ABSTRACT
The largest merchandizing firms in the United States and also in the world play a leading role in the world economy. In 2015, the two largest—Walmart and Costco–were followed by Kroger, Walgreens, Tesco, Carrefour, Amazon, Metro Group, Home Depot, and Target. Walmart is a merchandising firm, which means that their main task is to purchase goods from other suppliers and manufacturers, and then resell them in a retail store. Walmart invites suppliers to come to Bentonville, Arkansas or negotiation centers in Asia to bargain about the prices of the goods that suppliers would like to sell to Walmart. Foreign employees of the subcontractors that Walmart uses are subject to constant human rights violations that the company supposedly corrects, but which they constantly tolerate. Amazon is similar in some ways to Walmart except for the fact that all of their operations are online. Walmart, Costco, and Amazon provide a strong contrast in their implementation of lean production.
