Jeff Jarvis makes a point I think might be relevant to some people in our bizarre little corner of the word. In today’s post Outboxed, Jarvis points out that Robert Greenwald is asking for contributors for his next movie, “Wal-Mart: The high Cost of Low Price”
Greenwald says about his project:
“WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight goliath. From a small business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.”
I think you get the picture.
Walmart is positioned by some as a behemoth, wholly unstoppable as it leaves carnage in its wake. But last month’s Business 2.0 magazine article, “How to Beat Wal-Mart,” shows exactly that. And in each case, the “how to” is serving the market.
In his post, Jeff Jarvis notes:
“By the way, I hate shopping in Walmart — the place scares me viscerally — but I don’t think it’s evil just because it’s big. I also have — stupidly, perhaps — avoided buying Walmart stock because I believe that in the history of retail — see department store chains of the past and see most any consumer electronics chain — there has always been a tipping point when a chain gets too big. Will that day come for Walmart? I think it will tip of its own weight. That’s just a guess but that’s why I don’t think Walmart (or Clear Channel or Microsoft) is an evil empire that needs to be toppled. The market takes care of that. “
That’s the great thing about a free market society; the market takes care of itself. If the market prefers one product or service over another, it’s not necessarily that the market is stupid or ill informed. It very well could be they are perfectly informed and have made up their mind what it is they prefer.
A product or service does not self-sustain; it requires voluntary support from human beings who make judgements about the value of that product or service. The interesting thing about people, though, is you generally cannot bend them against their will. Attempting to do so often has the complete opposite effect you may be trying for.
The market takes care of itself.
Now, whether you agree with the market is another thing entirely.
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One folly greater than excessive disdain for the market would be excessive faith in it.
–newmann
The Market only takes care of itself under certain conditions – one of those being perfect information. In economics this is usually taken to mean that in order for markets to operate effectively consumers need to know about the availability, quality, price, etc. of alternative products. If consumers don’t know about the alternatives then market forces can’t “take care of itself” because market participants can’t “vote with their feet” and go elsewhere.
It’s not a big stretch to suggest that Greenwald’s film is simply providing information – in this case about how Wal*Mart operates – in order for consumers to make fully informed choices about whether they want to shop there. Not shopping at Wal*Mart because of its exploitation of third-world workers is equally as valid a reason as not shopping there because you don’t like its products, customer service or price. It’s still a “market” choice – in this case the judgement about the “value” of the product includes judgement about how it has been produce and the side effects that has.
So the film could be seen simply as one way of the market becoming more efficient by improving the information available to consumers to help their choices.
Ian