So I decided to go with Walmartization as a topic for my 338 paper and some of the facts about Wal-mart I knew, some are jaw dropping! Honestly, call me the book of random wal-mart facts as I can tell you alot of stats and what goes on behind the scenes (which many of you probably already know, but when you read real case studies it starts to hit home!).
Some of these random facts include locating Wal-mart (Supercenters at that) in areas with a population of 22,000 or less (say goodbye to those small locally owned businesses, or atleast to those who can't afford the price!). Another random fact I found talks about how Wal-mart is able to meet customer demands so quickly. An example used is towels from India. So if Wal-mart orders a bunch of these towels, they sell like hotcakes and then have no more to put on the shelves, they have to wait for the next shipment, so they are losing profit, however Wal-mart has is set up that manufacturers in India can actually track how well a certain product is doing on computer and then ship some to Wal-mart as soon as they start running low. A raincheck is pretty much unheard of at Wal-mart.
Many case studies I have read on Walmartization, resist a Wal-mart supercenter coming into their town, because they fear it will take away from their culture and identity.
This is just a small glimpse of Walmartization...We want convience and low low prices, then this is the price we have to pay a Wal-mart within every 5 miles of each other, is this what we really want?
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