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TNCs CASE STUDY

Blue = countries with Wal-Mart stores

What is a TNC?

A firm which owns or controls production facilities in more
than one country through direct foreign investment (DFI)
...


Background history
• Wal-Mart is a chain of discount department stores including ASDA
...

• The company first opened in 1962 when Sam Walton opened the first
store in Arkansas, USA
...
The
store went onto expand across the globe including Japan (Seiyu), the UK
(ASDA) and Brazil (Bompreco)
...

• The company divides its labour across a number of different countries
...
e
...

• The company has began to expand into NICs such as India which have
huge new markets
...
T-Mobile)

Financial

Retail
(Clothing)

Main
Services

Electronic
Goods
including
photography

IMPACTS OF WAL-MART
SOCIAL
• Provides consumers with a wide choice of goods, e
...
the ‘supercentre’

•
•
•
•

stores sell things like garden furniture and car tyres as well as food
and clothing
...

Many stores are poorly paid with few benefits e
...
health care, so
employees have to rely on state benefits
...

Wal-Mart had been accused of poor working conditions
...
e
...


ECONOMIC
• Employment- each new store creates jobs, e
...
Vineland (USA) opened
•
•

•
•

in 2009, creating 700 jobs
...

Decline in Manufacturing industry – Wal-Mart buys lots of products
from suppliers outside of the USA, e
...
electronic goods from China
and Malaysia, which has caused a loss of manufacturing jobs in the
USA
...

This can cause the loss of local jobs, e
...
it is estimated that for every
100 jobs created at a new Wal-Mart, 50 retail jobs are lost from local
businesses over the next five years
...

• Domestic stores are often very large and out-of-town for
example, the ASDA at the Metro Centre, Gateshead
...


Criticism
ECONOMIC

SOCIAL

Positives:
• Creates jobs in construction, retail
services and manufacturing
• Local companies and farmers supply
goods to Wal-Mart
...
e
...


Positives:
• Offers skilled jobs in less developed
countries,
• Wal-Mart wages are more reliable than
local employers and other jobs i
...

subsistence farming
...


Negatives:
• Working conditions can be poor
...
e
...
E
...
in Puerto Rico, 23 Wal-Mart stores have
solar-panel technology fitted to the roofs to help generate electricity
...
For
example, the largest Wal-Mart store in Hawaii covers around 29,000m
squared

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