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There is discussion and speculation that Wal-Mart may be "bad for America", but the bigger question needs to be asked: is Wal-Mart bad for the world? The Wal-Mart super centers, while providing lower prices to consumers also bring traffic and environmental issues to the towns where they place these super centers. These super centers are not only creating a monopoly in the department store market but also in the grocery and pharmacy market which will crush "mom and pop shops" and rival chain stores.

Wal-Mart is not just the leading retailer in the United States they are the number two retailer in the world. As market saturation and slowing sales increased in the United States, Wal-Mart turned to the rest of the world to keep their double digit earnings on track. In 1999 Wal-Mart started opening and acquiring stores world wide with increased urgency in 2003.

So just how big is Wal-Mart? How far is their reach? Just to give you a perspective Wal-Mart employs 1.8 million people world wide, which is just shy of the 2 million people that populate the country of Slovenia. Current international sales are at 62.7 Billion up from 41 Billion in 2003. They operate in more than 13 countries outside of the United States and plan on continuing their aggressive march across the world.

Does a company like Wal-Mart pose a threat to the world retail economy? With their size and global reach they have incredible buying power that could shift world economies and cause similar issues, if not larger ones that have occurred in the United States. Wal-Mart now can dictate pricing and contract terms to the wholesales. If a wholesaler decides they don't want to meet Wal-Marts demands, Wal-Mart could put a company out of business very easily just by deciding to not do business with them any longer, not just I the US, but in the other countries where they control the retail store markets. It would be like Slovenia instituting a trade embargo on Fiji.

In the U.S. some consumers have become wary of the retailer, while others are outraged by environmental issues, class action law suites and the monopoly that Wal-Mart is creating. Now, local governments in the states are taking action as well, the major one being San Diego which has banned the building of a Wal-Mart super center due to economical and environmental reasons.

Now that the US is starting to deny Wal-Mart access in major cities, will the rest of the world follow suit as well? Only time will tell if the consumers of the world will take their buying power out of the hands of Wal-Mart.

Learn more about this author, Audrey Kerchner.
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