WALMART:As the world’s largest retailer,Walmart strives to save people money so they can live better

WALMART – Becoming a Supplier 

As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart strives to save people money so they can live better. This mantra is at the core of every decision we make. One way we fulfil this commitment is to embrace diversity in all aspects of our organization, from our talented associates to the supplier partners we work with to deliver the products and services our customers want and need. 

At Walmart, we are committed to working with suppliers and stakeholders to make the global supply chain more responsible. Through our Responsible Sourcing program, we set expectations of suppliers and the facilities they use, assess supply chain risk, monitor supply chain conditions through audits and investigations, provide training and tools for our associates and suppliers, and collaborate with others to make progress on key industry-wide issues. As of June 2017, our Responsible Sourcing team has approximately 200 associates in the Walmart Home Office and in retail markets and sourcing offices around the world. When we choose new items to stock, we select products customers want. How would your product or service improve our customers’ lives? Also, Walmart serves customers and members nearly 260 million times per week around the world. Know how large your capacity is for supplying. 

Walmart’s thousands of suppliers source food, apparel, household goods and other merchandise from more than 100 countries around the world. Cascading our values 

throughout the entire supply chain can have a tremendous impact: our customers get better-quality products, the people who grow and make what we sell receive the dignity and respect they deserve, and Walmart and Walmart suppliers earn and maintain customer trust. 

Walmart cannot do alone. You as the supplier own the relationship with the facilities that produce the products we sell. We expect you and all facilities in your supply chain to embrace both the words of and principles behind these Standards for Suppliers. We want to do business with suppliers that engage with us, acknowledge where they are falling short, and own what they do with a sense of urgency and pride. We will do the same in return. Together we can make our supply chain more responsible, and lead and inspire others to make theirs more responsible, too. 

The safety and wellbeing of workers across the global supply chain is important to Walmart. Our Standards for Suppliers make clear our fundamental expectations for suppliers and their supply chains. Walmart owns relationships with its suppliers, and suppliers own the relationship with the facilities that produce the products we sell, so we expect suppliers to cascade our values throughout their supply chains. While we prefer to work with our suppliers to help them improve conditions for workers in supply chains, we may impose consequences up to and including termination of business for those suppliers who fail to live up to our expectations. 

Our expectations of suppliers extend throughout their supply chains. To reinforce those expectations, our Standards require suppliers to post Walmart-approved posters in production facilities letting workers know what we expect of our suppliers and their facilities on topics like wages and hours, safety, fair treatment, and forced labor. The posters also provide workers with information on a number of options for raising concerns, including by contacting Walmart directly in their preferred language. 

Because the expectation of compliance with our Standards for Suppliers extends throughout the supply chain, we use social, safety and environmental compliance audits to help us evaluate our suppliers’ overall compliance.  

Suppliers of product to any of Walmart’s family of retail platforms are required to demonstrate financial responsibility. As a supplier, you will be required to provide evidence of this financial responsibility and to maintain compliance with these requirements at all times. As part of this obligation, Walmart requires all approved product suppliers to carry certain types of insurance. This insurance is intended to address legal costs and other liabilities that could result from claims or legal action related to your product.  

Source: https://corporate.walmart.com/suppliers 

Answer ALL the questions below:    (20 Marks) 

1. Responsible sourcing practices can promote sustainability in the supply chain by selecting and encouraging socially responsible suppliers.  

In light of this statement and the case, evaluate Walmart’s Corporate social responsibility practices.    (10 Marks) 

2. Walmart maintains thousands of suppliers. Explain the advantages that Walmart gets from closer relationships with its suppliers to culminate a healthier and more sustainable bottom line.    (10 Marks