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118 Corporate Communications in Practice

(as opposed to professional models), apparently ordinary people including Wal-Mart
‘associates’, spouses, children, parents, pets, suppliers and customers, and devote an
inordinate amount of space to community-oriented and patriotic topics, delving in
places into philosophical monologues about American enterprise, friendly customer
service and other topics. The general public that is exposed to such flyers is, because
of its nostalgia and patriotism, likely to be favourably predisposed to them.

Stephen Arnold, a professor at Queens School of Business (Canada) and his
colleagues observed that the symbolic presentation of Wal-Mart might be different
from the objective reality. That is, Wal-Mart projects an innocent, homespun image
of a happy community involving vendor ‘partners’, associates and customers. The
extremely rich weave of cultural-moral symbols upon which this interpretation is
based, however, may have as much to do with Wal-Mart’s communications strategy
and its quest for legitimacy as it does with a true and profound community spirit. For
example, in lieu of the ‘vendor-partner’ persona, aspiring Wal-Mart suppliers wait
long periods before meeting a buyer and are then squeezed aggressively for the lowest
prices. And many goods, apparel in particular, do not display a ‘Made in the USA’
label and ‘Buy American’ signs are found situated embarrassingly on racks of
imported products. Furthermore, some have alleged that the goods are sourced at
overseas sweatshops and that the low prices are a consequence of child labour.
Newsgroups and websites have sprung up for disgruntled former Wal-Mart associ-
ates to vent their unhappiness (e.g. http://www.walmartworkerslv.com, http://
www.walmartsuck.com). Wal-Mart is regarded by some as a wolf in sheep’s clothing,
and its communications strategy, which is closely linked to its corporate mission and
has also successfully supported its low cost market strategy, may in such a view have
been the instrument for constructing and legitimizing the sheep’s costume.

Questions for reflection

1. What communications strategy has Wal-Mart followed? Would an alternative
strategy have been more successful?
2. Why has Wal-Mart been so successful on this account, while other large firms
with aggressive low cost market strategies have been subject to public scrutiny
and outrage?

4.4 Challenges and issues in communications strategy

The 1990s were dominated by a realization that the organizations and environments
of today’s global economy are very different than they were a generation ago. Stake-
holders, and not just publics or markets, are now crucial forces in an organization’s
environment, and appropriate strategies are needed for dealing with them. As in all
times of social and organizational change, the 1990s and early 2000s have witnessed a
great deal of discussion and debate about what such stakeholder strategies should
actually look like,and which professionals or functions within the organization should
be responsible for them (and thus effectively guide the strategic efforts of the organi-
zation as a whole). In this chapter I have made the case for the corporate communica-
tions function to take up such a strategic role and have outlined what communications
can contribute to the overall corporate strategy of an organization.