Wal-Mart convenes first board meeting in China

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Wal-Mart convenes first board meeting in China

Reuters, 03.05.04, 4:08 AM ET


SHANGHAI, March 5 (Reuters) - The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc (nyse: WMT - news - people), held its annual board meeting in China this week, with top managers taking a closer look at a market whose potential they think could rival the United States.

China is also a major source of the cheap goods that have helped Wal-Mart revolutionise U.S. retailing.

The gathering, Wal-Mart's first annual board meeting in China, was held on Wednesday in the southern boom town of Shenzhen, Wal-Mart's Chinese headquarters, an executive said on Friday.

It is rare for a major multinational's top executives to gather in China.

Wal-Mart bought $15 billion worth of goods from China in 2003, making up a significant part of the United States's $124 billion trade deficit with China.

Chairman Rob Walton toured stores in the company's main Asian market during the three-day visit, but executives would not comment further on what had been discussed at the gathering.

"We felt the board should see first hand the stores and understand the value and significance of this market," Walton was quoted in a statement as saying.

China is increasingly a focus for global companies chasing retail sales that rose 9.1 percent to 4.47 trillion yuan ($540 billion) last year.

Wal-Mart has said the country could rival the United States in terms of growth opportunities, despite current regulatory difficulties in opening stores. It has also faced accusations of unfair practices in the workplace.

The company says its Chinese stores attract unusually high numbers of customers. Sales figures were unavailable on Friday.

Beijing has slowed the pace of foreign retail expansion, most notably when it halted Carrefour SA's <CARR.PA> rush to open stores around the country in 2001, citing rule violations by the French company.

Wal-Mart has opened 35 stores in 17 Chinese cities since 1996. It has about 1,300 non-U.S. outlets worldwide and another 3,500 in the United States.

But the U.S. retail giant lags Carrefour's 40 Chinese supermarkets in 21 cities. British rival Tesco Plc <TSCO.L> is in talks to buy a half stake in 25 hypermarkets owned by Taiwan's Ting Hsin International Group. Wal-Mart has been the focus of complaints from groups that allege it turns a blind eye to labour abuses in factories from which it purchases, and also from Chinese unions that say the company does not allow its more than 10,000 workers to unionise. ($1=8.277 yuan)


http://www.forbes.com/home_asia/newswire/2004/03/05/rtr1287552.html

 

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All for the love of money, wal mart is a major player in the assention of china into a position of world power.

I was in a wal mart the other day, looking for model paint of all things, to use on a wall mural I put up in my living room, and I began looking at packages, "made in _____ ", I COULD NOT FIND one that DIDN'T say "MADE IN CHINA". I left the store in utter disgust.

I recall wal mart TV commercials, not all that long ago, showing a semi truck with "made in America" painted in a huge banner accrossed the van trailer it was pulling. Well what an absolute fucking crock of SHIT!

I attribute this all to the love of money. GREED! Plain and simple. These fucking waltons have more money than their family could ever spend through countless eons of generations, and yet in their zeal for yet more money, they sell out their own country.

Fucking traitors is what I call them, and I'll be damned if I EVER step foot in another wal shit as long as I live.

 

[Comrade]

All for the love of money, wal mart is a major player in the assention of china into a position of world power.

I don't think so. Walmart is a product of American Capitalism, not Chinese Communism.

I was in a wal mart the other day, looking for model paint of all things, to use on a wall mural I put up in my living room, and I began looking at packages, "made in _____ ", I COULD NOT FIND one that DIDN'T say "MADE IN CHINA". I left the store in utter disgust.

Why should American companies still be concerned with producing paint, of all non-technical things? It's like expressing outrage over the fact that Grenada doesn't primarily produce bananas or coffee anymore...

Grenada relies on tourism as its main source of foreign exchange, especially since the construction of an international airport in 1985. Strong performances in construction and manufacturing, together with the development of an offshore financial industry, have also contributed to growth in national output.

I recall wal mart TV commercials, not all that long ago, showing a semi truck with "made in America" painted in a huge banner accrossed the van trailer it was pulling. Well what an absolute fucking crock of SHIT!

Umm, I really doubt it was Walmart recently in that commercial. The fact that some American marketed products are made cheaply overseas is a good thing. It's not like we'd be pround as a nation if all of our products are exclusively sold in Walmart stores. Let the cheap plastic and textile shit be produced overseas, we'll stick with an economy based on technology and professional services.

I attribute this all to the love of money. GREED! Plain and simple. These fucking waltons have more money than their family could ever spend through countless eons of generations, and yet in their zeal for yet more money, they sell out their own country.

If you want us to go back to an economy producing textiles and kupie dolls, instead of one based on software and financial services, then maybe you should open you're own barbie doll factory, and see how you fare. I think your idea that an advanced economy is flawed due to 'greed' reveals your naivity with respect to our own position in the world economy.

Fucking traitors is what I call them, and I'll be damned if I EVER step foot in another wal shit as long as I live.

Take a deep breath. If you want to shop at another chain which carries exclusively American products, not only will your selection be limited but you will overpay for merchandise which is no longer competitive with the world economy. I think anyone involved in a job which is competitively at stake from international business should seriously consider their career. America has changed substantially from producing products for sale in the local Walmart, and people should keep up with the changing times.

Listen, we're still the the richest major economy in the world and it's not because of all the consumable products we sell at the local grocery store.