A case study in common repeated board room stupidity... HJ Heinz quarterly results.

[charrison]

That's not really accurate. A town of 5000 won't support a WalMart supercenter, so most of the customers would necessarily come from the surrounding towns, creating issues around traffic & infrastructure.

I think you are quite wrong on that. Walmart grew out of little towns. My hometown has a population of less than 9000 when we got a walmart and it is now being upgraded to a super walmart(population about 12k now).

 

[Jhhnn]

I would frame it a bit differently and say the relationship between management and workers is the problem. If you look at the German style governance Pulsar mentioned they get the incentives for the workers and management somewhat aligned. The UAW has shown they clearly don't care about the futures of US automakers.

As a matter of policy I would be willing to give unions more power at a company level in exchange for restricting industry wide unions like the UAW. IMO this would result in better outcomes for both capital and labor.

German unions bargain at an industry wide level, and the UAW did fine wiht Japanese management at NUMMI.

I think you are quite wrong on that. Walmart grew out of little towns. My hometown has a population of less than 9000 when we got a walmart and it is now being upgraded to a super walmart(population about 12k now).

I'm aware of WalMart's history, and I'm also aware that shoppers from small towns all across the midwest flock to their regional Walmart Supercenters. It's not like they put Supercenters in small towns that are 10-15 miles apart, at all. They also don't put Supercenters in isolated western towns with populations of 5000 or so because it's a very long ways to the next town- they lose the regional aspect of it all, don't have a big enough customer base.

We can see that from this map, where Walmart locations correspond roughly to population density.

http://web.wm.edu/americanstudies/370/2005
/sp4/store_locations.html

That part of New York is sparsely populated, with the nearest Walmart being in Malone... 38 miles away.

 

[charrison]

German unions bargain at an industry wide level, and the UAW did fine wiht Japanese management at NUMMI.

Germany is also a "right to work" state, which keeps them from getting stupid like they do here.

I'm aware of WalMart's history, and I'm also aware that shoppers from small towns all across the midwest flock to their regional Walmart Supercenters. It's not like they put Supercenters in small towns that are 10-15 miles apart, at all. They also don't put Supercenters in isolated western towns with populations of 5000 or so because it's a very long ways to the next town- they lose the regional aspect of it all, don't have a big enough customer base.

We can see that from this map, where Walmart locations correspond roughly to population density.

http://web.wm.edu/americanstudies/370/2005
/sp4/store_locations.html

That part of New York is sparsely populated, with the nearest Walmart being in Malone... 38 miles away.

And the article says wal mart was interested in putting one there, until it became a battle at which point they left.

 

[Dman8777]

Actually, the walmart spokeperson said no one factor made their decision not to build there.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

German unions bargain at an industry wide level, and the UAW did fine wiht Japanese management at NUMMI.

Only wages are bargained at an industry level, other issues are bargained at a company level. I wasn't holding up the German system as perfect or even something to aspire to. They still have 30% lower GDP per capita then we do. My point was that if you can get the incentives of management and labor aligned it's better for everyone.

Your example of the NUMMI plant only reinforces my point that it's the dynamic between labor and management, not just management that is the source of the problem. The workers were all reeducated in Japan and the relationship between management and the union was much different than in other GM plants.