How the world's largest retailer influences your industry. Corporate Goliath or consumer-friendly retail outlet? Always low prices, or always low wages? When it comes to Wal-Mart, there seems to be no middle ground. The world's largest retailer, with$258 billion in sales last year, also became America's largest food retailer in 2002. Nearly 40 percent of the company's sales are now grocery sales, and that means Wal-Mart's influence — good or bad, depending on your view — will have a dramatic effect on how you raise pigs, make cheese or process beef. A simple online news search for Wal-Mart yields more than 15,000 articles — and that's just for one month. Newspapers are saturated with stories of Wal-Mart's economic impact on communities, employeewages and working conditions, health care and expansion. But Wal-Mart also sells $5.3 billion in fresh meats each year, Ken Stettmeier, head of Wal-Mart's fresh-meats department, told a group of Kansas cattlemen earlier this year. (Wal-Mart declined tobe interviewed.)
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