Walmart's Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism
September 15, 2022
A detailed examination of the retail behemoth. By the early 2000s, Walmart was often cited as the worst example of "a race-to-the-bottom brand of capitalism," eliminating competition and chronically underpaying its huge workforce. Then, starting in 2015, Walmart implemented a series of measures, from pay increases to expanded opportunities for its employees, that prompted even skeptics to rethink the company's image as a bastion of unfettered corporate evil. Wartzman, most recently the author of The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America (2017) and a longtime critic of Walmart, wanted to explore the company's complex journey and image. When Sam Walton opened the first Walmart in Arkansas in 1962, he emphasized low prices, quality products, and serving rural areas; the company went public in 1970 and went on to become one of the nation's biggest retailers. Walton engendered employee loyalty through profit sharing and stock options, but he also intentionally kept wages low and vehemently opposed efforts to organize labor. After he died in 1992, both outsiders and employees felt the company abandoned any dedication to taking care of its employees in favor of solely cutting costs. Over time, the company improved efforts to be sustainable, was rightfully praised for its efforts during Hurricane Katrina, and expanded worker training; yet "where it had the most direct control--deciding how much to pay its workers--it hadn't moved an inch." In 2016, Walmart finally raised its minimum hourly wage to $10 after decades of pressure from labor efforts. Even with the increase, writes the author, "the average full-time employee at the company was still going to be making less than $26,000 a year." Wartzman's investigation of the company in all its complexity is thoroughly researched, and he deftly and meaningfully connects the issue of chronically low wages at Walmart to a larger undervaluation of the labor of millions of Americans. A well-written account of a corporate American juggernaut and its implications for society as a whole.
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October 10, 2022
Walmart has come a long way since its days as the bogeyman of American capitalism—but not far enough, according to this thought-provoking treatise on the shortcomings of socially responsible corporations. Wartzman (The End of Loyalty), who leads a nonprofit that received funding from Walmart’s corporate foundation “to develop a lifelong learning system through which residents of a local community could obtain new knowledge and skills,” explores how, after years of being criticized for paying low wages, treating employees poorly, and harming the environment, the company made some minor shifts. “In sync with its frugal culture,” he writes, Walmart shrank packaging and engineered more energy-efficient trucks in 2004. The ascension of CEO Doug McMillon in 2014 brought more changes, including increased wages. While acknowledging that small steps have been made, Wartzman argues that leaving fair labor practices up to a company itself can only change so much. He calls for a federal minimum wage of $20 an hour, and concludes that only a government mandate and a change in labor laws can correct economic inequality: “It is well past the time for those we elect to public office to force the matter.” This smart survey offers much to consider. Agent: Kris Dahl, ICM Partners.
November 1, 2022
Why would the leaders of corporate giant Walmart give an all-access pass to a journalist known for taking companies to task for putting their bottom line ahead of the well-being of their employees? The answer remains unclear, but they may have been convinced by Wartzman's (The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America) pitch to focus on what the company has done right and where it's fallen short. With this book, the author makes good on that promise. The narrative jumps around Walmart's timeline--back to Sam Walton's initial vision, forward to Walmart's leadership in relief efforts post-Katrina and its surprise embrace of sustainability, and around in time to its various clashes with unions and affiliate groups. The focus, however, returns to the company's treatment of its frontline workers. This book may or may not change minds (pro or con) about Walmart, but it will deepen readers' understanding of the negative effects of low-cost retail goods and of the need for both corporations and the government to do more to make the promise of a living wage into a reality. VERDICT Interesting and evenhanded. Will appeal to a broad readership.--Sara Holder
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