Wal*Mart seems to have successfully trumped any negative PR it may have been subject to and managed to actually increase its profits by 4% (see “Campaign Against Wal-Mart Hasn’t Touched Profits“). How is that possible given the impact of the recent hurricanes as well as the various public critiques of the company (including the full-page ad in the New York Times referenced in the linked article)? Well, as noted in the article, Wal*Mart has done a fantastic job of keeping labor costs in check:

“Wal-Mart said on Monday that its profit increased 4 percent, which is in line with what analysts were expecting.

“‘Even with the lingering impacts of the hurricanes and the impact of higher energy prices, I believe we will have a good holiday season,’ Chief Executive Lee Scott told analysts.

“Wire reports said analysts were pleased that Wal-Mart managed to contain labor costs, and therein lies a controversy.”

TAGS: Wal*Mart | WalMart | Union | Ethics | WakeUpWalMart

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 15th, 2005 at 10:50 am and is filed under Business Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Interesting News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.