Wal-Mart; virtually known worldwide, this
mega business is worth over $400 billion but comes with a ton of criticism. They have been criticized for supporting sweatshops, child labour and low wages. On
the other hand supporters say that Wal-Mart helps to expand the economies and
provide a large number of jobs.
In the short run Wal-Mart seems like a good
thing to support. They provide tons of job opportunities, offer cheap products
and help the economy grow. Not all places are receptive to their presents
though, like smaller towns like Cochrane. Cochrane citizens rallied when
Wal-Mart wanted to open a store in their small community, which I believe is
completely understandable. A small town like Cochrane would be destroyed by a
mega business like Wal-Mart and here are some reasons why:
- Cochrane is run on small local businesses and Wal-Mart would replace the need for these stores.
- The closing of local shops would result in lack of business diversity.
- Higher paying jobs would be replaced by low Wal-Mart wages.
I believe large transnational companies
like Wal-Mart seem great at first but are damaging in the long run. They end up
riding of the backs of countries with low labour costs and standards and
Wal-Marts only seem to mainly benefit North America. I would like to be able
to say that I don’t shop at Wal-Mart and I don’t support underpaying employees
or possible sweatshops, but I can’t. I’m sometimes embarrassed that I continue
to support companies like Wal-Mart, even after I know why their products are so
inexpensive. I would love to be able to support small businesses but financially
I can’t always do that. Life is expensive and shopping at big businesses makes
life a little easier in the short run.
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