This weeks New Yorker Magazine (4/2/07) features a long negative story about Wal-Mart’s effort to “co-opt liberals.” This is another in the series of good news/bad news stories that both helps and plagues the company. After nearly a year of this endless seesaw one wonders when they will get the message that systemic change is the answer. As I have often said about many other companies, with out a systemic approach that enguages the whole culture – as fast as the “right hand” does “good work” the “left hand” undoes it. Compartmentalized initiatives do not work when it comes to managing risk, reputation and moving towards sustainability.
A few highlights include:
- According I to a source, Wal-Mart has been paying Edelman Communications roughly ten million dollars annually to renovate its reputation. Edelman specalizes in helping industries with image problems; another important client is the American Petroleum Institute,
- Ron Galloway, the maker of a recent pro-Wal-Mart documentary, “Why Wal-Mart Works and Why That Makes Some People Crazy,” has turned against the company. Galloway told me that he now considers Wal-Mart to be a “heartless” employer.
- The chief spokeswoman for the company, a former A.T.&T. executive named Mona Williams, keeps on a shelf a filmed cover of a 2003 issue of Business Week featuring a story titled “Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?” The story asked tough questions about Wal-Mart’s influence on the American economy. “I keep that there to remind me never to trust reporters,” she said, without smiling.
- Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s president and C.E.O., who last year earned $15.7 million in salary and bonuses. Early this month, the company announced that it was granting him an additional twenty-two million dollars
In stock. In the past year, Scott earned roughly two thousand times the salary of the average Wal-Mart worker.