Review: Walmart in China

Walmart in China by Anita Chan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I actually thought this would be the story of Walmart in China, i.e. how it entered, who was involved, how it is structured, who is in charge, how it has changed over time, etc. Basically like a biography of the company in China. It isn't that at all. It is a collection of essays grouped by subject matter. The first section discusses factories in China used by Walmart USA, and the subsequent ones discuss various aspects of Walmart China. 

There were some interesting tidbits, such as how many parallels there seemed to be between Walmart's culture/ethos and Mao's communist ethos. Things such as trying to get rid of hierarchies, the slogans, the cult of personality, putting the masses at the top, and the infringements upon it. 

Also there was an interesting aside on the origin of the term "sweatshop" (p. 72)

Some notes I took:

"Walt Disney's large retail business has its headquarters, not in Los Angeles, but in Rogers, Arkansas, right next door to Bentonville." (p. 14)

"between 2001 and 2006 Walmart accounted for 9.3 percent of total US imports from China" (p. 29)

"Today, 80 percent of its thousands of global suppliers are based in China and 70 percent of the merchandise sold in Walmart stores is assembled from China" (p. 36)

"The inverted pyramid - putting the masses at the top - is strikingly evocative of the revolutionary class hierarchy of Maoist Socialism" (p. 122)

All-in-all I can't say I recommend it, despite the interesting points. It would have been nice to at least include a precursory history of the company in China, or describe what impact it has on the Chinese economy, what difference it has made, what difference its unionization has made, etc. etc.

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