The Wal-Mart Effect

The book “The Wal-Mart Effect” by Charles Fishman shows how the Wal-Mart company really works and how it affects American economy. Fishman also explores the global impact of the company. Actually, the author examines and analyzes carefully the goods sold at the store before they reach the distribution system. Moreover, Fishman discusses the effect of Wal-Mart specifying the effect of buying products after they are on Wal-Mart’s shelves. For example, Fishman states the bigger the company the more enemies it has.

The book teaches that “in public policy terms…there is a difference between a $10 million corporation, a $100 million corporation, and a $100 billion corporation”. In other words, big corporations has more regulatory scrutinizes. So, the book aims at revealing the story beyond the plentiful quantity and pricing policy. Fishman discusses challenges faced by the corporation. He argues that Wal-Mart allegedly exploits non-American workers. Furthermore, Wal-Mart polices how its suppliers treat workers.

The author tends to look deeper and portray reality different from the one we see on the screen or read in the newspapers. Fishman notes that Wal-Mart is the main cause of dislocation because the company allows supplies to determine pricing policy themselves and, therefore, goods are sold at very cheap price. When Wal-Mart enters new business district, it also causes dislocations. The company tends to cover rural American towns, cities and locales situated outside the country.

Fishman stresses that in 200t the company has stores in China, Japan, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Germany, South Korea, and Brazil. So, competitors find it difficult to withstand Wal-Mart. Apparent strengths of the book is that Fishman provides maps aimed at assisting journalists and common people in understanding the strange world of Wal-Mart. The author concludes that Wal-Mart thinks about saving pennies and nothing else. Summing up, Wal-Mart transforms economies of other nations.

References

Fishman, Charles. (2006). The Wal-Mart Effect. USA: Penguin Press.