The New Capitalists
Is it possible to make money and really make a difference?
—By Joseph Hart, Utne magazine
May / June 2006 Issue

If you are one of the 8 percent of American consumers who refuse to shop at Wal-Mart for ethical reasons, you might want to pop some valerian tablets before you read on.

Ready?

Wal-Mart: ethical leader. Wal-Mart: environmental steward. Wal-Mart: socially responsible corporation.

If you didn't hurl the magazine across the room, consider the following: In 2004 Wal-Mart established a "global ethics office" to enforce 10 principles, including to "never manipulate, misrepresent, abuse, or conceal information" and "never act unethically -- even if someone else instructs you to do so." Employees have access to a confidential hotline to report abuses.

In October 2005 CEO Lee Scott announced a long-range plan to use 100 percent renewable energy at the company. For starters, Wal-Mart is working on a new store design that will reduce energy use by 30 percent in the next three years and plans to double the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet -- one of the largest in the world -- by 2015.

Earlier this year, the company rolled out expanded benefits for its workforce, which management claims are among the best in the retail sector.

If you can't keep your cynical side from making you squirm, maybe it's because you can't forget the New York Times story in October 2005 that revealed that 46 percent of the chain's employees' children are uninsured or on Medicaid. The company has been fined repeatedly for violating the Clean Water Act, including $3.1 million in 2004 for failing to contain runoff at construction sites. Wal-Mart hired Eugene Scalia, former solicitor of the Department of Labor and son of U.S. Supreme Court associate justice Antonin Scalia, to defend the corporation against three whistle-blower lawsuits, and federal prosecutors just recently nailed vice chairman Tom Coughlin for embezzling $500,000 to buy, among other things, supplies for his hunting dogs and a couple cases of Smirnoff. (When he was accused, Coughlin claimed he used the money for union busting, a response that can be filed under cold comfort.)

So which is the real face of Wal-Mart? The easy-being-green family-owned company that donated nearly $1 million to make Sesame Street episodes that help military kids cope with the Iraq war? Or the I-love-trash megachain that, according to a study conducted at Penn State, actually ends up reinforcing, not improving, countywide poverty rates when it plops down a store?

The plain fact is that in today's business world, as companies of all sizes embrace "corporate social responsibility," or CSR, villains can be heroes and the Man often acts like a gentleman. The simple principle of CSR is that companies should enhance the public good. As a result, a growing number of giant international corporations are appointing CSR vice presidents, launching environmental programs, scrutinizing suppliers' human rights records, and adopting ethical guidelines to govern corporate behavior.

Critics of CSR say it's a sop to special interest groups and unions, a ploy to promote deregulation, or a "greenwash" to cover up malfeasance (many companies, like Wal-Mart, have websites peppered with heartwarming facts and stories). But there's no denying that CSR initiatives have genuine value. If every corporation adopted Wal-Mart's pledge to reduce energy use by 30 percent in the next three years, for example, the effect would be profound.

more...

www.utne.com/pub/2006_13...12081-1.html