Wal-Mart: Sustainability Progress to Date 2007–2008
April 13, 2008 by Brian Butler , Emily Ryan , , LAUREN KERWAWYCZ and NEIL MILLER | Filed under: 1-The Impact of the Wal-Mart Sustainability Scorecard o
Wal-Mart: Sustainability Progress to Date 2007–2008
The Wal-Mart Sustainability Progress to Date 2007-2008 is written in four parts: the company, community, associates and environment. For the purposes of discussion please focus on the report from pages 40-59.
One thing that I found very interesting (and challenging) in Wal-Mart’s environmental plan is their involvement in all levels of their suppliers’ businesses. Within their Sustainable Value Networks (SVN), they are working with vastly disparate products - from jewelry to paper towels to electronics, and Wal-Mart is trying to make a sustainable impact in all of them. Their 3 main categories of SVNs - Products, Direct Footprint, and Supply Chain - cover such a wide area that they must be investing large quantities in order to see results. This effort will make Wal-Mart supremely knowledgeable in so many different categories that it automatically gives them power over competitors.
Additional, I was intrigued by the focus on China. It has practically its own SVN and they have instituted the “Green Company” program over there. Wal-Mart will show preference to Chinese suppliers who are involved in this program. This is kind of like affirmative action. Wal-Mart has quotas of 20% Green Company compliant suppliers in the next years. Hopefully soon this will just be a standard business practice!
[...] this observation from Emily Ryan: Additional, I was intrigued by the focus on China. It has practically its own [Sustainable Value [...]
The Walmart sustainability to date progress report represents a very comphrehensive list of exactly what Walmart has done to improve their progress of one of the four pillars; the environment. It is no surprise that the retailer giant is taking the lead in the industry and setting the pace for all others. At first glance, $500 million in investments may seem like a significant contribution to this inititiave. The retailer giant had a net income in 2007 of $12.88 billion. More precisely $500 million is only 3.8% of their net income.
The ‘Sustainability 360′ describes the strategy Walmart is taking to to become supplies with 100 percnet renewable energy, to
create zero waste, and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment. Walmart’s appraoch goes beyond perfecting their supply chain by improving the products they sell, and increasing the quality of life for associates and the communities where they operate. I think this multi-facet approach shows benefits for all parties involved and is a great stance for their initiatives. This enterprise wide effort will allow Walmart to have consistency across their organization, making the retail giant that much stronger against competition.
I enjoyed reading the facts and figures and quotes to put some of the savings into perspective for the reader. The seven sustainable value networks outlined were created with profibability in mind while developing sustainable solutions. Five other SVN’s delve into direct footprint, and two address the supply chain. The quarterly reviews of the SVNs allow groups and interested parties to introduce new initiatives and revisit existing obstacles they face.
It may have been beneficial to spell out details of the Measured Progress and what the percent change increase could have been attributed to. What is Walmart doing to improve these areas?
Emily,
That was my thoughts exactly that it must be a challenge to be involved in all levels of their suppliers business. For the most part it seemed, while reading the first 8 or so pages, they were just interested in reducing their lost costs for transportation and electricity, but then as it continued they mentioned micro managing all aspects of their products.
One section I thought was interesting was when they mentioned to reduce the impacts of gold mining for their jewelery, which seems pretty wild for a company the size of walmart to take into account. I did like their ideas o zero waste, chemicals and packaging. With those implemented it should improve alot of the areas which they are working on.
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