Contemporary Marketing 16th Edition by Louis Boone,David Kurtz

Exercise 25

As the largest company in the world, with more than two million employees worldwide and more than $440 billion in sales in a recent year, Walmart has become big and powerful enough to influence the U.S. economy. It is responsible for 10 percent of total U.S. imports from China and about 12 percent of U.S. productivity gains since the late 1990s. Some observers believe Walmart is also responsible for the low U.S. inflation rates of recent years. However, its unbeatable buying power and efficiency have sometimes forced local stores to close when Walmart opens a new store in their area.
Some economists fear what might happen to the U.S. economy if Walmart has a bad year. (So far, it has had more than four decades of nonstop growth.) Should a single retailer have that much influence on the economy? Why or why not?