(Note: This is a re-post with minor edits. I once posted this summary in my old blog in 2006, which does not exist now).
Book Title: The Wal-Mart Effect – How the World’s Most Powerful Company Really Works and How It’s Transforming the American Economy (Author: Charles Fishman)
This book shows us the effects given by the giant company Wal-Mart to the US economy (and to the world to some extent). The company is so big that the average American is within 10-25 miles of range to its stores. It is one of the biggest employer (if not the biggest) in the US (and also maybe Mexico), consistently delivers its famous promise ‘everyday low price’, so hard for its competitors to beat. It is so powerful that many companies are trying hard to be its suppliers, maybe only to find that they suffer being its suppliers because of its demand to push low price over time to suppliers (or otherwise the shelves in the stores will be offered to other companies).
Wal-Mart changes the way people shop, the way its suppliers deliver their products, the way its suppliers produce their products. Wal-Mart maybe has the most efficient logistics and delivery management. It is never clear on the magnitude, but Wal-Mart is believed to play a big role in keeping US inflation low.
On the negative side, there are allegations that Wal-Mart squeezes its suppliers that they don’t have enough profits to keep them innovative. Wal-Mart may even have killed many businesses for its demand to keep low prices. Wal-Mart also is criticized for being the driver of massive imports of cheap products from China and other countries; those cheap products may be produced in factories where working conditions are very very bad.
I don’t think the book reveals many things on Wal-Mart, not as much as I expected. Wal-Mart keeps its secret well, and its suppliers are so loyal not to reveal those secrets too. But this is an interesting book, and easy to read.
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