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| |  | Health, Mind & Body | Home » » » The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy | | | | | | | Description: | | An award-winning journalist breaks through the wall of secrecy to reveal the many astonishing ways Wal-Mart's power affects our lives and reaches all around the world.
The Wal-Mart Effect: The overwhelming impact of the world's largest company--due to its relentless pursuit of low prices--on retailers and manufacturers, wages and jobs, the culture of shopping, the shape of our communities, and the environment; a global force of unprecedented nature. Wal-Mart is not only the world's largest company; it is also the largest company in the history of the world. Americans spend $26 million every hour at Wal-Mart, twenty-four hours of every day, every day of the year. Is the company a good thing or a bad thing? On the one hand, market guru Warren Buffett estimates that the company's low prices save American consumers $10 billion a year. On the other, the behemoth is the #1 employer in thirty-seven of the fifty states yet has never let a union in the door.
Though 70 percent of Americans now live within a fifteen-minute drive of a Wal-Mart store, we have not even begun to understand the true power of the company and the many ways it is shaping American life. We know about the lawsuits and the labor protests, but what we don't know is how profoundly the "Wal-Mart effect" is shaping our lives.
Fast Company senior editor Fishman, whose revelatory cover story on Wal-Mart generated the strongest reader response in the history of the magazine, takes us on an unprecedented behind-the-scenes investigative expedition deep inside the many worlds of Wal-Mart. He reveals the radical ways in which the company is transforming America's economy, our workforce, our communities, and our environment. Fishman penetrated the secrecy of Wal-Mart headquarters, interviewing twenty-five high-level ex-executives; he journeyed into the world of a host of Wal-Mart's suppliers to uncover how the company strong-arms even the most established brands; and journeyed to the ports and factories, the fields and forests where Wal-Mart's power is warping the very structure of the world's market for goods. Wal-Mart is not just a retailer anymore, Fishman argues. It has become a kind of economic ecosystem, and anyone who wants to understand the forces shaping our world today must understand the company's hidden reach. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Charles Fishman | | Hardcover:
| 304 pages | | Publisher:
| Penguin Press HC, The | | Publication Date:
| January 19, 2006 | | Package Length:
| 9.6 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.4 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.15 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 110 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Very well researched bookAug 14, 2009
Wal-Mart is a company that is either loved or hated. Those who bought the stock when it went public and held on to it did extremely well. Those who had to compete against this giant did not do so well. I liked how this book not only portrayed the company's successful tactics, but also the negative ones that it has on our economy and small businesses.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market
0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Surprisingly Shallow and Lacking in Research and AnalysisAug 09, 2009
When I purchased this book, I was eager to learn many things that
I didn't previously know about WalMart and its effects on the world.
It is a shame that the author either didn't bother to do in-depth
and critical analysis of the issues on stake or didn't have
the balls to criticize one of the most powerful corporations in the world.
Obviously, the author emphasizes the "Always Low Price" philosophy of Walmart
so much. Well, duh. Who doesn't know that if you are even slightly aware of
the corporation's policy? And who doesn't know about alleged exploitation
of its employees and foreign workers to produce cheap stuff? He just wasted
whole lot of spaces writing about things that people already know.
It really makes me wonder why the author didn't dig deeper into the exploitation and problems
surrounding Walmart. The world knows about it, so what's the point of
hiding it? And he also gives the implication that the overall Walmart effect
is inconclusive just because there isn't much standard academic research
being done on the topic. Anecdotal and observation evidence are good enough.
He does manage to squeeze his final thought on the very last section of the last
chapter. Of course, for a corporation that is as large and powerful as Walmart
it exerts huge influence on both consumers, suppliers, economics, and culture.
And however much benefit the consumers seem to enjoy from being able to buy
lots of good for cheap price, it is being so becoming so clear that it helped fuel
the unsustainable growth of consumption economy (70% of GDP) and causing all sorts
of problems such as monopsony, bankruptcies of competitors and suppliers, and
unfair practice of labor law, and encouragement of over-consumption and over-production.
Additionally the way the author wrote about Sam Walton really makes
me wonder if he was really the man the author paints him out to be. A generous and hard
working man who loved him employees and who couldn't have possibly foreseen what his
creation was going to become within two decades from his death. I don't see much evidence
for that weak claim.
Overall, not enough in-depth research, too much use of anecdotal evidence, repetitive messages
about that ever-so obvious philosophy and benefit of "lower price," all contribute to
resulting in an additional unsatisfactory work.
The Wal-Mart Effect - Charles FishmanJun 16, 2009
While this book is not a marketing book per se, it provides a great insight into how the largest retailer in the world has built its company through its sales tactics, buying tactics, marketing expertise, etc. I do need to disclose that I am a shareholder in Wal-Mart, not because I love the company, but because I think they do a great job at what they are great at, which is selling a lot of merchandise very inexpensively, to a lot of people.
The book focuses on the negative impact Wal-Mart has had on the economy, and there is no question that they have hurt many small businesses. At the same time, I know many small manufacturing company owners who have made millions of dollars selling Wal-Mart goods and services, and they will tell you that Wal-Mart is their key to success. To many people, Wal-Mart is their savior.
This book is definitely worth reading, although please beware that the author has an agenda. He obviously feels that Wal-Mart is the evil empire, and his bias shows through. Not 100% balanced. That being said, you do learn some great inside information as to how Wal-Mart has reached the level that it did. I highly recommend this book.
1 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Lets be fair about WalmartJun 04, 2009
Ironies abound
Walmart is seen and accepted as a haven for the poor to shop at
So it is the poor than who are supporting Walmarts drive to keep sweatshops going
So if we say that we ahould have Walmart STOP its sweatshops then we are imposing our views and isnt it the lefts viewpoint that it is consevatives who want to impose their views on others especially in other countries!
Yes it is
Why would Jesse Jackson and others stop Walmarts from openning in poor parts of towns which would bring jobs and goods etc
For the unions who Walmart fights against
AS we know payroll is any companies BIGGEST EXPENSE, so unions would have payroll go higher and then prices go higher and then Jackson would complain that Walmart is abandoning the poor
When Walmart opens, many more shops open in the shopping centers and with general knowledge of Walmarts quality , these other stores flourish, despite the scare put out by the media or mom and pops who cant or wont compete with Walmart
The curse of the unions is being seen right now with GM and others as the common person is shut out and the unions gain the taxpayers money
Walmart offers dirt cheap ( and yes, maybe dirt quality to some) but serves a great purpose
Detractors wont be swayed by logic, so not much will change
But I see people who work at Walmart SOME, NOT ALL, who might not get hired elsewheres
I would rather there be WalMarts than none at all
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Honest and Insightful on the way Wal Mart does businessMay 04, 2009
This book told both sides of people's opinion on Wal Mart. More importantly, it showed how Wal Mart became the most powerful company in history. I am glad to find out how Wal Mart was able to accomplish so much and use their cost cutting objectives to become #1.
In school, I read a good amount of literature on how Wal Mart is destroying this country (Note: I graduated college almost 8 years ago where Wal Mart only had about 1500 stores). I enjoyed reading from an author that was not one sided and kept his personal beliefs to himself. Many of the reading I read in the past were one sided liberal views which were probably approved by the board at Kmart and Carrefour.
I believe Wal Mart has some unethical, but very legal, ways to do business. Plus they realize that we love low prices as a country. Wal Mart is a major force in this country's economics and you really have to respect how it has grown into such an excellent corporation.
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