1. Identify the primary issues facing Wal-Mart. Should the retailer have been able to anticipate the issues it now faced?
2. Sam Walton had three founding principles and beliefs, which he articulated in 1962 as the Wal-Mart credo:
a. Respect for the individual
b. Service to our customers
c. Strive for excellence
How do these principles and beliefs resonate in the 21st-century world and for the Wal-Mart that existed in 2005?
3. By focusing on the concerns and critiques of any of these stakeholders, does Wal-Mart risk losing its competitive advantage? Which particular stakeholder might pose the bigger threat?
4. As the largest retailer in the world and the largest private-sector employer in the United States, should Wal-Mart strive to be a model or should it focus primarily on its principal stakeholders: the associates and the customers?
5. By 2005, Wal-Mart had a network of 10,000 suppliers under constant pressure to lower their prices. What effect does this have on the suppliers and the customers, as well as other stakeholders? Are Wal-Mart’s techniques “clobbering” or “creative and innovative”? (Consider, for example, the fan manufacturer mentioned in the case that had to move its factory to China just to compete. Faced with Wal-Mart’s demands, Carolina Mills CEO Steve Dobbins said the company “could not compete even if they paid their workers nothing.”)
6. In the case of Wal-Mart, are there trade-offs among stakeholders?
7. What lessons can we learn from studying how Wal-Mart dealt with the many issues and criticisms it faced?
Use the Case Study Guidelines under the “Start Here” tab as a guide on writing this. Your paper should be a minimum of 5 pages (not including the cover sheet and references) and follow APA guidelines.