Microsoft Word - BA385 Case Instructions.docx
Case Analysis Instructions
7 full pages, 1.5 spaced / 11pt. font
Case will be provided separately as a pdf. Please follow ‘Case Sample Walmart’ as an example for formatting
and what the solution should look like (there is no need for Title or Table of Contents pages).
Instructions:
Read the case provided. Identify the ethical issue(s) you find to be most relevant to the company's success. Put
yourself in the role of CEO. To inform your solution, you may research areas such as:
1) general company history,
2) cu
ent practices relevant to the case,
3) ethical issues with this company related to the case,
4) statistics, performance indicators, costs of related operations, etc. See if you can determine more
about the stakeholders in this company's system.
Part I: Stakeholder Identification
Who are the stakeholders in this case, and what are their stakes? Identify 10 of the most relevant stakeholders in
the stakeholder table provided. Make sure you identify at least one stakeholder from each of the five basic
stakeholder groups (community, employee, government, consumer, and owner). Please avoid one-word
esponses; be as specific as possible in identifying stakeholders, and clearly state what each stakeholder stands to
gain or lose by the company’s decisions.
For the third column, select the one characteristic you think is most relevant for each stakeholder: Power (P),
Urgency (U) or Legitimacy (L).
Stakeholder Stakes P/U/L
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Part II: Solution Development
Use the knowledge you have gained in BA385 to recommend a plan of action to address the ethical issue(s) at
hand. Weigh the cost of your solution against the value it will
ing to stakeholders: if it costs a lot but addresses
few stakeholders, or has limited long and short-term value, think harder.
Your solution should meet these requirements:
- Clearly applies the learning from BA-385
- Thoughtfully applies 5-8 concepts or frameworks from the course
- Addresses the key ethical issue(s) you have identified that are relevant to the case
- Delivers a great deal of value to more than one SH at a cost that is as low as possible (value to cost ratio is
sound)
- Discusses intended and unintended and short-term and long-term consequences on affected
stakeholders.
- Includes at least one collaboration, coalition, or partnership between two or more SH groups with shared
interests
- Cite your sources using APA format.
More favorable scores will be given to those who generate novel and creative solutions.
VitalSource Bookshelf_ Business and Soc... to Social Responsibility & Ethics, 7e
Microsoft Word - Case Sample Walmart.docx
Walmart Ethical Issues
Case Study
Walmart, one of the largest retailers in America, with a revenue of more than $514 billion and
more than 2.2 million employees, has been trying to restore its image relating to diversity,
focusing on charitable giving, support for nutrition, and sustainability. Walmart nowadays serves
more than 265 million customers per week, at more than 10,000 locations in 27 different
countries (Case 3, Big-box retailer Walmart manages big responsibility).
However, Walmart has received various lawsuits from the competition, as they claim that
Walmart is using unfair, predatory pricing to put competition stores out of business.
Despite Walmart doing so well in the competition and having high revenues, it has also faced
various ethical issues throughout the years.
According to the article “Big Box retailer Walmart manages big responsibility, presented in the
ook, in 2014, they decided to eliminate the healthcare coverage for new hires working less
than 30 hours a week. And on top of this, Walmart has also chosen to decrease the workforce
and lower employees’ wages.
The employees’ wages can now barely cover their living expenses, and with the benefits being
cut as well, they hardly have anything left from the income they make working there.
Walmart has even chosen to cut off their meal
eaks and overtime pay by deleting their record
and taking away their timecards.
Another ethical issue is that in 2019 a class-action lawsuit involving 100 women was filed
toward Walmart for gender pay discrimination.
Walmart has also faced issues such as not accepting to hire amputees, even though they were
able to do the job. And for that reason, Walmart was sued for violating the Americans with
Disability Act (ADA).
In March 2005, the vice-chairman of Walmart, Thomas Coughlin, was forced to resign because
he stole about $500,000 from Walmart in bogus expenses, reimbursements, and unauthorized
use of gift cards. The problem is issued to be an ethical leadership issue.
Walmart has also faced many
ibery scandals, where executives paid millions in
ibes to
obtain licensing and zoning permits for store locations.
Even after he resigned, the vice-chairman remained on the board of directors. He used Walmart
money for his personal use with amounts worth more than $10 million until he was sent to jail for
eing a whistle-blower (CH7).
Walmart Wearhouse workers have also complained about safety issues, harsh working
conditions, and violations of labor laws.
And to top it all, Walmart has faced several lawsuits for hiring illegal immigrants working as
cleaning crews, which have even worse pays. They must work seven days a week, and they
earn less than minimum wage, and to conclude, they do not have any benefits provided by the
company to employees because they’re illegal.
Even though Walmart is producing low price products for the customers, it’s also creating many
ethical issues.
Stakeholder Stakes P/U/L
1.
Shareholders- Always
stakeholders since they
own shares within the
company.
They are legitimate stakeholders because they have an economic stake in
what Walmart does. They are interested in seeing return on their investments
and are directly affected by Walmart decisions.
L
2.
Walmart-Executives-
Major stakeholder since
they are involved on
decisions that could affect
other stakeholders.
Executives also have been economic stake because they receive stock options
as part of their salary. Based on Walmart financial decisions it depends on
whether their stock value will rise as part of their compensation or not.
L, U
3.
Employees-The ones who
un Walmart day to day
operations. Very
important stakeholder as
on them depends on the
company success.
Legitimate and urgent because they hope for long-term employment within
Walmart. And it depends on their work on whether they will move up within
the company. Their income also depends on the paychecks that they earn
from Walmart.
L, U
4.
Communities where
Walmart is Located-They
could easily be affected by
the companies’ decisions.
- Communities are legitimate stakeholders since they could be affected by the
laws that the management might not follow. If Walmart doesn’t follow rules
and laws could potentially affect the community for worse, or if they do follow
the laws, it could benefit the community.
For example, Walmart being a neighborhood store could potentially offer a lot
of positions for neighborhood employment.
L
5.
Consumers
Priority stakeholders.
Without them Walmart
would be earning any
evenue and a result it
would cease to exist.
Legitimate stakeholders as based on how the company and employees within
Walmart treat them depends on whether they’re coming back or not. If
Walmart wouldn’t take in consideration the customers requests, customers
could have at stake not finding what they need and be treated badly by
employees.
L
6.
Non-Profit organizations-
Insurance groups.
-Non-profit organizations have an economic market stake depending on how
well Walmart is doing. Walmart foundation provides many non-profit
organizations with funding, so if Walmart is not doing well, neither will the
foundation.
L
7.
Other retailers -
Competitors/ external
stakeholders.
-They have at stake that they might lose business if Walmart is a better
competitor, or they might do things better than Walmart and potentially
enefit.
L
8.
Online retailers-
Online shop that Walmart
offers for its global
customers, very crucial
stakeholder.
-Have a stake on how well Walmart Is doing. Walmart website offers low
prices and deliver goods to consumers who live in Communities without
Walmart stores. If Walmart isn’t doing good in sales, online retailer might
cease to be visited by customers.
L
9.
Labor Unions- Key
stakeholders associated
with corporate social
esponsibility.
-They make sure that the employees are heard and their concerns with their
employer are resolved.
Labor Unions have political stake since Walmart has a strict policy of not
having employees unionized.
L, U
10.
Government
Major stakeholder who
collects payrolls taxes, and
sales taxes in states which
is applicable.
Urgent stakeholder as it requires attention from the company which they
cannot ignore