Word: marteli
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...latest in a series of controversies in which the company, by virtue of its enormous size and reach, has played an unwanted role as a sort of national conscience, discount division. Wal-Mart has been accused of being both censor and nanny, condemned as a promoter of demon rum and slave labor, and cited as both a friend and a foe of the environment. "We don't want to be America's moral conscience," says Don Soderquist, senior vice chairman. "The watchword for all of our people is 'Do what is right.' That's what we really preach and teach...
...wherever there's gray, black, as in ink, is not far behind. Earlier this year, Wal-Mart infuriated some women's groups when it declined to stock Preven, an emergency day-after contraception kit available by prescription. Antiabortion groups hailed the decision as one for their side. But Wal-Mart's rationale was simpler--perhaps too much so: its pharmacies don't stock every drug available; Preven was going to be a small seller, customers were not clamoring for it, and the item was pricey ($25). "You can't carry everything. Sometimes you get credit for making a moral judgment...
That would be, for instance, Kevin Clarke, a mild-mannered carpet salesman from Mentor, Ohio, and a loyal Wal-Mart customer, who went ballistic after his son bought a CD by a band named Godsmack that he thought God-awful, particularly a ditty called Voodoo, which seemed to be about suicide. Wal-Mart has long had a policy of banning so-called stickered CDs, those carrying a warning label that the content might not be suitable for children. But Godsmack was stickerless, so Wal-Mart stocked it, until Clarke hollered...
...music industry doesn't like Wal-Mart's policy, muttering under its collective breath about censorship and artistic freedom, but it won't buck the system. That's because Wal-Mart's reach is enormous, representing 10% to 15% of all U.S. CD sales. "It's very difficult to have a No. 1" without Wal-Mart, says a record-company executive. That's why even the biggest, baddest acts--Nirvana, Snoop Dogg--often clean up their acts to play Wal-Mart. But even that kind of screen isn't enough for parents such as Clarke, who hold Wal-Mart accountable...
...Mart has a clearly articulated view of its role in society and the economy--to be an "agent" for the consumer. The company views its job as finding out exactly what folks want and getting those products into the stores at the lowest possible cost. It's a strategy that has worked superbly. Wal-Mart earned $4.4 billion last year on sales of $139 billion. It serves 90 million to 100 million customers each week. So while Wal-Mart is a conservative company born of the rural South, it hasn't let that get in the way of some basic...