Leading up to last year’s election, Presidential hopeful John Edwards said, “Wal-Mart as an example of the problems that exist in America today is a powerful political issue… I think our party pretty much across the board agrees that people who work hard should be able to support their families. When a company like Wal-Mart fails to meet its corporate responsibility, it makes it impossible for that to occur.”
According to Wake Up Wal-Mart – a labor union backed coalition – “…corporations should provide affordable health care, pay decent wages, protect American jobs and help provide a safe and just workplace.”
In addition to misreading the root cause of its problems, Wal-Mart should realize that formulating a business strategy to meet a public relations goal frequently backfires. BP’s environmental detour evidenced by its high profile “Beyond Petroleum” campaign diverted management time and attention from routine oil pipeline maintenance and worker safety with devastating consequences for workers and the environment.
Wal-Mart is in the middle of an ideological battle between capitalism and socialism. Because of the stakes involved, no amount of collaboration with environmental activists or concessions to the Left will buy peace.
As uncomfortable as this reality is for CEOs like Scott, business leaders need to recognize the world as it is and not make business decisions on how they wish it were.
Instead of wasting resources on promoting CSR, which distracts management from reality, Wal-Mart needs to defend it business practices in the public arena.
Just this week Wal-Mart started a national advertising campaign promoting the company as the nations largest employer, and saving “the average working family” more than $2,300 a year because if its low prices. That’s a start.
To survive Wal-Mart needs to foster a unified strategy that is consistent with its capitalism roots and eliminate its appeasement efforts with those who oppose its very existence. Shutting off the lights on CSR would be a good first step.