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Case Application 2 –
Green Up on Aisle Two
It is may be the only company you might think of going green. Walmart being the largest retailer in the world with above 8400 store around the world, moves huge amount of items and uses huge amount of resources and power for operating this firm. But the company itself wants it to be the world’s largest environment friendly organization. This is the reason that the company wants or rather promises to reduce twenty million metric ton of bad greenhouse gases emission from the supply chain which could be equivalent to removing about 3.8 millions of vehicles away from the roads each year. This news got huge attention. The announcement was made after the firm declared that it will create a sustainable index on how much their products can go green and eco friendly.
The 1st part of the company’s 3 phase plan got informations from its 100,000 suppliers who uses fifteen question survey details about the green house gas emissions, solid and water waste reduction effort& other information about the firm’s practices. In October 2009 this information received & the 2nd phase of process of getting into this massive database started. In the 3rd phase it was getting all the information condensed in an easy global rating system, which was focused about social sustainability and environment. But these efforts won’t complete till 2013.
This was not the firm’s first effort on going green. The company had taken different environmental initiatives which include improving efficiency of trucks fleet and also working with DVD Company, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, so as to remove green house gases which come out from the manufacturing of plastic knobs used in the centre of the CDS. The difficult part of the step was that the suppliers had to invest both time on money thinking about the environmental impact of the products. A lot of examination was done to ensure that the products are eco friendly and produces less green house emissions. The company declared that supplier’s participation was not necessary. Walmart collaborated with different organizations to ensure the safety of its products. These groups helped the company and the company’s suppliers to work efficiently and reduce greenhouse emissions.
Discussion Questions
- Discuss Walmart’s initiatives on this go green program. Can this company achieve any reputation of being an environment friendly one? Discuss
- What is the reason of the suppliers being reluctant to get involved in such an initiative? How this reluctance can be addressed? Though the firm declared that supplier participation is not necessary do you think that the firm appears to forcing suppliers for participating?
- What is the reason behind the collaboration of Walmart with other eco-friendly organizations? Explain.
- What can other companies learn from Walmart in respect of its green initiatives?
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- management and organizations a managers dilemma
- Understanding managements context constraints and challenges
- Managing in a global environment
- Managing diversity
- What is social responsibility
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