Walmart Vs. Motorola - a Case Study

Wal-Mart vs. Motorola

Karen Parr

Johnathan Mewborn

Aarohi Patel

Loretta Moody

Michelle Poliseno

May 25, 2006

Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................3

Protecting the Land ...................................................................................3

Conserving Energy....................................................................................6

Managing Waste....................................................................................13

Recycling.............................................................................................15

References............................................................................................17

Wal-Mart vs. Motorola

When it comes to Wal-Mart, there are many responsible environmental policies. In the Wal-Mart policy, it covers energy, products and waste. Wal-Mart's goal is to conserve energy and resources required to operate a store, reduce raw materials needed for construction and renew materials used throughout the facility. Leaders and executives from every branch formed entrepreneurial teams focusing on areas like packaging, real estate, energy, raw material and electronics waste.

Motorola has a lot more environmental policies than Wal-Mart does. In the Motorola policy, they cover waste, emissions, energy and products. They have also received many awards for their environmental programs. In 1992, Motorola was the second electronics firm in the world to eliminate the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from their manufacturing processes. Their business goal is zero EHS-related fines and continuous improvement in the number of citations over previous years.

Wal-Mart and Motorola have many of the same environmental policies. However, Motorola has many more and is more actively into sticking with them. Motorola has less environmental problems than Wal-Mart does and has the awards to back them up. We will support our conclusions and recommendations with the information from each of the two companies. We will compare and contrast the pros and cons to determine our final decision on who has the most responsible environmental policy.

Protecting the Land

Wal-Mart and Motorola both have environmental policies committed to land conservation and preservation. Wal-Mart has over 4,000 stores worldwide that occupy a lot of land. Unfortunately, when you develop land by building structures, you disrupt soil, loose biodiversity, and create water runoff problems. Wal-Mart has committed to helping this environmental issue by developing some common-sense plans for selecting sites. They also use construction materials that have minimal effects on the land.

Wal-Mart has agreed to "conserve at least one parcel of priority wildlife habitat for every parcel developed over the next 10 years" (Wal-Mart). This will help reduce the effects of construction as well as protecting future developments. Wal-Mart's minimum total acres to be protected are 138,000 acres or $3.5 million. Wal-Mart's plan is partnered with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in the United States and is currently exploring doing the same internationally.

Motorola has more of a remedial policy. Motorola identified 10 current and former sites that were in need for environmental remediation. The remediation derived from legal activities that were in compliance with industrial standards. Motorola took appropriate actions to remediate as soon as environmental issues were identified. Currently, six sites have been remediated.

Motorola participates in the cleanup operations at non-Motorola sites that receive waste for disposal. They are involved with the U.S. EPS Superfund Program which has helped them participate in these cleanup efforts. Also, Motorola continues to pay for their share to clean up things that impact the environment if they have contributed to the problem in any way. Thy have reserved $70 million for any liabilities related to environmental issues that may occur.

The best technology available is used to ensure efficient and effective remediation. In 1993, Motorola implemented standards to review off-site disposal facilities. These standards are review periodically. "We perform due-diligence investigations to evaluate potential environmental risks at sites that we are planning to acquire, divest or lease" (Motorola). They have also developed action plans to resolve other issues.

So, in comparison Wal-Mart is actually different from Motorola. Wal-Mart takes measures to protect land and conserve land that they plan to develop; whereas, Motorola is dedicated to cleaning up the land they currently occupy or plan to occupy. Motorola also helps companies that dispose of their waste for them and ensure that these companies are also protecting the environment. Wal-Mart failed to mention if they help other companies in this manner. Both companies have plans to protect the land not only in the United States, but at other international locations as well.

Wal-Mart and Motorola are company's who like to expand and grow. Occasionally, they look the other way when the environment could suffer from it. Wal-Mart and Motorola both have different environmental policies. Big corporations look at site locations as stepping stones to something else, refusing to see the big picture. Environmental policies seem to hold little importance when it comes to building new Wal-Mart sites.

Wal-Mart builds many of its Super Centers on prime farm land and other pieces of land that are environmentally sensitive areas. Wal-Mart has had many documented cases of there construction sites not following Environmental Protection Agency rules. Wal-Mart did not use the proper methods for clearing the site for construction. When heavy rains pelted the sites, water carried tons of silt to the nearby rivers and streams, threatening not only the life within the waterways but also the drinking water of thousands of people (Robinson).

Motorola store