Walmart in China
Published on 15. November 2011
Book
Paperback/Softback
304 pages
978-0-8014-7731-7 (ISBN)
Description
Walmart and "Made in China" are practically synonymous; Walmart imports some 70 percent of its merchandise from China. Walmart is now also rapidly becoming a major retail presence there, with close to two hundred Walmarts in more than a hundred Chinese cities. What happens when the world's biggest retailer and the world's biggest country do business with each other? In this book, a group of thirteen experts from several disciplines examine the symbiotic but strained relationship between these giants. The book shows how Walmart began cutting costs by bypassing its American suppliers and sourcing directly from Asia and how Walmart's sheer size has trumped all other multinationals in squeezing procurement prices and, as a by-product, driving down Chinese workers' wages.
China is also an inviting frontier for Walmart's global superstore expansion. As China's middle class grows, the chain's Western image and affordable goods have become popular. Walmart's Arkansas headquarters exports to the Chinese stores a unique corporate culture and management ideology, which oddly enough are reminiscent of Mao-era Chinese techniques for promoting loyalty. Three chapters separately detail the lives of a Walmart store manager, a lower-level store supervisor, and a cashier. Another chapter focuses on employees' wages, "voluntary" overtime, and the stores' strict labor discipline. In 2006, the official Chinese trade union targeted Walmart, which is antilabor in its home country, and succeeded in setting up union branches in all the stores. Walmart in China reveals the surprising outcome.
China is also an inviting frontier for Walmart's global superstore expansion. As China's middle class grows, the chain's Western image and affordable goods have become popular. Walmart's Arkansas headquarters exports to the Chinese stores a unique corporate culture and management ideology, which oddly enough are reminiscent of Mao-era Chinese techniques for promoting loyalty. Three chapters separately detail the lives of a Walmart store manager, a lower-level store supervisor, and a cashier. Another chapter focuses on employees' wages, "voluntary" overtime, and the stores' strict labor discipline. In 2006, the official Chinese trade union targeted Walmart, which is antilabor in its home country, and succeeded in setting up union branches in all the stores. Walmart in China reveals the surprising outcome.
Reviews / Votes
Anita Chan's newly edited book, Walmart in China, is one of the best academic works on Chinese labor in recent years..As one of the finest scholarly works generated from international cooperation, this book opens at least two important areas for further exploration. First, labor relations in Walmart stores are worth further ethnographic exploration. Second, it would be interesting to study the evolving role of trade unions since the CCP-led state has emphasized trade union reform and wage bargaining from 2010.- Chris King-Chi Chan (The China Journal) The authors demonstrate how the sheer scale of Walmart intimidates suppliers into accepting tight lead times, leading to illegally long working hours, an increase in outsourcing, and an atmosphere of insecurity and powerlessness at almost all levels in the supply chain.... Chan and her fellow contributors provide labour activists with considerable food for thought, and-who knows-maybe even a few sleepless nights for some of the most committed antitrade union executives on the planet.
- Tim Pringle (British Journal of Industrial Relations) The book provides a multidimensional analysis of Walmartization in China.... The essays show some optimism for the future of Walmart's labour movement, with critical suggestions provided for key parties.
- Xuebing Cao (Work, Employment & Society) The book's contributors used cloak-and-dagger fieldwork skills to provide a sharp picture of labor conditions at Walmart's suppliers and in its Chinese stores. They show that the company's Ethical Standards Program has done little to prevent sweatshop-like abuses among its suppliers. On the other hand, its store employees have taken easily to the corporate culture, whose Christian- and rural-inflected ethos meshes with Chinese traditions of moral exhortation, mutual surveillance, and the pursuit of personal ambition through collective service.
- Andrew J. Nathan (Foreign Affairs) This is a skillfully crafted account of the phenomenon known as the Walmartization of China. All the chapters are nicely woven together in a cohesive whole, a rare feat and noteworthy achievement. It is informative, insightful, and so very timely. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand theglobal supply chain and how the growing dominance of retailing over manufacturing is shaping the world we live in. It will appeal to a wide audience, ranging from academics, managers, and businesspeople to anyone that has ever come into contact with Walmart.
- Maria N. DaCosta (China Review International)
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Cornell University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8014-7731-7 (9780801477317)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Anita Chan is Research Professor at the China Research Centre of the University of Technology, Sydney. She is the author of China's Workers under Assault: The Exploitation of Labor in a Globalizing Economy and Children of Mao: Personality Development and Political Activism in the Red Guard Generation and coauthor of Chen Village: Revolution to Globalization.
Content
Introduction: When the World's Largest Company Encounters the World's Biggest Country
by Anita ChanPart One: The Walmart Supply Chain1. Walmart's Long March to China: How a Mid-American Retailer Came to Stake Its Future on the Chinese Economy
by Nelson Lichtenstein2. Outsourcing in China: Walmart and Chinese Manufacturers
by Xue Hong3. Walmartization, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Labor Standards of Toy Factories in South China
by Yu Xiaomin and Pun Ngai4. Made in China: Work and Wages in Walmart Supplier Factories
by Anita Chan and Kaxton SiuPart Two: The Walmart Stores5. Corporate Cadres: Management and Corporate Culture at Walmart China
by David J. Davies6. A Store Manager's Success Story
by David J. Davies and Taylor Seeman7. Practicing Cheer: The Diary of a Low-Level Supervisor at a Walmart China Store
by Scott E. Myers and Anita Chan
Translation by Scott E. Myers8. Working in Walmart, Kunming: Technology, Outsourcing, and Retail Globalization
by Eileen M. OtisPart Three: Walmart Trade Unions9. Unionizing Chinese Walmart Stores
by Anita Chan10. Did Unionization Make a Difference? Work Conditions and Trade Union Activities at Chinese Walmart Stores
by Jonathan Unger, Diana Beaumont, and Anita Chan11. Workers and Communities versus Walmart: A Comparison of Organized Resistance in the United States and China
by Katie QuanNotes
Notes on Contributors
Index
by Anita ChanPart One: The Walmart Supply Chain1. Walmart's Long March to China: How a Mid-American Retailer Came to Stake Its Future on the Chinese Economy
by Nelson Lichtenstein2. Outsourcing in China: Walmart and Chinese Manufacturers
by Xue Hong3. Walmartization, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Labor Standards of Toy Factories in South China
by Yu Xiaomin and Pun Ngai4. Made in China: Work and Wages in Walmart Supplier Factories
by Anita Chan and Kaxton SiuPart Two: The Walmart Stores5. Corporate Cadres: Management and Corporate Culture at Walmart China
by David J. Davies6. A Store Manager's Success Story
by David J. Davies and Taylor Seeman7. Practicing Cheer: The Diary of a Low-Level Supervisor at a Walmart China Store
by Scott E. Myers and Anita Chan
Translation by Scott E. Myers8. Working in Walmart, Kunming: Technology, Outsourcing, and Retail Globalization
by Eileen M. OtisPart Three: Walmart Trade Unions9. Unionizing Chinese Walmart Stores
by Anita Chan10. Did Unionization Make a Difference? Work Conditions and Trade Union Activities at Chinese Walmart Stores
by Jonathan Unger, Diana Beaumont, and Anita Chan11. Workers and Communities versus Walmart: A Comparison of Organized Resistance in the United States and China
by Katie QuanNotes
Notes on Contributors
Index