The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works - and How It's Transforming the American Economy

The Wal-Mart effect is how Charles Fishman defines Wal-Mart’s large-scale impact on the US and global economies, the global supply chain, and consumers’ understandings of the retail market. The Wal-Mart effect takes many forms, but in an overarching sense it refers to “a transformation of retailing, of pricing, of where and how products are manufactured” (xiv), and of how consumers understand how much general merchandise should cost. Fishman cites various examples of the Wal-Mart effect throughout the text in order to convey the scale and reach of this singular corporate entity. In the case of Wal-Mart’s suppliers, Wal-Mart controls the manufacturing, quality, pricing, and distribution of their products. In the case of Wal-Mart’s competitors, Wal-Mart dictates how much goods cost, if these costs change, and where these goods are available. In the case of Wal-Mart’s customers, Wal-Mart controls where communities shop, the products they buy, and the prices they pay. These are just three examples of the Wal-Mart effect and the ways in which the corporation’s policies have had a profound impact on all entities and individuals associated with them.