Les Jones: Wal-Mart Profile

November 21, 2003

E-commerce > Wal-Mart Profile

Read Fast Company's profile of Wal-Mart. Some people will read this and think "Those bastards! Pushing suppliers to lower prices!" I read it and think "That's how you run a business: more efficiency all the time. If you don't become more efficient, your competition will" The story highlights the fact that Wal-Mart's demanding standards and prices gave Levi's the kick in the pants (heh) they needed to improve their operations.

The trend towards Wal-Mart buying more products from foreign companies (particularly Chinese companies) is a little disturbing, but Wal-Mart is hardly alone. I drive a Japanese car (albeit one made in the U.S.) so I'm not about to throw stones there. More and more products are manufactured overseas. That's been a trend for decades.

Posted by lesjones

Comments

It's simple economics that the lowest price demands the lowest manufacturing costs demands the lowest labor costs. The rub is that not everything Walmart sells is the lowest price, and yet their overwhelming power in the industry enables them to demand concessions from manufacturers all the same.

It's almost impossible to find American made goods these days. If more Americans demanded American made products and refused to buy foreign made goods, Walmart would carry more of these and encourage American manufacturing.

It's hard to argue against lower prices, but what price do we put on our soul when Walmart demands that we sell and sell at their price???

Posted by: Joe at December 16, 2004