Corporate Social Responsibility- Wal-Mart Stores

To critically analyze the topic of corporate social responsibility, the author/researcher will use Wal-Mart stores. The company is a multi-national firm operating in the retail industry. It has stores all over the world and services millions of people worldwide on a daily basis. The company is socially responsible, and these efforts are evident in the various projects supported by the company. Though the company has been involved in various court cases, it remains one of the largest chain stores in the world. History of Wal-Mart Stores Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart stores. The entrepreneur opened his first store in America, and the stores have continued to grow over the years. Currently, there are over 7000 stores worldwide and employs more than 2.1 people, commonly referred to as associates according to Sam’s policy. The company also has thousands of departmental and discount stores all over the world. The headquarters of Wal-Mart stores is located in Bentonville, Arkansas. The company topped the list of Fortune Global 500 as one of the largest public companies based on revenue. The company publishes a report dubbed the Global Responsibility Report to keep the public informed. The report covers People, profit, and the planet. It aims to inform the general public and customers the progress on various projects as well the earnings made annually. The report all emphasizes on equality and gender diversity in its associates. The company also has an advisory board on Gender Equality and Diversity, who role is to ensure equality and proper gender representation in the gender roles. This has seen an increase in the number of female leaders in the top leader from 23 873 in 2005 to 25,246 in 2010 (Wal-Mart Stores, 2013). Corporate Social Responsibility in Wal-Mart Stores As one, the multinational companies, Wal-Mart has adopted corporate social responsibility as one of its core business strategies. The store invests billions of dollars annually in a variety of projects to ensure its customers maintain confidence in the multinational company. From ethical sourcing, hunger relief, school nutrition programs, police and military family support, anti-malaria initiatives and small farmer market access, Wal-Mart stores CSR strategy is all round (Wal-Mart Stores, 2013). The firm engages in ethical sourcing of its associates. Previously, the firm had a court battle for employing underage kids in Bangladesh. As a result, the firm was in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. The firm has taken measures to overcome this negative perception by engaging in ethical sourcing of its employees. There is screening of employees when being hired in addition to practicing gender equality and diversity. This has been successful in the US stores, Europe, Asian and African stores. This has helped the company boost its public image (Wal-Mart Stores, 2013). The firm also engages in hunger relief in the world. As the largest grocery in the world, the store responds positively to the hunger menace. The store believes that the world population should have access to nutritious, affordable and sustainably grown foods. The Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club donates millions of foods to the American food banks to ensure all Americans are well fed. The firm projects to donate 1.1 billion pounds of food by the end of 2015. In addition, the firm plans to award $250 million as hunger relief funds. The school nutrition program aims at installing mobile container kitchens to ensure school going children are well fed. In 2011, the company provided 19.5 million meals to schools worldwide. In addition, 50 container kitchens were installed. The firm estimates that 38 million meals will be provided annually. The multinational also provides support to the families of deceased officers in South African Police services and the South African National Defense Forces. In 2012, 175 children of the police and military officers were given back to school stationery items. 5000 food hampers were given to families of officers deployed in war-tone countries in African continent. The anti-malaria initiative aims to reduce deaths due to mosquito bites. It is estimated that approximately 1 million people die in Africa due to the malaria illness. In partnership with Adventurer and Kingsley Holgate, the firm provides mosquito nets to families in Africa. Approximately 13, 500 mosquito nets were donated to Malawi from 2009 to 2012. The small farmer market access for small farmers helps farmers get a market for their fresh farm produce. The program is called Ezemvelo and has sourced 504 tons of vegetables since 2012. This has helped farmers avoid incurring huge losses due to a lack of a market for the produce. There are other CSR activities the firm is involved in and this are published in the Responsibility report published annually. Arguments for and against Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social requirement is a must for the modern company planning to survive in a competitiv...

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