Contemporary Marketing 16th Edition by Louis Boone,David Kurtz

Exercise 5

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.
Walmart is selective about what it sells-refusing, for instance, to carry music or computer games with mature ratings, magazines with content it considers too adult, or, in some of its stores, handguns. Because of its sheer size, these decisions can influence American culture. Do you think this is a positive or negative effect of the growth of this retailer? Why?