Wal-Mart has grown into the biggest corporation in the world since Sam Walton opened his first store in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962.
#3. The Green Supply Chain
In the age of the international conglomerate, business may have the
ability to create more radical change than any single government. A $180
billion company like Wal-Mart has ties to tens of thousands of smaller
companies around the world, and through the power of sheer size, it can all
but force those suppliers to sell their goods cheaper — or, if Wal-Mart
wishes, greener. That's exactly what the Bentonville retailing giant has
done this year, pressuring its suppliers to go green. Wal-Mart's initiative
was followed this October by the launch of the Supply Chain Leadership
Coalition, in which some of the biggest companies in the world —
including Procter & Gamble and Unilever — banded together to press
suppliers to report their greenhouse-gas emissions and be more open about
their efforts to combat climate change.