1st Edition
Wal-Mart World The World's Biggest Corporation in the Global Economy
Now that Wal-Mart has conquered the US, can it conquer the world? As Wal-Mart World shows, the corporation is certainly trying. For a number of years, Wal-Mart has been the largest company in the United States. Now, though, it is the largest company in the world. Its global labor practices and outsourcing strategies represent for many what contemporary economic globalization is all about. But Wal-Mart is not standing still, and is opening up stores everywhere. From Germany to Beijing to Mexico City to Tokyo, more than a billion shoppers can now hunt for bargains at a Wal-Mart superstore. Wal-Mart World is the first book to look at this incredibly important phenomenon in global perspective, with chapters that range from its growth in the US and impact on labor relations here to its fortunes overseas. How Wal-Mart manages this transition in the near future will play a significant role in the determining the character of the global economy. Wal-Mart World's impressively broad scope makes it necessary reading for anyone interested in the global impact of this economic colossus.
Part I: Corporation History and the American Experience
1. Northwest Arkansas: The Home of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Tom Graff
2. "Reading" Wal-Mart's Success Through the American Experience: Mixes of Frontierism, Consumerism, Grassroots Entrepreneurialism, Rural Renaissance and Globalization, Fred Shelley, Jerry Webster and J. Clark Archer
Part II: The Corporation
3. Global Production Networks and Local Distributors: Wal-Mart and the Logistics of Production, Edna Bonacich
4. The Wal-Mart Nexus: Corporate Elites and Networks, Jeffrey Kentor
5. Wall Street and Wal-Mart: Overcoming Headquarters Isolation To Finance the Creation of the World's Largest Retailer, William Graves
6. The Wal-Martization of the U.S. Food Industry, Neil Wrigley
7. Wal-Mart Supercenter Market Share in Grocery Retailing the U.S. Metropolitan Areas, J. Dennis Lord
8. Women Workers at Wal-Mart, Ellen Rosen
Part III: Globalization
9. Wal-Mart's World, Steve Burt and Leigh Sparks
10. The Geopolitics of Global Business: Wal-Mart and the Wider World, Peter Hugill
11. Retailers of the World Unite: What Happens When Retailers Rule the World?, Rich Applebaum
12. Wal-Mart, Inc., gov.: Far Eastern Tales of Consumer-Led Democracy, Chris Webster and Shin Lee
13. Penetrating the Emerging Markets: The Entry and Expansion of Wal-Mart in China, Shunguang Wang, Yongchang Zhang and Wei Li
14. Consuming Wal-Mart: A Case Study in Shenzhen, Lucia Lo and Lu Wang
15. Challenges Facing Wal-Mart in the German Market, Susan Christopherson
16. The Myth of Wal-Martization: Retail Globalization and Local Competition in Germany and Japan, Yuko Aoyama and Guido Schwarz
17. Wal-Mart in Mexico: A Retail Sector in Transition, Chris Tilly
Part IV: Controversies and Conflicts
18. Is Wal-Mart the New Standard Bearer of Industrial Relations in America?, Jennifer Bair and Sam Bernstein
19. Wal-Mart as a Legal Strategy, Lea Vandervelde
20. Is Design Review an Effective Tool in Shaping Wal-Mart To Fit the Inner City Setting?, Jane S. Brooks
21. The Resistance of Rural African-American Communities to Wal-Mart Developments, James H. Johnson, Jr.
Part V: Consumerism and Popular Culture
22. The Institutional Semiotics of Wal-Mart's Retail Internationalization, Stephen Arnold
23. Cathedrals of Consumption: Commodity Signs and the Walmartization of Consumer Consciousness, Barney Warf
24. Marketing, Advertising, and Local Community Relationships in Wal-Mart's Expansion, Alecia Brettschneider
25. Wal-Mart as a Country Store: A Case Study in Folk Culture and Globalization, Don Zeigler
26. Wal-Mart and the Rural Landscape, Holly Barcus
27. Finding the Heart of America in the Aisles of Wal-Mart: Where the Heart Is as a Popular Culture Discourse, Deborah Dixon
28. Photoessay on Wal-Mart, Emily Corbato
Biography
Stanley D. Brunn is Professor of Geography at the University of Kentucky.He is the former editor of both The Professional Geographer and of the Annals, AAG.
His research record includes a number of authored and edited books and numerous articles that have appeared in geography and interdisciplinary journals. He has taught for short periods at more than a dozen European and Central Asian universities; these include Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kazakstan, and Kyrgyzstan. During the past four decades he has made presentations at dozens of national and international conferences. He was elected University of Kentucky Distinguished Professor in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1989-90. Stan has also been active in the Association of American Geographers, including editor of both The Professional Geographer and of the Annals, AAG. He received AAG Honors in 1994; also he has served on a number of IGU, NCGE, and AAG committees, including co-chair of the AAG Centennial Coordinating Committee. During the past two decades he has worked with educators in Kentucky to train teachers and to improve the quality of instruction in the state's schools. Among the many highlights of his professional career was his appearance on NBC's Today Show in 1971 to discuss his proposed political reorganization of the United States.
'I find most of the chapters in this volume interesting and worthwile. For retailing scholars and followers of Wal-Mart, reading the perspectives of others is interesting' - Thomas O. Graff, Department of Geosciences, University of Arkansas
"This book is a significant and timely contribution to the burgeoning body of academic and popular literature on what is, by many measures at least, the world's largest company...The book is highly effective in showcasing both the broad range of ways in which Wal-Mart can be studied and the plethora of impacts that Wal-Mart has had on contemporary social, political, economic, and culural systems, especially in North America...As a result, students of all ages levels and researchers from a broad range of social science disciplines will want to dip into this book and benefit from the potpourri of ideas and insights that it offers." -- Neil M. Coe, Economic Geography, October 2007
