Bibliographic Information

Walmart in China

edited by Anita Chan

(ILR/Cornell paperbacks)

ILR Press, 2011

  • : pbk

Available at  / 9 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. 253-280) and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Walmart and "Made in China" are practically synonymous; Walmart imports some 70 percent of its merchandise from China. Walmart is now also rapidly becoming a major retail presence there, with close to two hundred Walmarts in more than a hundred Chinese cities. What happens when the world's biggest retailer and the world's biggest country do business with each other? In this book, a group of thirteen experts from several disciplines examine the symbiotic but strained relationship between these giants. The book shows how Walmart began cutting costs by bypassing its American suppliers and sourcing directly from Asia and how Walmart's sheer size has trumped all other multinationals in squeezing procurement prices and, as a by-product, driving down Chinese workers' wages. China is also an inviting frontier for Walmart's global superstore expansion. As China's middle class grows, the chain's Western image and affordable goods have become popular. Walmart's Arkansas headquarters exports to the Chinese stores a unique corporate culture and management ideology, which oddly enough are reminiscent of Mao-era Chinese techniques for promoting loyalty. Three chapters separately detail the lives of a Walmart store manager, a lower-level store supervisor, and a cashier. Another chapter focuses on employees' wages, "voluntary" overtime, and the stores' strict labor discipline. In 2006, the official Chinese trade union targeted Walmart, which is antilabor in its home country, and succeeded in setting up union branches in all the stores. Walmart in China reveals the surprising outcome.

Table of Contents

Introduction: When the World's Largest Company Encounters the World's Biggest Country by Anita ChanPart One: The Walmart Supply Chain1. Walmart's Long March to China: How a Mid-American Retailer Came to Stake Its Future on the Chinese Economy by Nelson Lichtenstein2. Outsourcing in China: Walmart and Chinese Manufacturers by Xue Hong3. Walmartization, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Labor Standards of Toy Factories in South China by Yu Xiaomin and Pun Ngai4. Made in China: Work and Wages in Walmart Supplier Factories by Anita Chan and Kaxton SiuPart Two: The Walmart Stores5. Corporate Cadres: Management and Corporate Culture at Walmart China by David J. Davies6. A Store Manager's Success Story by David J. Davies and Taylor Seeman7. Practicing Cheer: The Diary of a Low-Level Supervisor at a Walmart China Store by Scott E. Myers and Anita Chan Translation by Scott E. Myers8. Working in Walmart, Kunming: Technology, Outsourcing, and Retail Globalization by Eileen M. OtisPart Three: Walmart Trade Unions9. Unionizing Chinese Walmart Stores by Anita Chan10. Did Unionization Make a Difference? Work Conditions and Trade Union Activities at Chinese Walmart Stores by Jonathan Unger, Diana Beaumont, and Anita Chan11. Workers and Communities versus Walmart: A Comparison of Organized Resistance in the United States and China by Katie QuanNotes Notes on Contributors Index

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