Fast Company Book Club
This month's Readers' Choice Award selection

The Wal-Mart You Don't Know (p. 57)
FC Article

• As the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart's impact on retail is profound and inescapable. Yet it seems so unwelcome by many. Analyze the role of Wal-Mart in your community. Even if there isn't one nearby its influence exists in pricing and competitors' strategy. With allegations of using illegal immigrant labor, has Wal-Mart 'cheated' its way to the top?
• Oakland and other California communities are considering a pre-emptive strike against Wal-Mart by banning retailers over a certain size. Is this an effective or 'fair' way to fight back? Conversely, is it 'fair' that Wal-Mart is pressuring its top suppliers such as Pfizer and Procter & Gamble to install RFID tags before the end of the 2004?
• As America's largest private employes, is Wal-Mart's responsibiltiy to buy America goods or offer consumers lower prices? Discuss the company's shift from promoting itself as a seller of American goods to focusing overseas and squeezing supplier to lower prices.
• Discuss the trend of stores offering brand-exclusive items, such as Wal-Mart offering Levi's Signature jeans or Best Buy offering a Rolling Stones DVD. Does it draw you to the store?

This turkey really has legs (p. 102)
FC Article

Greenberg turkeys offer a slow-cooked smoked turkey in an age of farm-raised hormone-fed birds. Is Greenberg a full-fledged niche or part of a dying breed? Discuss the Slow Food movement, which aims to preserve the pleasure of certain culinary delights in a go-getter society. Discuss your group's favorite 'slow' foods and retail shops.

Daniel Richards contributed this month's Next Steps.

December 2003 Connexus | Flash Points | Next Steps

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