Academic Wiki

Scott Phillips

For my research paper, I wish to examine the impact that Wal-Mart has had with facilitating Chinese trade.  This would include looking at what impact Wal-Mart has had on China’s Real GDP, FDI, and trade balance.  Naturally there is a lot of growth going on inside China.  The challenge with this project will be trying to determine what is attributable to Wal-Mart and their subsidiaries, versus other companies.

Currently in the U.S, it has been estimated that 1 out of every 8 dollars spent domestically is spent at Wal-Mart.  The company is currently the largest retailer in the world.  We have seen the impact that they have had on the U.S. economy.  So what kind of impact are they having on an emerging market?  While Sam Walton was running the company, Wal-Mart went out of its way to buy American produced products.  After Mr. Walton stepped aside, Wal-Mart undertook a well-documented strategy of price cuts.  This strategy included looking for more products coming out of emerging markets.

Wal-Mart is currently facing a lot of scrutiny for operating in China.  Hopefully by determining just what the economic impact has been it can be determined if singling out Wal-Mart is merited, or if they are the scapegoats for a broader emerging trend.