Principles of Business Management
Dole Food Company, Big
Lots, & Walmart
Benchmarch Project
Sunni Campbell
2011
Company Research
Dole Food Company, Inc. (DOLE) is a subsidiary of Dole Holding Corporation, LLC. It a small business that
employs 37,600. This corporation, based in Westlake Village , California, distributes and markets fresh
fruit, veggies and packaged goods. It was founded in 1851 and has grown to be a mass distributor to
supermarkets and merchandisers around the world.(Dole Profile) The company traces its origin to the
1851 establishment of Castle & Cooke by missionaries Samuel Northrup Castle and Amos Starr Cooke.
Castle & Cooke rapidly became one of the largest companies in Hawaii, investing in shipping, railroad
construction, sugar production, and seafood packing. That is why Dole today uses the name Duo for
their juices. (Wikipedia) Issues involving Dole lately include an outbreak in 2005, where 23 people in
Minnesota were sickened with E. coli. The source of the bacteria was found to be Dole brand bagged
lettuce. Then in 2006, another E. coli outbreak that caused over 200 people to become ill and killed 3
more was linked to bagged spinach sold by Dole.
Big Lots, Inc., a corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as a broad line closeout retailer in the
United States. Big Lots is a closeout Retail Company that offers products under various merchandising
categories, which include consumables, home, and furniture products; along with electronics, home
maintenance and jewelry, toys and apparel. As of January 30, 2010, Big Lots is currently operating 1,361
stores in 47 states. (Yahoo Finance) The company was founded in 1967 when Consolidated Stores
Corporation was formed in Ohio by Sol Shenk. (Wikipedia)
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. operates retail stores in various formats worldwide. This corporation, the largest
retail company in the world, provides a huge variety of goods to consumers from food, household
goods, cosmetics, electronics, apparel and pharmaceutical goods. As of January 31, 2010, it operated
803 discount stores, 2,747 supercenters, 158 neighborhood markets, and 596 Sam’s Clubs in the United
States. Internationally stores can be found in several South America countries along with the United
Kingdom and China. The company was founded in 1945 and is based in Bentonville, Arkansas. (Yahoo
Finance) Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart began this chain as Waltons 5&10 which grew to 11 stores
by 1960 at which point he renamed the business Wal-Mart with the help of his assistant, Bob Bogle.
(Wikipedia)
Ethics and Social Responsibility
Dole participates in several environmental programs such as energy conservation and recycling
programs which are in place in Sweden. Cardboard recycling is equivalent to the amount of raw
material from 3,200 trees on a yearly basis. Plastic recycling during 2007 resulted in over 50 tons of
hard and soft plastic being recycled. Organic waste from fruits and vegetables is treated via
composting into topsoil. The program results in a volume of more than 40 truckloads of fresh topsoil
each year. Banana waste from the facility in Stockholm is used to produce biogas. The gas is now mainly
used for vehicle fuel. In Latin America Dole operates a plastic recycling microfinance company called
Recicla which is owned and operated by 60 mostly single mothers and their dependents. (Dole)
Honduras, Costa Rica and Ecuador are all committed and involve in plastic recycling programs.
Dole also has several employee programs to provide health and financial benefits to it employees.
There is also many community programs such as adopt-a –school program to provide assistance to over
40 schools in the Philippines. Dole also has nutrition and chairitable giving programs around the world
as well.
Mission Statement
As a foundational value of Dole Food Company, Corporate Social Responsibility shapes the beliefs,
actions and decisions we take to treat all Dole employees with dignity and respect.
To this end, we pay special attention when it comes to safeguarding Dole employee health, providing
competitive wages and benefits, honoring rights for collective representation, enhancing and
empowering our communities and protecting the environment in which we work and live.
Dole has also received several awards over the past decade that include Fortune’s 50 Best Companies
for Minorities in 2002, Dole was ranked among the top ten companies in the American Consumer
Satisfaction Index in the food processing sector that year as well and “Outstanding Corporation” in 2006.
These are to name a few. (Dole)
Big Lots, Inc. does support a code of business conduct and ethics that covers a wide range of business
principles to guide all involved with the company. It covers compliance with law, rules and regulations,
conflicts of interest, insider trading, corporate opportunities, competition and fair dealing, gifts and
entertainment, record keeping, confidentiality, protection and proper use of company assets, waivers of
code of business and conduct ethics, reporting any illegal or unethical behavior, human resource policy,
and compliance procedure. (Big Lots, Inc.)
Walmart uses its statement of ethics from its CEO, Mike Duke, "Walmart started out with a single
discount store in Northwest Arkansas and in less than 50 years grew to become the world’s largest
retailer, with thousands of stores and clubs and millions of associates. Our culture of ethics and integrity
has been a constant throughout that transformation. From the beginning, it has defined who we are as a
company, and how we as associates treat each other, our suppliers and our customers." To introduce
you to the types of attitudes and conduct that create an honest, fair, and legal workplace. You’re going
to learn how to recognize situations that might come up on your job that could be a violation of our
company ethics. (Walmart )
At Walmart Global Sourcing, we're dedicated to giving back to the communities and neighborhoods we
live and work in. Last year our associates around the world set up Walmart's Global Care program. Since
then, over 1,000 Global Sourcing associates from 19 countries and 22 offices participated in our various
Global Care projects. They volunteered tens of thousands of hours to make a difference in the
communities and lives of those in need. (Walmart )
Walmart has been known to be involved in many unethical practices such as frequent violator of wage
and hour laws, now finds itself defending its labor practices in legal battles across the nation. Wal-Mart
is currently facing more than 80 lawsuits alleging that employees were forced to work off the clock and
skip lunch and rest breaks while management manipulated time and wage records in order to keep
labor costs down. Nationally, 64% of workers in companies of 5,000 employees or more receive their
health benefits from their employer. However, Wal-Mart typically covers only around 50% of its
employees. Wal-Mart typically pays its sales associates, cashiers, team leaders, and overnight stockers
26-37% less than the national average for the same jobs in the retail industry. In 2001, the
Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department fined Wal-Mart for violating newly adopted
standards for storm water runoff. In 2004, Wal-Mart faced fines for violations of environmental laws in
nine states and paid the government $400,000 to settle claims that it had violated air pollution
regulations in eleven states. (IQ Unions )