Is Wal-Mart Good For America?

Wal-Mart is good for America. They have set a standard for businesses operating in the global economy. They are able to accurately interpret consumers needs and efficiently serve them. Wal-Mart is doing what any successful business should do - keeping their costs as low as possible, providing their customers with a value and still making a profit for their shareholders. The money consumers save at Wal-Mart can be spent else where and American consumers like shopping at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is competition for other businesses and an absence of competition can lead to higher prices, particularly in many smaller communities.

Today’s workers need to become more like portfolio workers, as defined in the text as, those with a number of different job skills and credentials, so they can compete in the changing economy and the changing job market. No longer can you learn a trade, get a job and stay with that company for your entire working career.

Wal-Mart has adapted well to a modern economy. They are operating according to post-Fordism practices which, according to the text, “include the replacement of highly bureaucratic, vertically organized business structures with more flexible, horizontally organized networked approaches; the transition from mass production to global outsourcing....” Those who adapt stay in business and those who don’t, don’t.