The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and HowIt's Transforming the American Economy
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Description
An award-winning senior editor at Fast Company evaluates the ways in which the world's largest retail company and employer affects everyday life on a global level, in an account that reveals the radical ways in which the company impacts American economics, the workforce, and the environment. 50,000 first printing. Read more
Publisher : Penguin Press HC, The
Publication date : January 19, 2006
Edition : First Edition
Language : English
Print length : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 1594200769
ISBN-13 : 62
Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
Reading age : 18 years and up
Dimensions : 6.4 x 1.08 x 9.5 inches
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Hardcover
This book jumped out at me from the very first moment I saw it. It wasn't on my list of books to read however the title grabbed me. Wal-mart is on the leading edge of my favorite topics. I don't shop at Wal-mart anymore. I have come to dislike Wal-mart. As far as the book goes its a good read. Fishman has a nice style of writing like any good reporter should and the pace and presentation of the story he tells reads like a good episode of 60 Min. I enjoyed it. There is nothing stunning about the facts Fishman presents to the reader. That is, if you, like me, read a wide variety of center to left news magazines in addition to all the right wing spew that oozes out of the Television. The Wal-mart effect has been well documented in "The Nation", "Mother Jones" and "The Progressive" magazines for years. It is an ongoing story. The real kick in the pants is that this is now main stream. Wal-mart is way out of control. Wal-mart is out of control in the way a 380 lbs linebacker with the mind of a 4 year old is out of control. The linebacker needs handlers to keep him from hurting those around or himself and in that sense Wal-mart needs the government to step in and handle them. The reasons why are very well presented in the book which I encourage you to read. (I borrowed the anology from Fishman) There are two other things that interested me about this book. One is Wal-marts dedication to bringing the shopper the lowest price at any expense. I feel quality has been sacrificed. Fishman lists a variety of examples from sprinkler to blue jeans that have had the quality cut as well as the cost of labor inorder to achieve the 5% cost cut per year mandated by Wal-mart policy. I think that the shopping experience at a Wal-mart suffers from lack of quality as well. Wal-mart is a manisfestation of the cheapening of our society. The other thing is taxes. Fishman doesn't really go into the Wal-mart effect on local municipalities. (Some but there is much more) Wal-mart shops for locations. They want cheap. They want towns to fork over municiple service and build streets and handle traffic AND give up a big tax break. They present themselves to the town selectmen as if the 300 jobs they bring into a community will be the payoff. If the town won't budge on a Wal-mart demand then they head up the road to the next town. Wal-mart dosn't want just the cake and the frosting... Wal-mart wants the serving spoon, the plate, the cart you wheeled it in on, you get the point. Fishman does touch on this issue in general. I would like to have seen a bit more information on this. The cost of 300 low pay, part time jobs with crummy insurance to the town that gets saddled with a Wal-mart is often so high thats it is not worth it. The health insurance gets paid by governemt services, the traffic gets handled by an already over stretched police force, the firedepartment now has added responsibility and by the time all the real costs are added up Wal-mart starts looking like a 800 lbs gorilla on the back of local taxpayers. I would venture a guess that would be one Wal-mart does not want to be well known. All in all this is a must read. I use to shop a Wal-mart. Then I became a guilty exploiter of just the amazing fishing department. Now I have weaned myself off Wal-marts low price altogether. I just can't afford them anymore
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Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2006 by Jeffrey Dorn
Format: Paperback
My subtitle would be: Wal-Mart is a Bully Imagine this scenario: A 115-year old company respected for its quality product/s and loyal buyers is selling an item for X amount, which allows them to compete, provide medical coverage for its employees, donate to local charities, pay for the raw materials, give employees the weekend off and a week (at least) paid vacation. These employees earn enough to save for eventualities, afford a reasonable house and so on. The company decides to become a supplier to Wal-Mart because of its vast national and international reach. Its product soars via Wal-Mart, eventually amounting to 75% of the company's sales. That is year one. Year two, Wal-Mart has a "talk" with the venerable company and tells the CEO that if they want to continue with Wal-Mart they will have to reduce their price to a set amount--this is not a negotiation--because Wal-Mart's goal is: "Always the lowest price. Always." The producer/supplier/manufacturer winces, but takes the squeeze. But the supplier soon finds out that the Wal-Mart "talk" is yearly and each year there must be a price cut, which will affect the supplier's number of employees, the benefits it gives and so on. Eventually, the only way the company can survive is to cheapen its product and/or move overseas. So, employees are fired, their spending in the community lessened, life's benefits are lowered or eliminated and life is more miserable. Pleading