard annually that would have gone into the nation’s waste stream.
“That is exactly what Wal-Mart is brilliant at,” he said.
Williams said Wal-Mart is finding open doors among elected officials and policymakers who previously wanted any consultation with the company kept secret.
She provided some insight into the “Wal-Mart mom” who has found her way into political commentary as a factor in this year’s presidential election. On average, Williams said, the Wal-Mart mom is 25 to 44 years old, more than half of them work full time, two-thirds say they worry about having enough money to provide daily necessities and onethird rate their financial situation as worse than a year ago. Wal-Mart is a “fierce advocate” for its customers, she said, and as a result, “we’re having a role in shaping this campaign.”
To contact this reporter: spainter@arkansasonline. com
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