Governance : Walmart 2015 GRR

Approach to serving society

For Walmart, leading on social and environmental issues is an “entire company” undertaking that we pursue in collaboration with customers, suppliers, nonprofit organizations and governments around the world. For us, it’s more than just a matter of philanthropy. It’s woven into our day-to-day business activities, which helps us accelerate progress on the issues that matter most to our business, customers, communities and other stakeholders we serve.

We believe the following approaches help us accelerate progress on social and environmental challenges:

Lead through the business: We work to integrate the social and environmental agenda into our day-to-day business activities, including our leadership practices; our organization roles and structure; and our incentives, tools and processes.

Seek business as well as societal benefits: We believe the company will be most successful at, and able to sustain, social and environmental initiatives that create business value. For example, our energy efficiency and renewables projects help us reduce GHG and lower utility costs.

Use philanthropy to complement business initiatives: We extend our impact on social and environmental issues through philanthropy. During FY2015, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation contributed approximately $1.4 billion worldwide through cash and in-kind giving — drawing on our expertise in food, logistics and emergency operations to further our impact.

Prioritize actions that draw on Walmart capabilities: We focus on issues where we have a relative advantage in making a difference because of our particular capabilities. This includes our 2.2 million associates globally; supplier relationships; buying power in categories like food and apparel; physical assets; and capabilities in logistics, marketing, operations and merchandising.

Partner with others: Walmart and the Walmart Foundation search for organizations around the world that already have some relevant capabilities to accomplish one of our goals and work with them to provide the funding, resources or expertise they need to be successful.

We believe that every healthy, high-performing organization has an obligation to use its strengths to help society. In the long term, the business interests of a company and the interests of society converge. Governments, companies, communities and individuals — we’re all interdependent and stronger together.