not sure if I buy into this study. very interesting, so social responsibility at whatever other cost is OK.

link to the Reputation Institute

I think the article brings up a key point—so far, there hasn’t been a lot of success in convincing most people that there are more important factors than price when deciding to make a purchase. How are we going to convince them that there are, especially when so many people really do have to pinch their pennies?

The only time there are more important factors other then price is when you can afford the better option. Most people will grab a sharp sword to save their life if they are drowning if that is their only option. Convincing the masses is going to take a huge effort, it is more efficient to have the source make the choice for them. In other words it is the responsibility of source to provide a higher quality product.

hold on to your hats, because this is a long logic chain:

wal-mart’s strategy of operational excellence allows it to offer low prices; when customers come by choice, that allows WMT to promise larger volumes to suppliers, who voluntarily agree to lower the price to make more stuff (including profit) on an absolute basis even though relative profit margins may go down. in growth mode, this can be a positive cycle, especially if you are buying something new like solar panels, that needs scale to drop the price.

now, WMT also finds the market-clearing price for labor, which employees voluntarily agree to work for. the goods which suppliers make migrates to the lowest manufacturing cost (in today’s age, China). that creates jobs in China, builds their middle class, increases their national income, and then they buy dollars to keep our currency rates high, and more importantly, but government revolving debt so we can run deficits (for whatever political choices, like Iraq).

then, local labor loses out on making money thru manufacturing, and has a choice of how to adapt for their next role – train in new skills, find new job, move to different area where talent is missing. meanwhile, they need an affordable place to shop – like WalMart

but, if wal-mart prices higher, then another store (target? costco?) may step in to grab market share, employees might make more, but suppliers potentially make less, and fewer jobs are created in China, and there is less national income to buy US debt which then forces interest rates up, causing inflationary pressure, or restricted investment – and then recessions/depressions return.

so, what to do? the only way out is to innovate and find productivity through technology, new labor skills, adaptive learning, and being entrepreneurial.

american labor had it easy for a while – but now the playing field includes 6 billion workers not 300 million. time to get back into the game of adaptive evolution, and competing to survive and thrive.

hope that’s somewhat insightful into social responsibility from a society perspective. there are many choices across many sectors (biz, social, gov) that need to be made – or coordinated.

how will you be entrepreneurial?

They’ve become the largest buyer of organic food and cotton: http://www.worldchanging.com/archives… http://www.worldchanging.com/archives…

Despite organic standards being watered down, this seems like a positive impact to me. This also brings pressure on others to lower prices and improve their supply chains.

read a quote recently that walmart has done more to upgrade the standard of living of poor americans than anything else this century.

From my own observations, this is true. I was pretty poor as a kid. People in that same social strata today all have TVs, and housewares straight from walmart.

In terms of total amount of social effect, i think this might outweigh their labor practices

I think I’ve read somewhere (I wish I could quote it) that the average Walmart shopper saves up to $2000 a year over other retail options. If you don’t think this helps people with limitted budgets then I don’t understand your thinking.

And that’s why it’s such a shame that unions and wealthy snobs are the main folks keeping Walmart from coming to my inner NYC and other urban areas that Desperately need lower prices.

Great news! – speaking of social responsibility… WorldofGood.com has just launched their new online Community! , a partnership of eBay Inc. + World of Good, Inc, the Community convenes a global dialogue of conscious people, producers, media providers & more… good people, great ideas & relevant info that’s empowering – to make positive change through commerce!

Visit the site (or click these links) to see original Articles, Blogs , Polls, & Discussion boards, on all KINDS of eco & people-positive socially-conscious topics (from responsible travel, eco-tips, ethical sourcing, Fair Trade towns, HIV/AIDS in Africa, & issues facing producer groups in the Global South). Exciting, no?!

EACH of WorldofGood.com’s_ social network pages have different fundraiser for artisan groups – when each group reaches 6,000 members, WorldofGood.com will donate grant $ to Artisan Development projects in Peru &/or Guatemala!: Facebook , MySpace , Care2 , & change.org . WorldofGood.com* also has a cool Orkut profile & Gaia page !

Thanks for doin’ the right thing… spreading good news on do-gooders doin’ good! :0)

~Lauren