Corporate Paradigms: Whole Foods Vs. Wal-Mart

On a drive through Boulder this morning I passed by one of the half dozen Whole Food Market grocery stores located in the Boulder/Superior area. I love Whole Foods. I think a shopping trip to Whole Foods is entertainment for the senses as well as a fun buffet of free snacks (ha!).

While Whole Foods seems to value such things as organic farming, humane animal husbandry, local products, recycling and sustainability, it’s also a publicly-owned company. It has a responsibility to its shareholder to uphold financial health and make a profit. But how does the typical American corporate growth paradigm of infinite financial growth change—if at all—with a company such as Whole Foods? Surely, I thought, it has to have a mission and vision statement that is—at least on the surface—more interested in employee contentment and sustainability than a company such as Wal-Mart. Right?

Well, let’s just see.

Here’s what I pulled from Whole Food’s website (wholefoods.com) in regards to their mission and vision:

Whole Foods On Growth and Profit:
"We earn profits every day through voluntary exchange with our customers. We know that profits are essential to create capital for growth, job security and overall financial success. Profits are the “savings” every business needs in order to change and evolve to meet the future. They are the “seed corn” for next year’s crop. We are the stewards of our shareholder’s investments and we are committed to increasing long-term shareholder value. As a publicly traded company, Whole Foods Market intends to grow. We will grow at such a pace that our quality of work environment, Team Member productivity and excellence, customer satisfaction, and financial health continue to prosper. "

Whole Foods’ Mission
"Our motto — Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet — emphasizes that our vision reaches far beyond just being a food retailer. Our success in fulfilling our vision is measured by customer satisfaction, Team Member excellence and happiness, return on capital investment, improvement in the state of the environment, and local and larger community support."

Here’s what I pulled from Walmart’s website (www.walmart.com) about their view on sustainability:

Wal-Mart on Sustainability
"At Wal-Mart, we know that being an efficient and profitable business and being a good steward of the environment are goals that can work together. Our environmental goals at Wal-Mart are simple and straightforward: To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain our resources and
the environment."


In fact, I found many, many articles and fact sheets touting Wal-Mart’s record of diversity in employment, charitable giving, how they’re converting 14 So Cal stores to solar technology, how Sam’s Club is “going green”, how it’s working on all sorts of personal sustainability and corporate sustainability projects, including zero-waste initiatives, sustainable textiles and materials, etc.

On the surface, if you were a person who was born yesterday and didn’t know the different between Wal-Mart and Whole Foods, you would think that Wal-Mart was the leader in all kinds of sustainable and progressive practices. Whole Foods would just seem like a second-rate sustainability wanna-be.

So why do so many of us environmentalists hate Wal-Mart? Sounds like we should be embracing them with open arms…and wallets.

Is it possible that we have had the wrong idea all this time? Hmmm…I’m skeptical. Afterall, in their “story” they also are very proud of the fact that they have built 1,400 stores nationwide and that customer value, or MORE FOR LESS MONEY (not quality, or sustainability) is a “basic value” of the corporation.

I’m not surprised that Wal-Mart website displays so many articles and fact sheets about what a good steward of the environment. They have to back-peddle considerably after all the negative press they’ve received in the media in the last five years. They have been criticized for not paying their employees enough, for being stingy with benefits, for buying cheap overseas products made by companies that compete with American products, and for funding industrialized agriculture.

I’m sorry, but I am not convinced that Wal-Mart has changed it’s paradigm from financial growth for the sake of profits, to growth in employee satisfaction and environmental stewardship.

Here’s what the website states as their 2008 Fiscal Growth Plan:
“WM announced its commitment to continued growth. Global square footage is expected to increase approximately 7.5 percent in fiscal 2008…(it) plans to open more than 600 new locations in the United States and around the world…”

Nothing in there about their goals for better employee compensation and satisfaction, nothing about better sustainability, nothing about putting profits back into taking more stores off the power grid instead of building new ones, nothing about supporting local agriculture or the local economy (other than supplying a bunch of $7.50 an hour jobs to thousands of people).

While I don’t think Whole Foods is perfect either, because they are a public company and they still suffer from having to work with the current growth and profit paradigm, I would much rather spend my $100 a week at a store where at least I can taste food that was grown 10 miles away, where the employees seem happy to be there, and where I don’t have to worry about checking labels for “Made in China” or chemical additives.