Monday, April 23, 2012

 Wal-Mart: Another corrupt big business?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/at-wal-mart-in-mexico-a-bribe-inquiry-silenced.html

In September 2005, a senior Wal-Mart lawyer received an alarming e-mail from a former executive at the company’s largest foreign subsidiary, Wal-Mart de Mexico. In the e-mail and follow-up conversations, the former executive described how Wal-Mart de Mexico had orchestrated a campaign of bribery to win market dominance. In its rush to build stores, he said, the company had paid bribes to obtain permits in virtually every corner of the country.
The executives of the Wal-Mart branch are corrupt and head the way for big business manipulation. If we cannot have more regulation over big business like Wal-Mart they will continue to dominate the world and politics through their manipulation.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Since Wal-Mart is now in mexican territory, do we use the 'long-arm provision' to serve justice even though we're in the states? I understand Wal-Mart is based in the US, but how much power do we really have over their bribery in a foreign country? Seems to me it could be Mexican government's authority to serve justice.

Anonymous said...

Something that additionally has to considered is how business is operated in foreign nations. Although, it may not be correct, bribery may be an everyday practice in Mexico and therefore Walmart is not doing anything all that bad nor out of character for business development in the nation.

Anonymous said...

Being an American company, Wal-Mart should be more than informed regarding bribery. Whether or not it is commonplace in Mexico, it's not acceptable. Entering a foreign market is not easy but it doesn't justify unethical behavior.

Anonymous said...

Interesting article but not very surprising. Wal-Mart has never been known for their sound business practices but doing whatever it takes to increase profits. So it sounds about right that Wal-Mart is doing whatever it takes to make that next dollar.