Wednesday, April 14, 2004
ARE THEY ALL THE SAME?
Evidently not.
"Last month, The Wall Street Journal compared Wal-Mart with Costco, another large retailer and grocer. It pointed out that Costco, in contrast to Wal-Mart, "is held up as a retailer that does it right, paying well and offering generous benefits" to employees.
Costco draws criticism from Wall Street for sharing its success with its employees, reported the Journal. "Public companies need to care for shareholders first," said a Wall Street analyst critical of Costco, noting that Costco stock traded at only 20 times earnings compared with Wal-Mart's 24 times. "Costco runs its business like it is a private company," sniffed this critic.
To that, Costco President and CEO Jim Sinegal replied, "I happen to believe that in order to reward the shareholder in the long term, you have to please your customers and workers."
Two different philosophies: One leads to the Waltons, the sheiks of Arkansas, by holding workers' salaries and benefits to bare minimums. The other allows workers to share in the profits of their company. Costco pays its workers about $5 an hour more compared to Wal-Mart and has about twice as many workers covered by company health care. "
posted by chuckago@yahoo.com
Evidently not.
"Last month, The Wall Street Journal compared Wal-Mart with Costco, another large retailer and grocer. It pointed out that Costco, in contrast to Wal-Mart, "is held up as a retailer that does it right, paying well and offering generous benefits" to employees.
Costco draws criticism from Wall Street for sharing its success with its employees, reported the Journal. "Public companies need to care for shareholders first," said a Wall Street analyst critical of Costco, noting that Costco stock traded at only 20 times earnings compared with Wal-Mart's 24 times. "Costco runs its business like it is a private company," sniffed this critic.
To that, Costco President and CEO Jim Sinegal replied, "I happen to believe that in order to reward the shareholder in the long term, you have to please your customers and workers."
Two different philosophies: One leads to the Waltons, the sheiks of Arkansas, by holding workers' salaries and benefits to bare minimums. The other allows workers to share in the profits of their company. Costco pays its workers about $5 an hour more compared to Wal-Mart and has about twice as many workers covered by company health care. "
posted by chuckago@yahoo.com
