Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer. It's the world's largest company--bigger than Exxon Mobil, General Motors, and General Electric. The scale is hard to absorb. Wal-Mart sells in three months what number-two retailer Home Depot sells in a year. Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas.
Indeed, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer relentlessly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us "every day low prices." It's the story of what that pressure does to the companies Wal-Mart does business with, to U.S. manufacturing, and to the economy as a whole.
The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?
Of course, U.S. companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as China.
One way to think of Wal-Mart is as a vast pipeline that gives non-U.S. companies direct access to the American market. “People ask, 'How can it be bad for things to come into the U.S. cheaply? How can it be bad to have a bargain at Wal-Mart?' Sure, it's held inflation down, and it's great to have bargains, but you can't buy anything if you're not employed. We are shopping ourselves out of jobs."
There is no question that Wal-Mart's relentless drive to squeeze out costs has benefited consumers. The giant retailer is at least partly responsible for the low rate of U.S. inflation, and a study concluded that about 12% of the economy's productivity gains in the second half of the 1990s could be traced to Wal-Mart alone.
By now, it is accepted wisdom that Wal-Mart makes the companies it does business with more efficient and focused, leaner and faster. Wal-Mart itself is known for continuous improvement in its ability to handle, move, and track merchandise. It expects the same of its suppliers. But the ability to operate at peak efficiency only gets you in the door at Wal-Mart. Then the real demands start. Wal-Mart is legendary for forcing its suppliers to redesign everything from their packaging to their computer systems. It is also legendary for quite straightforwardly telling them what it will pay for their goods.
妳不知道的沃爾瑪
沃爾瑪不僅是世界上最大的零售商。這是世界上最大的公司 - 埃克森美孚，通用汽車公司和通用電氣大。規模是難以吸收。沃爾瑪賣什麽排名第二的零售商Home Depot的銷售在壹年中的3個月。沃爾瑪揮動其目的只有壹個權力：它的客戶帶來最低的價格。在沃爾瑪，這個目標是從來沒有達到過。零售商供應商壹個明確的政策：在基本不改變的產品，沃爾瑪將支付的價格，將收取的購物者，必須放棄年復壹年。但幾乎沒有人知道以外的沃爾瑪和它的21000供應商的世界的是那些低價格的成本高。沃爾瑪的權力，擠壓供應商的利潤殺害優惠。在面對其定價的要求，壹切從胸衣到自行車，藍色的牛仔褲制造商生存不得不從海外員工，並關閉美國工廠裁員贊成外包產品。
事實上，沃爾瑪，永遠不會告訴的故事，真實的故事是壓力最大的零售商無情地適用於它的供應商在給我們帶來的名字的故事“天天低價”。它的的壓力，沃爾瑪，美國的制造業，並作為壹個整體的經濟業務的公司的故事。
零售業巨頭的低價格往往帶有很高的成本。沃爾瑪的無情的壓力，可以粉碎業務的公司，並迫使他們在海外發送作業。我們購物的方式直接失業？
當然，美國公司已經幾十年來為移動作業離岸，很久以前沃爾瑪是零售電源。但是，毫無疑問，鏈有助於加快美國的就業機會流失到低工資的國家，如中國。
認為沃爾瑪的方法之壹，是壹個巨大的管道，讓非美國公司直接進入美國市場。 “有人問，”怎麽可以是壞的東西，到美國來便宜？怎樣才可以不好，有壹個在沃爾瑪討價還價嗎？“當然，它的舉行通脹下來，它的偉大有討價還價，但如果妳不雇用，妳可以不買任何東西。我們在購物時自己的職位。“
沒有問題，沃爾瑪的無情排擠成本消費者獲益。零售業巨頭至少部分是負責美國的通貨膨脹率較低率的壹項研究得出的結論是可以追溯到沃爾瑪單獨約12％，下半年在20世紀90年代的經濟生產率的提高。
到現在，它被接受的智慧，沃爾瑪使得它更有效率，重點突出，精簡和更快的業務的公司。沃爾瑪本身是在其處理能力，移動，不斷改進和跟蹤商品。該公司預計其供應商相同。但峰值效率運行的能力，只有妳在沃爾瑪的大門。那麽真正的需求開始。沃爾瑪迫使其供應商重新設計壹切從包裝到自己的計算機系統的傳奇。這也是傳說中相當直截了當地告訴他們，該公司將支付其商品。