Walmart Fund to Support U.S. Manufacturing
Walmart is making a public push to buy American made products by establishing a $10 million fund that will reward new manufacturing processes, incentivizing American manufacturers to take on new projects and make them more efficient. This push is an attempt to bring production from overseas back into the United States. Walmart also announced that it will be increasing sourcing of American made products by $50 billion over the next ten years. Why does Walmart want to do this? Their incentive is that the income of their main customer base is not able to keep up with the cost of living, and they are hoping that bringing more jobs back to the United States will increase the income of more people, and not force them into intense competition in the market of inferior goods.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/24/business/walmart-creates-10-million-fund-to-stimulate-american-manufacturing.html?ref=economy&_r=0
5 comments:
This is great and all but to put it bluntly, Walmart is sketchy. It will be interesting to see if this actually works but Walmart already screws over many of the companies they do business with. It will be interesting to see what other plans they have in making this decision.
I agree, Walmart is not really a company to be trusted. I've heard of their infamous business practices. Seems to me that Walmart is trying to blunt the "dagger" of the minimum wage increase movement. This way they appear to be a sanctuary market for low income families.
I don't know what Walmart did to other companies they do business with but their scheme sounds very helpful to American economy. I like the way how Walmart actually cares about their customers (judged by the article, i don't know the behind story)
If Walmart comes to the U.S. will the company bounce around places to avoid high taxation? Like how it does with its current stores. Will this affect jobs in third world countries and lead to job shortages or strikes there?
Or are we having a shortage of goods and services because people are not as materialistic as they use to be? It is smart that Walmart is giving out grants to bring incentives to people to come up with new ideas. If this works will Europe and other countries invest more in human capital, and be successful like the U.S.?
Will online shopping play a role in coming up with new ideas?
Will people trust these American made products? Or are people not buying from Walmart because of its reputation? For example Walmart's poor treatment of workers in the U.S and abroad. Walmart is known for being sexist and discriminatory towards minorities.
Will this bring Walmart more or less profits? Or will this just give incentives for other companies like Target or Costco to grow and attract more customers (who have a better reputation?
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