This teaching case study aims to draw out discussion in a variety of classes about the responsibilities of large corporations and their role in society. The authors provide a profile and a set of questions about Wal-Mart, the largest corporation in the world. Ultimately, the purpose of the study is to provoke discussions about the marketplace, social welfare, cultural homogenization, labor, and economic structure and agency in the context of expanding global corporate influence in society.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Appelbaum, R., and P. Dreier. 1999. The campus anti-sweatshop movement. American Prospect46: 71–78.
2.
Baron, K. 1999. Wal-Mart’s ankle biters. Forbes, October 18, 86-86.
3.
Belsie, L. 2002. Wal-Mart: World’s largest company. Christian Science Monitor, February 19.
4.
Boarnet, M., and R. Crane. 1999. The impact of big box grocers on Southern California: Jobs, wages and municipal finances. Prepared for the Orange County Business Council.
5.
Bruyn, S. 2000. A civil economy. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Dedman, B. 1997. Wisconsin Wal-Mart workers say no to union. New York Times, April 10.
11.
Frazier, D. 2001. Wal-Mart friends and foes do lunch. Flagstaff Tea Party: A Community Forum for the Discussion of Progressive Ideas, May.
12.
The global 500: The world’s largest corporations. 2002. Fortune [online]. Retrieved from http://www.fortune.com/.
13.
Greenhouse, S. 2002. Suits say Wal-Mart forces workers to toil off the clock. New York Times, June 25.
14.
Greider, W. 1997. One world ready or not: The manic logic of global capitalism. New York: Simon & Schuster.
15.
Inside a Chinese sweatshop: ‘A life of fines and beating’: Wal-Mart’s self-policing in the Chun Si factory was a disaster. 2000. Business Week [online]. Retrieved from http://www.BusinessWeek.com/2000/00_40/b3701119.htm.
Mander, K., and A. Boston. 1996. Wal-Mart: A global retailer. In The case against the global economy, ed. J. Mander and E. Goldsmith, 339-339. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.
22.
National Labor Committee. 1999a. Words vs. reality, Kathie Lee sweatshops, shirts of misery. Retrieved February 8, 2000, from http//www.nlcnet.org.
Shils, E., and G. Taylor. 1997. The Shils report: Measuring the economic and sociological impact of the megretail discount chains on small enterprise in urban, suburban and rural communities. Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.
Troy, M., and M. Duff. 2001. The world’s largest retailer. Chain Store Age, 77 (6): 47–49.
39.
United Food and Commercial Workers Union. 1999, December. Wal-Mart’s handpicked judge forced to withdraw from workers’ rights case [press release]. Retrieved from http://www.ufcw.org/press.
40.
United Food and Commercial Workers Union. 2000. Wal-Mart workers make history, say ‘union yes!’ [press release]. Retrieved from http://www.ufcw.org/press.
41.
Vance, S. S., and R. V. Scott. 1992. Sam Walton and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc: A case study in modern Southern entrepreneurship. Journal of Southern History58 (2): 239-239.
