Interdisciplinary Symposia
Spring 2007
"Is Wal-Mart Good for America?"
This pair of related programs brought together faculty and students in Business, Anthropology, and Sociology to consider the question: Is Wal-Mart good for America?
Students prepared for the first event by watching the film Is Wal-Mart Good for America? and responding to specific prompts devised by the faculty. Pedagogically, the idea was to encourage the full exploration of a variety of perspectives and possible answers to that question before students adopted particular viewpoints and represented those viewpoints in a discussion among the three courses. Following the preparation period, students joined together over pizza for a lively discussion in which students spoke up for the interests of various  constituencies with different answers to the question. Students responded as representatives of corporate culture, investment stakeholders, Chinese factory workers, hometown business-owners, dedicated shoppers, American workers dislocated by Wal-Mart manufacturing practices, and the environment.
For the second event, students read, whole or in parts, Charles Fishman’s The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works--and How It's Transforming the American Economy (Penguin (Non-Classics); reprint edition (December 26, 2006) and then attended a lecture and question and answer session with the author.
Faculty: Sarah Dempsey, Sociology; Nick Didow, Kenan-Flagler School of Business; Matthew Hull, Anthropology
Classes involved:
ANTH 055 [006E]: The Modern Corporation: From the English East India Company to Wal-Mart
Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS) [GC Social Science]
Matthew Hull
Corporations have emerged as the dominant governance institutions on the planet. The largest among them reach into virtually every country in the world and exceed most governments in size and power. While corporations are characters in the larger stories of industrialization and capitalism, this seminar will emphasize the specific features of public corporations and their historical and contemporary relations to individuals, states, families, ethnic and racial groups, and other social actors. How did corporations emerge? How are they controlled and by whom? Under what circumstances do they exercise military force? How do we participate in them as consumers, employees, and stockholders, and what are the conflicts among these forms of participation? What rights should corporations have? How should we engage them as citizens? We will examine these questions with reference to corporate activities in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, with particular emphasis on the greatest early joint stock corporation, the English East India Company, and today's largest corporation, Wal-Mart.
COMM 082: Globalizing Organizations
Communication Intensive (CI); Global Issues (GL); Social & Behavioral Science/Other (SS)
Sarah Dempsey
"Globalization" is both a hotly contested subject and a central part of contemporary life. In this course, we explore the communication issues that arise within international contexts. Through the analysis of readings and films, we will delve into the contentious debates surrounding globalization and explore the ethical and social issues that arise within global forms of communicating and organizing. The objectives of this course include increasing your awareness and understanding of (1) multinational corporations and global labor flows, (2) international nongovernmental organizations, (3) multilateral lending institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary fund, and (4) transnational advocacy networks and social movements. Course requirements include writing an essay in which you reflect upon your own participation in a globalized world and conducting an individual analysis paper in which you examine the communication dimensions and ethical impacts of a global organization of your choosing.
BUSI 006E: Behind the Scenes: The World Through Marketing Eyes
GC Social Science
Nick Didow
Marketing is all around us, yet few of us think very deeply about what goes on behind the scenes in marketing. In this seminar, we'll explore our everyday world through a marketer's eyes. Our goal will be to achieve a real and practical understanding of the basics of marketing, both as a management tool and as a force in our society. We'll start with the basics. What is marketing? What role does it play in modern organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit? How do marketing managers think? What makes for a good marketing strategy and what tactical tools bring such a strategy to life? How does marketing benefit consumers. How does it harm them? Then, we'll apply these basics to dig deeply into the marketing activities of familiar companies and important marketing issues. We'll examine and develop behind-the-scenes stories that reveal the drama of modern marketing. Beyond the text and other reading assignments, students will adopt specific companies and marketing issues that interest them, research these companies and issues in depth, and develop their own marketing stories to share with the class.
|