or reasoning with Wal-Mart is useless: They don't care. They want more and more customers and the way to get them is lowering prices. The above is the essence of this book, except the book is more dramatic, more depressing and shocking (though enlightening), and based on real scenarios, over and over. Seldom have I read a book that was so overwhelming. Although the author seems to go off on a tangent at times, the main gist of his book is that Wal-Mart is the best (read: worst) example of the high cost of low prices. Personally, I never shop at Wal-Mart. Yes, I have visited twice and bought exactly one item, regardless of its price. I don't like the moral tone of a company that browbeats its suppliers--other companies--out of existence or forces them to go to very poor countries where 20 people can be hired for a living wage of one U.S. worker. It has an end goal--the lowest price--and doesn't seem to much care about the means to that end. Our country and people will become economic slaves with not much freedom to shop elsewhere for variety and quality. Following are some pertinent quotes from the book: PAGE 103: "Sure, Wal-Mart has held inflation down; it's great to have bargains. But you can't buy anything if you're not employed. We are shopping ourselves out of jobs" PAGE 106: "Eventually, the only way to lower costs is to manufacture outside the U.S., in countries with lower labor costs, fewer regulations, less overhead. This [constant price-lowering] element of the Wal-Mart effect remains largely hidden from public view." PAGE 165: "We find the presence of Wal-Mart unequivocally raised family poverty rates in U.S. counties..."--a university study where everything else but Wal-Mart was controlled for. PAGE 179: "Part of the reason Wal-Mart can sell a salmon fillet [dirt cheap] is they don't [accept] all the costs. Pollution ultimately costs money--to clean up, to prevent. [As does] reasonable wages, proper equipment, worker breaks, days off [even ONE]. Right now those costs aren't in the price of a pound of Chilean salmon." PAGE 203: "The only thing likely to make you smile at Wal-Mart is the price. In fact, it isn't really a place to shop, it's a place to buy things--bring a list, check the items off, get out. ... Wal-Mart is relentless at measuring its own costs; it isn't so interested in measuring its customers' costs." PAGE 236: "Wal-Mart isn't subject to the market forces because it is creating them [because of its size: the biggest company in the world]." PAGE 240: One of the highest percentages of workers on Medicaid work for Wal-Mart--mostly because they don't make enough money at Wal-Mart not to be on Medicaid. PAGE 269: "Wal-Mart can't seem to grasp an essential fact: The company has exactly the reputation it has earned: ... How it treats store employees; the relentless pressure that hollows out companies and dilutes the quality of their products; the bullying of suppliers and communities; and its corrosive secrecy." PAGE 272: "Low prices looked great for years, until we got a peek at [Wal-Mart's] hidden....costs. It's possible that the long-term consequences of muscling suppliers into sustainability will actually be unsustainable." On the flip side, Wal-Mart is so big, powerful and influential that it can actually change the economic life of it's customers (and citizens around the world) for the better. If it took the lead others would follow. But it keeps its head in the sand and continues to be what it mostly always has been. If you're not sure what I mean, simply re-read the review.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2012 by James Charnock
Format: Paperback
This is a very good, even-handed analysis of the the WalMart effect on the economy from the local consumer to the globalized manufacturing of the products we consume ever day. It was well-written and easy to read. My main complaint is that the writer at times speaks of some of what we might call the company's evils in a most dispassionate manner. At the time of reading, this feels like he is implicitly condones the actions of the companies and its suppliers (even though its clear the suppliers have little option in going along with WalMart). Overall, I think the objectivity of the author plays a key part on the effectiveness of the book. His bias is in the pages, but they do not yell too loud. Anyone looking int the effect of late twentieth century capitalism on America would be well served to read this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2010 by J. Edgar
Format: Hardcover
The Walmart Effect and its influence on me has been profound, as I read the book during my lunch hour while working as a Walmart Associate in the Fitting Room. (I also read "How Starbucks Saved My Life.") Yes, the book is ten years old but quite prophetic. It's an enlightening, often scary must-read if you're interested in the world's largest corporation plus its effect on post-war American capitalism and the world economy moving forward. I've been to corporate HQ in Bentonville, despite my $9.65 hourly position, and everything Fishman says about this frugal, focused and frenetic business is true, right down to the store level. While you're at it, pickup a copy of "Up Against The Walmarts: How your Business Can Prosper in the Shadow of the Retail Giants." For you Kool-Aid drinkers, you'll be disappointed to discover that Walmart isn't the death star of small business or Capitalism's evil empire; rather, Walmart's successes and current problems (same store sales, labor issues, customer service, low-price mania) are very instructive and inspirational. Apply the lessons learned and prosper, but never, NEVER ignore Walmart. There's still more room in the business graveyard for the non-believers. What are you reading during YOUR lunch hour?
