Wal-Mart unethical Business Practices

Wal -Mart ,the big giant,the place where a lot of people usually do their shopping for the low prices and variety of products was founded by Sam Walton. In fact Wal-mart is considered  to be the biggest company in the U.S. and it has stores worldwide.
According to PBS "Wal-Mart employs ,ore people than any other company in USA outside of  the federal government , yet the majority of its employs with children live below the poverty line "
Wal-Mart has been subjected to criticism by various groups and individuals. Labour unions , community groups , grassroots organisations , religious organisations protest against Wal-Mart , the company policies and business practices, and Wal-Mart customers.

                                                                       

 As a matter of fact , the big giant is facing significant amount of controversy for unethical business practices . In fact, some of these unethical business practices include the following :

Unfair treatment of employees :-

Wal-Mart has been accused of discriminating against women . Women had been denied training and promotion opportunities that are offered to men .  In addition women are underpaid . That is men are paid more than women . There are over seventy percent of women working at Wal-Mart but only a small amount of them are mangers . In addition  " Wal-Mart is the nations  employer of women but unfortunately they are being treated without dignity and respect " . So it seems that discrimination is a big problem at Wal-Mart.
                                                               

Use of illegal workers 

Wal-Mart has benn accused of allowing illegal immigrants to work in its stores . In this case , federal investigators say Wal-Mart executives knew that contractors were using illegal immigrants as they had been  helping the federal government with an investigation for the previous 3 years .  Some critics said that Wal-Mart has directly hired illegal immigrants , while Wal-Mart claims they were  employed by contractors who won bids to work for Wal-Mart.

Working Conditions :-

Wal-Mart has also faced accusation's involving poor working conditions of its employs
For example , a 2005 class action lawsuit  in Missouri asserted  people who were forced to work of off-the-clock  , were denied overtime pay , or were not allowed to take rest and lunch breaks 
Wal-Mart has also been accused of ethical problems . It is said that Wal-Mart employs are gender discriminated when trying to be hired and treated in the work area . The men and women not being created in the work force is what Wal-Mart has been doing and what they should essentially and not be doing .



Allegations of Predatory pricing and supplier issues:
Wal-Mart has been accused of selling merchandise at such low costs that competitors have tried to sue it for predatory pricing (intentionally selling a product at low cost in order to drive competitors out of the market).Wal-Mart  has been accused of using monophonic power to force its suppliers into self defeating practises.          

 Harm  to Endangered  Species:

The furniture sold in 2007 at Wal-Mart was made from wood which had been illegally logged in protected Russian habitats for Siberian  and other wildlife . Wal-Mart promised to stop selling products that used wood from  those areas , but not until the year 2013 . 

Conclusion :

The companies that survive are the ones that can spot ethical issues and correct them before they become problems   .
In this case Wal-Mart failed to acknowledge those potential problems and they are  probably  going to pay for  it. Thus , Wal-Mart 's unethical business practices have hurt its company's reputation .