PR CASE STUDY: Walmart’s Corporate Social Responsibility efforts… or Lack thereof.
Introduction & Background of Walmart Corporate
With recent evidence pointing towards the need for corporations to become socially responsible entities of society (Elving, 2012), corporate social responsibility has picked up pace among these organizations as they now see its benefits in accomplishing business objectives. Kotler & Lee (2005) define Corporate Social Responsibility as “a commitment to improve community well-being through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources” (p. 3). The notable feature of CSR is that it should be discretionary, in other words, socially responsible actions should be of the company’s volition. Among the many corporate entities that have taken significant steps is Walmart Inc.
Walmart is a renowned multinational retail corporation founded in 1962 by Sam Walton in Rogers, Arkansas. Walmart operates a vast number of hypermarkets and discounted grocery stores. Walmart runs nearly “11,500 stores under 56 banners in 27 countries and eCommerce websites in 10 countries… employing more than 2.2 million associates around the world — nearly 1.5 million in the U.S. alone. This makes it the biggest employer in the United States (Walmart, n.d).