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Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2015 by Christopher Springmann
Format: Hardcover
This is a good holiday reading book and I did just that. However it seriously lacks strong evidence despite the fact that this is precisely what the book promises to provide. A load of circumstantial stuff and very few empirical data. And the only empirical stuff you get is from a limited number of already published academic papers. Hence, hardly anything novel in the book. Because of the fact hat the author lacks serious facts about Wal-Mart, he stuffs the chapters by typical journalistic bla bla (sorry to say this). For god's sake, who needs an 11 page treatise on world salmon production and the role of Chilean salmon farming on this and on the environment in a book about Wal-Mart? And this comes in a book which has only 247 pages. All the chapters share similar stuffing efforts. Regarding the arguments against Wal-Mart, they are hardly convincing not only because they don't make much sense, but also because they cannot be proven by empirical evidence. In sum, if you want to have an overall account of who Wal-Mart is and what the arguments against this giant are, this may be a good introductory book. However, I reccommend wikipedia.com as a more compact and richer source on Wal-Mart. And it is free.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2006 by ARMAN KIRIM, PhD
Format: Hardcover
After seeing a rather frightening documentary about the worst of Walmart's business practices, I decided to have a look at his book. I'm glad I did because I learned quite a few things that weren't exactly public information...in fact, they might actually be company secrets. Mostly, though, I got a glimpse into the ways Wal-Mart affects our economy, for good and ill, with their relentless search for low prices (which consumers seem to love, not realizing how this could weaken our economy), to the bully tactics used to force suppliers to offer the "lowest price", even in the wake of higher costs for raw materials and other factors that make price cuts near impossible, below a certain level. The result? Wal-mart often buys from manufacturers who produce products overseas (they can often produce products for prices cheaper than American companies), lessening the benefit to the American companies and actually forcing many longtime name brands out of business. Gone are many of the familiar names we used to see on store shelves and others are hard-pressed to stay in business (Rubbermaid learned a hard lesson when it tried to buck the Walmart dictates and Walmart retaliated) or are forced to lessen the quality of what they offer. Anyone who lives near Walmart (and who doesn't?) should read this book to get a real idea of how the company influences nearly every product you buy. Why? Because the Walmart "formula" is one more and more companes are being forced to imitate. Yes, this may result in lower prices for many products but is the overall longterm effect good for us- and our economy? That is a major issue addressed in the book. By the way, an excerpt from this book appeared in a national magazine and led to what that magazine called the most powerful response from its readers IN THE HISTORY OF THE MAGAZINE. So be prepared for the author to keep you glued to the pages.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2006 by Kcorn
Format: Paperback
I had been interested in reading this book ever since I'd heard the author's interview on NPR several years ago, and I wasn't disappointed. This book is a very even-handed review of a touchy subject - the Wal-Mart Effect. As a numbers person, I love the statistics, I need the data. However, even people who aren't into the numbers will appreciate the way Mr. Fishman weaves the statistics into the anecdotes and interviews he presents to us. Many of the stories in this book are well-known by now (like the cheap packs of underwear), others not so much, while some were absolutely jaw-dropping. I don't think anyone who reads this book could still shop at Wal-Mart afterwards, unless they live in a town where Wal-Mart has killed all the competition. And that's what they've been doing in town after town, county after county, year after year now. My husband and I swore off Wal-Mart many, many years ago, and after reading this book, I am even more convinced that we made the right decision. Everyone votes with their dollars, and we believe in supporting our local town and economy, even if it costs us a little more. Read this book, and see if you don't agree. Otherwise, imagine a world where every town eventually consists of a few blocks of huge superstores and nothing else. Sure, you can buy literally everything at those stores, but why would anyone want to?
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Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2012 by R. Moreland
Format: Paperback
I thought this would be a very scholarly read on the economics of the Wal Mart effect. It is very informative without being boring. I sped through this book and I'm a 22 year old college student - with a very short attention span. That made my purchase even sweeter. I bought this book also with Sam Walton's. This book provides in my opionion a very factual based analysis of Wal-mart. The author provides a common median, of both the good and bad of Walmart, without a bias. He allows you to come to your own overall conclusion of the company - he doesn't try to make your opinion, just provides the facts. Overall I'm very very happy with the research and presentation.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2008 by Just What I Needed