Sustainability Efforts in Wal-Mart Research Paper

Sustainability Efforts in Wal-Mart - Research Paper Example According to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2013, Wal-Mart is the world's second largest public corporation and largest retailer in the world with over two million employees. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and still it is owned and controlled by the Walton family with 50 percent of its shares. It was in the late 1980s and early 1990s the company rose to be a reputed national firm by opening an array of outlets and clubs. According to the reports, Wal-Mart has 8,500 stores in 15 countries, under 55 different names like Walmex, Asda, Seiyu. Sustainability has been one of the major concerns for the company since its beginning, and now it tends to rely on suppliers to carry out its sustainability efforts. Wal-Mart in its annual Global Sustainability Milestone meeting held in Bentonville â€Å"presented nine initiatives that have raised the company’s overall sustainability index reading by 12% in the past year†. The company believes that the suppliers can do b etter in taking up sustainability efforts as compared to retailers. ... Evidently, in each stage of its planning, the Wal-Mart tries to retain its status as a value driven company. Wal-Mart’s attributes include its physical strength that greatly relates to the firm’s organizing function. Other organizational resources including human capital, knowledge, and money also constitute its organizing function. Wal-Mart normally charges low prices for its products. Hence, it pays specific attention to organizing its physical assets so as to ensure its sustainability. If the company’s asset organization is not efficient, naturally the firm would incur increased production costs and ultimately it may be compelled to raise prices. Regarding the leading function of the Wal-Mart, it seems that the company has been maintaining a servant leadership strategy. To illustrate, the company has framed effective mechanism to develop leaders who willingly listen to their partners and subordinates. The management believes that the servant leadership strateg y would help the firm to motivate its workforce to accomplish the company’s long term goals. The company offers its leaders many training programs like Business Leadership Series. For instance, as the company announces, â€Å"opportunities to lead at Wal-Mart encompass many areas, such as leadership development, talent management, business action plan development, and experiential learning on the job† (Wal-Mart Corporate, n.d). Well structured control mechanisms and their right time evaluation also constitute Wal-Mart’s success. As Lichtenstein (2005) points out, market control, clan control, performance standards, and manager audits are the major control mechanisms