Wal-Mart and business ethics

Yesterday in Business Strategy we discussed Wal-Mart and their entrance into the China market. It's been a tricky ride for Wal-Mart. The customer's buying habits are totally different than the typical American. The political and governing climate are also a unique challenge. A strong, centralized, regulatory government makes many of Wal-Mart's traditional business tactics hard to pull off.

The class on Tuesday became particularly lively as we discussed Carrefour. Carrefour (a French company, I believe) is Wal-Mart's chief competitor in the Chinese market. According to the author of the case, Carrefour has been known to involve itself in shady deals and practices to get what they want in China. Carrefour is likely comfortable with this approach. The abundance of illegal activity by Chinese consumers and the Chinese government doesn't exactly promote a business climate conducive to ethical business practices.

Herein is Wal-Marts dilemma. Should Wal-Mart follow suit and practice in the same way as Carrefour? The consensus seemed to be that such unethical practices may stand in other countries, but not (thank goodness) in American markets. Let’s face it, U.S. investors, despite what many people may think, want publically traded companies to do the right thing.

Imagine my professors dismay, then, when she gasped at how many students had recommended that Wal-Mart take the approach of getting its hands dirtied in the same unethical business practices as Carrefour. A few students fought diligently defending this point, suggesting that ethical behavior is not necessarily in line with a government’s laws. In other words, if China’s laws are corrupted and bendable, skirting around them should not be perceived as being unethical. Dangerous territory, Professor Austin said.

My perspective, after the hot contest, falls on more broad guidelines. With all the debate that went on, my position is fairly straight-forward, following the wisdom of my elders:

“We believe in honoring, obeying, and sustaining the law.” – Joseph Smith Jr.

Computerless

I've been without my laptop for 5 days now. Surprisingly, it's not as painful as I thought it would be. Work still gets done, but now, when I leave campus I know that I can come home and not have my laptop staring at me saying, "Just one more spreadsheet." I can do more important things: hand write a letter, visit a friend, read a verse, or chat with David about space, God and time.

And so it goes. We fill our lives with so much blah. So concerned that we won't be able to fit it all in. But if we'd allow ourselves to break away for a while the weightier matters would be rediscovered. The really important stuff.

Now Playing Utah

This is a great website for finding things to do in Salt Lake City.

www.nowplayingutah.com

Hamster on a Piano

Obama, New York Times, and EBay

Every morning when I arrive to school, I grab a copy of The New York Times lying in a pile by the newspaper vending machine. These are free to students, and I actually have my choice of multiple publications (SL Trib, Financial Times, etc). Following election day I picked up my copy. The headline read "OBAMA: RACIAL BARRIER FALLS IN HEAVY TURNOUT." "This is an important paper to hold on to," I thought. So I stashed it in a box with other important news releases.
On the news yesterday, I caught the tail end of a story saying that the very same issue of The New York Times was being sold on EBay. Today I checked the price, and people are selling them for as much as $50 a pop! Sounds crazy, huh? Now I don't plan to actually try to get money for this, but it surprised me to see what people are willing to pay for such a thing. And it begs the question: Are people really this crazy for Obama?

Utah Economist

Economics is a fascinating thing. It's one of the few subjects that professes to be able to explain almost everything. My Economics professor, Scott Schaefer, is a pretty smart guy. He admits that he's not a know-it-all, but he has helped me to realize that economics applies to A LOT of stuff. He started his own blog which helps explain the economics behind many of the issues in Utah. Check it out if you're interested.
http://utah-economist.blogspot.com/

annoying

Today is my long day of class. 7:30am to 3:20pm. I came to the library to study and needed some energy to recover from the day's depletion. I bought a Snickers bar. It costed 92 cents with tax. I paid with $1. Instead of the cashier handing me the 8 cents in change, she dropped it on the counter for me to collect. Who does that? It took, like, 30 seconds!