Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism
Edited volume on the supply chain and logistics model.
Summary
Nelson Lichtenstein edited this collection of essays by historians, economists, sociologists and labour scholars examining Wal-Mart as an economic and social institution.
The contributions cover distinct areas. The company's origins in the rural South and the culture and politics that came with it. Its logistics and information systems, which required suppliers to adopt its standards and made it the coordinator of supply chains it did not own. Its labour practices, its opposition to unionisation and the litigation over wages and discrimination. Its effect on suppliers, with Procter and Gamble and other manufacturers accommodating themselves to a buyer larger than any of them. Its role in relocating manufacturing to China, and the specific mechanism by which continuous price reduction demands transmitted through the supply chain. And comparative material on retail in other countries, which shows that the American outcome was not inevitable.
The collection is written largely from a critical perspective, though the contributors are academics rather than advocates and several assess the consumer benefits directly. It is more analytical than the journalistic treatments and situates the company in a longer history of American business organisation. It was published in 2006, before Amazon changed the competitive position and before the company's later wage increases.
Key takeaways 7
- Wal-Mart's information and logistics systems made it the coordinator of supply chains it did not own.
- Requiring suppliers to adopt its data and logistics standards transferred coordination costs to them while retaining the resulting information.
- Continuous price reduction demands transmitted through the supply chain and drove manufacturing relocation to lower-cost countries.
- The company's rural Southern origins shaped its labour relations and its political positioning.
- Comparative retail evidence from other countries shows that the American outcome was not inevitable.
- Power in the American economy shifted from manufacturers to retailers, and Wal-Mart is the case that demonstrates the shift.
- The contributors are academics rather than advocates and several assess the consumer benefits directly.
Who should read it
Investors and analysts who want an academic multi-disciplinary treatment of Wal-Mart as an economic institution rather than a journalistic account.
Where it sits in the reference 2
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