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What does it mean when Wal-Mart has become a major force for change in China, as a buyer and seller of goods but also as an employer? What does it mean when several Chinese city governments hire pollsters to gauge their effectiveness and a district leader conducts town-hall meetings and answers thousands of e-mails from the public? How should the West understand a society in which environmental protests are common and underground churches thriving--and yet in which information is tightly controlled and long prison sentences are handed out for those who transgress dimly defined laws...
...enforce the standards, Andy Tang, Wal-Mart's Far East manager for ethical standards, travels across China, making unexpected visits to all of the company's suppliers. In 2004, more than 6,500 representatives of suppliers and factories underwent the standards training. When Tang visits a factory, he sticks a cardboard placard on the table announcing the company's policy: no gifts, no kickbacks. He won't even sit for the traditional Chinese banquet. Some "officials are pretty moved when they see that because they're used to a different way," says Hatfield...
Forcing suppliers to stick to ethical standards isn't the only way Wal-Mart can be tough. The bottom line, after all, is what really counts. "We drive prices down," says Tsuei, but not, he insists, "to the point where factories are making losses. We're helping them become more efficient." Manufacturers have to meet rock-bottom costs plus quality and design standards in order to keep selling to Wal-Mart...
...Shenzhen's Catalina lighting-fixtures factory, whose biggest customer is Wal-Mart, the managers are constantly struggling to meet the company's pricing demands and still turn a profit. Girls in pink jackets assemble and inspect parts for a little more than $100 a month. "Wal-Mart's requirements are very tight--on quality, ethical standards, production lead times. They've pushed us to achieve better in all ways," says Sng Lai Kee, who heads the factory. Catalina, he says, tries to stay ahead of Chiqui Cui's relentless price demands by coming up with more sophisticated designs for which...
That real world is what brings low prices to Wal-Mart's U.S. customers and, increasingly, to its customers in China too. Joe Hatfield's new stores are thriving, in part because Wal-Mart is spreading a management style that many of its young Chinese employees find liberating. In most Chinese companies, managers typically share little information with employees, and promotions usually depend on whom you know. At the Sam's Club outside Beijing, it's different. Alan Li, 31, the store's deputy manager, encourages workers to contribute ideas about efficiency, and managers tell employees what's going...