BYE-BYE TO 'BUY AMERICAN'?

摘要

Wal-mart's story is as all-american as they come. It grew from a regional chain in the 1960s to $245 billion in revenues as of January 31,2003―quadrupling sales in the past 10 years alone. Leadership, culture and logistical skills aside, the privately held company did it by giving customers the "best deal." Frequently overlooked in this saga, Wal-Mart's astonishing growth corresponded with rapid globalization and the fall of many trade barriers. In recent decades the Bentonville, Ark., company has found more and more of its own best deals overseas. Measured in 20-foot ocean containers (291,900), Wal-Mart imported 60% more than The Home Depot in 2002 and 68% more than rival retailer Target. The $12 billion in goods that the world's largest company imported into the U.S. from China last year would make it that country's 8th largest trading partner if it were a sov- ereign nation, according to Bloomberg News. To some in the United States, this sounds like bad news all around. But consider that Wal-Mart is the largest employer in this country, issuing paychecks to 1.3 million people, more than triple McDonalds' food franchises and corporation, the next largest employer at 413,000. Wal-Mart's deep-discount prices also give consumers a greater ability to purchase goods, thereby creating more wealth, as observed by Adam Smith in his 1776 opus, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations: "It is a maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to attempt to make at home what it will cost him more to make than to buy." And so, Wal-Mart represents both the good, and the bad, of global capitalism.