Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Can corporations be evil? I don't think so.

roachboy · 09-07-2006, 02:00 PM

walmart's location strategies are a matter of public record, seaver.
they basically pick an area and draw a grid.
then they locate up to four stores within that grid.
the idea behind the grid is to force competition out of business.
they do this because of their supply chain, which gives them economies of scale that older types of retail outlets simply can't compete with.
their location pratices are predatory.
they are kinda slimy even, but within what is understood as acceptable, i guess.

as for their employment practices, walmart's are also matters of public record.
they will hire more people than they've any intention of keeping at the outset: within the first 6 months, they whittle down the initial hires to a pool of folk they think profile the walmart way.
walmart prefers to keep their wages at the legal minimum and to schedule employees just under what would qualify them as fulltime.
they treat the welfare system as a cost externalization mechanism.

look for yourself--these two aspects of walmart's activities are easy to get information about.
what is harder is anything to do with their supply chain--they consider almost all of it to be proprietary information.
the general schema behind their supply chain is fairly well-known: it is even a kind of model for one type of chain--extremely capital intensive to put together, thoroughly automated--and they are pioneers in giving the lie to any claim that the automation of a production-type process does not result in the radical reduction of employment.

finally, your town may have been glad when walmart arrived, but many many towns are not. some places rather like local ownership of business. some places think that a diversified retail sector is a good thing. some towns think that trying to maintain a pedestrian-oriented town center is desirable. not everyone buys the walmart logic that all that matters to a population is cheap shit and lots of it.

i know alot of conservative folk like walmart, but insofar as it runs counter to everything about small business, why has always been a mystery to me. maybe they think walmart is a small business. it really really isnt one.

09-07-2006, 02:00 PM	#28 (permalink)
roachboy Super Moderator Location: essex ma	walmart's location strategies are a matter of public record, seaver. they basically pick an area and draw a grid. then they locate up to four stores within that grid. the idea behind the grid is to force competition out of business. they do this because of their supply chain, which gives them economies of scale that older types of retail outlets simply can't compete with. their location pratices are predatory. they are kinda slimy even, but within what is understood as acceptable, i guess. as for their employment practices, walmart's are also matters of public record. they will hire more people than they've any intention of keeping at the outset: within the first 6 months, they whittle down the initial hires to a pool of folk they think profile the walmart way. walmart prefers to keep their wages at the legal minimum and to schedule employees just under what would qualify them as fulltime. they treat the welfare system as a cost externalization mechanism. look for yourself--these two aspects of walmart's activities are easy to get information about. what is harder is anything to do with their supply chain--they consider almost all of it to be proprietary information. the general schema behind their supply chain is fairly well-known: it is even a kind of model for one type of chain--extremely capital intensive to put together, thoroughly automated--and they are pioneers in giving the lie to any claim that the automation of a production-type process does not result in the radical reduction of employment. finally, your town may have been glad when walmart arrived, but many many towns are not. some places rather like local ownership of business. some places think that a diversified retail sector is a good thing. some towns think that trying to maintain a pedestrian-oriented town center is desirable. not everyone buys the walmart logic that all that matters to a population is cheap shit and lots of it. i know alot of conservative folk like walmart, but insofar as it runs counter to everything about small business, why has always been a mystery to me. maybe they think walmart is a small business. it really really isnt one. __________________ a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear it make you sick. -kamau brathwaite Last edited by roachboy; 09-07-2006 at 02:05 PM..