WALMART'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO SOCIETY
There are mixed feelings regarding whether Walmart is good or bad for society. There is no denying Walmart’s economic impact as the world’s largest retailer. Walmart is an efficient retailer that lives by its reputation for low prices. As a business that seeks to create value for customers and owners, Walmart is successful. The contrast for Walmart arises from society being critical of anti-union beliefs, workers receiving low wages and benefits that are seen as less than optimal. These criticisms are weighted by the fact that Walmart is one of the largest private employers in the world.
Walmart takes pride in being a part of thousands of communities worldwide and supports them. The support comes through the form of local giving and associate volunteering and providing emergency relief in times of disaster. Walmart can also provide access to healthy food and services or relieve hunger through food donations plus provide nutritional education. In 2022, Walmart provided more than $1.5 billion in cash and annual giving to support programs that align with Walmart’s philanthropic priorities.
For disaster preparedness and relief, some recent examples of Walmart teams helping communities would be Hurricane Ian, the Uvalde school shooting, the flooding in India, and more. Walmart has a global food safety compliance team that consists of food safety professionals who are responsible for overseeing food safety programs. Walmart raised $5 million dollars to support the American Red Cross’ response to Hurricane Ian and other disasters in 2022.
Walmart does a great job in serving millions of customers and employing over 2 million associates in communities. Walmart aims to create value for communities in many ways including through local grant programs, access to healthier food and safer products. Walmart also has support for veterans and military families. Walmart’s mission in serving communities is to save people money and help them live better lives. Walmart meets the needs of its customers and community stakeholder groups, complemented by efforts for disaster support, associate volunteerism, and community cohesion initiatives. Walmart’s approach is to create value for communities by giving access to quality foods and services, economic vitality by providing jobs, career paths, and investments in local suppliers. Also, strengthening community resilience by supporting organizations that matter to customers and associates. Walmart is building more engaged communities by deepening engagement between stores and communities. Walmart expands its customer and community access to their products through local delivery through Walmart Golocal which announced it had 3.5 million deliveries in communities around the US.
Walmart contributes significantly to the tax base in thousands of communities in countries where Walmart operates. According to the 2023 report, Walmart paid over 3 billion dollars in taxes. These tax dollars provide revenue to fund services, projects, and programs such as schools, police, libraries, and health services.
To conclude, Walmart is good for society because they have lower prices for consumers (lower inflation), creates good jobs in economically deprived regions, has a wide range of products, and can increase productivity.
Stakeholders: Customers, Associates, Suppliers, Communities, NGOs
There are mixed feelings regarding whether Walmart is good or bad for society. There is no denying Walmart’s economic impact as the world’s largest retailer. Walmart is an efficient retailer that lives by its reputation for low prices. As a business that seeks to create value for customers and owners, Walmart is successful. The contrast for Walmart arises from society being critical of anti-union beliefs, workers receiving low wages and benefits that are seen as less than optimal. These criticisms are weighted by the fact that Walmart is one of the largest private employers in the world.
Walmart takes pride in being a part of thousands of communities worldwide and supports them. The support comes through the form of local giving and associate volunteering and providing emergency relief in times of disaster. Walmart can also provide access to healthy food and services or relieve hunger through food donations plus provide nutritional education. In 2022, Walmart provided more than $1.5 billion in cash and annual giving to support programs that align with Walmart’s philanthropic priorities.
For disaster preparedness and relief, some recent examples of Walmart teams helping communities would be Hurricane Ian, the Uvalde school shooting, the flooding in India, and more. Walmart has a global food safety compliance team that consists of food safety professionals who are responsible for overseeing food safety programs. Walmart raised $5 million dollars to support the American Red Cross’ response to Hurricane Ian and other disasters in 2022.
Walmart does a great job in serving millions of customers and employing over 2 million associates in communities. Walmart aims to create value for communities in many ways including through local grant programs, access to healthier food and safer products. Walmart also has support for veterans and military families. Walmart’s mission in serving communities is to save people money and help them live better lives. Walmart meets the needs of its customers and community stakeholder groups, complemented by efforts for disaster support, associate volunteerism, and community cohesion initiatives. Walmart’s approach is to create value for communities by giving access to quality foods and services, economic vitality by providing jobs, career paths, and investments in local suppliers. Also, strengthening community resilience by supporting organizations that matter to customers and associates. Walmart is building more engaged communities by deepening engagement between stores and communities. Walmart expands its customer and community access to their products through local delivery through Walmart Golocal which announced it had 3.5 million deliveries in communities around the US.
Walmart contributes significantly to the tax base in thousands of communities in countries where Walmart operates. According to the 2023 report, Walmart paid over 3 billion dollars in taxes. These tax dollars provide revenue to fund services, projects, and programs such as schools, police, libraries, and health services.
To conclude, Walmart is good for society because they have lower prices for consumers (lower inflation), creates good jobs in economically deprived regions, has a wide range of products, and can increase productivity.
Stakeholders: Customers, Associates, Suppliers, Communities, NGOs
- As part of Walmart’s effort to address systemic racism in society and accelerate change, in June of 2020 Walmart committed $100 million in five years to create the Center for Racial Equity. Since then, the CRE has invested $58 million to complement and extend the societal impact of Walmart’s business initiatives to advance racial equity within four focus areas, Education, Finance, Health, and Criminal Justice.
- More than 1,000 Walmart U.S. stores have appointed Community Champions to improve engagement between store and community.
- Walmart has 8,100 pick up locations globally and 7,000 delivery locations as of 2023.
- Roughly 2.1 million employees globally as of 2023.
- Walmart.org gave away over $1.7 billion in total cash and donations.
- Over 7,500 US associates participated in the Volunteerism Always Pays program.
- Over $92 million raised from US customers for charitable organizations.
- Over 665 million pounds of food donations in the US (57% of those food donations being fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy.)
- 93% of US Walmart stores are participating in food donation programs.
- By the end of 2024, there will be 75+ Walmart Health Centers in the United States.