Utilitarianism:
Utilitarianism is founded on the idea of looking after the betterment of the greatest number of people.
However, Walmart employs about 1.5 million workers in the US and 825,000 of those are paid below the
poverty line. Despite the company’s world leading revenues, they focus more on satisfying the few
major shareholders and executives. For example, in 2013, $6.6Bn of the $17Bn profit was used to
reinstate capital into the company, whereas if that same sum were used on employee wages, hourly
rates could increase by $5.13 and would also improve productivity. This would be immensely helpful for
the workers who are trying to maintain a living for themselves and their families. This action shows that
Walmart does not look after the greatest amount of people and instead, usurps their rights for the
betterment of the few.
Deontology
Deontological focuses on the actions of the leader and his/her moral obligation and responsibilities to
do the right thing. Walmart abandoned the “heritage culture program” that was instated to help the
local farmers whose livelihoods the company had tremendously affected. Naturally, the morally right
thing to do would be to help them find ways to maintain a living, after recognizing that your actions hurt
others. However, Walmart failed to adhere to this deontological approach by abandoning the program
and leaving the farmers to fend for themselves. There were layers of failures in obligations such as 1)
aggressively expanding in their territories and taking them out of business and 2) giving them hope, only
to eventually abandon them.
Justice as fairness
Justice as a fairness approach recognizes that each person has equal rights to fundamental liberties, and
aims to provide the greatest benefit to the least-advantaged members of society. When Walmart
officials were accused of bribing their way into Mexico via payments and unethical relationships with
government representatives, this was not at all fair. Many under privileged hard-working Mexicans had
established business, which were taken out by Walmart. Not only did these people not have the same
connections and resources to exploit relationships in the government, but also, they were not provided
an opportunity to fairly compete. This incident is antithetical to this approach, which cherishes the idea
that all people – and all organizations should have the same rights and be given the same opportunities.
Therefore Walmart does not adopt these fairness principles proliferated by John Rawls, which states
that social and economic inequalities can exist only for the greatest benefit to the less advantaged.
