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Wal-Mart Buyers Up All Night In SARS Strategy
Forbes ^
| 4-28-03
Posted on 04/28/2003 1:17:05 PM PDT by Unwavering Conservative
Wal-Mart Buyers Up All Night In SARS Strategy
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Middle-of-the-night videoconferences are now the norm as Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Arkansas-based merchandise buyers work around SARS travel restrictions to purchase goods from China.
At an analyst meeting in New York on Monday, Wal-Mart's treasurer, Jay Fitzsimmons, said the illness had no "significant" impact on its Asian stores or supplies, but it was forcing employees of the world's biggest retailer to get a bit more creative.
"Buyers have to be up in the middle of the night for videoconferencing" with China-based suppliers, Fitzsimmons said. He added that suppliers were shipping samples to the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company because buyers were unable to check out some of the made-in-China merchandise in person.
The highly contagious Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome has infected some 5,510 people in nearly 30 countries, and has killed at least 331 people since the pneumonia-like illness broke out in China's Guangdong province late last year.
Wal-Mart's Chinese global sourcing office is in Guangdong province. Fitzsimmons said employees there were divided into three groups, who were working out of different locations in hopes of containing any possible SARS outbreak. They keep in touch by telephone, but have no face-to-face contact.
The retailer earlier this month temporarily banned employee travel to Asia due to SARS worries. Wal-Mart has 26 stores in China and 15 in Korea, and buys from many suppliers throughout the region for sale in its stores all over the world.
Employees returning to the United States from China, Singapore or Vietnam were asked to stay home for 10 days for an "observation period". Suppliers coming from the region have been asked not to come to Wal-Mart's offices.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Front Page News; News/Current Events
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To: Eaker; glock rocks; section9; Shooter 2.5; Nefertiti; DB
ping
To: Arkinsaw; Remole; RummyChick; Clara Lou; Ernest_at_the_Beach; mhking
ping
To: Howlin; AppyPappy; rwfromkansas; BrooklynGOP; goldstategop; StoneColdGOP
ping
To: Unwavering Conservative
At the very least, this is prudent.
5
posted on
04/28/2003 1:22:12 PM PDT
by
Howlin
To: Unwavering Conservative
Should all Chinese products be gamma ray sterilized before placed into inventory?
Who sneezed in that toy?
To: billbears
Ping. Pong. Singing Giddy's song. Her chief supporter buys from Guangdong.
7
posted on
04/28/2003 1:23:23 PM PDT
by
azhenfud
To: Unwavering Conservative
Ummm, I hadn't thought of this one until now: "Do you suppose the SARS virus can hitch a ride on Chinese goods shipped into Wal-Mart"? I'm betting it can.
8
posted on
04/28/2003 1:23:31 PM PDT
by
GingisK
To: GingisK
If SARS is as contagious as the news is saying it is, then it can.
Wal-Mart imports massive amounts of goods daily from Communist China.
To: Howlin
I agree.
To: SevenDaysInMay
All products from Comunist China should be sterilized through gamma ray.
If this SARS illness is as deadly as the news is saying it is, then our nation should take no chances.
To: azhenfud; billbears
Is Giddy a nick-name for Hillary Clinton?
To: Maceman; My2Cents; per loin; DJ88; Coleus; WhiskeyPapa
ping
To: GingisK
I think only if the secondary exposure is within 24 hours after initial contamination, products would then be considered "probable carriers". Over half of the incubation period would be exhausted in air travel from China to U.S. alone - and most products are container shipped. Leastwise, I'm hoping so....
14
posted on
04/28/2003 1:31:47 PM PDT
by
azhenfud
To: Unwavering Conservative
No, it's Liddy (Giddy) Dole....
15
posted on
04/28/2003 1:33:43 PM PDT
by
azhenfud
To: azhenfud; Howlin; SevenDaysInMay
Wal-Mart ships a lot of their stuff directly into their free trade zone in NorthWest Arkansas.
They receive a lot of their merchandise at that free trade zone via direct jumbo jet service from Communist China and other nations.
To: azhenfud
Okay.
Thanks for clarifying that.
To: azhenfud
Considering that just about everything comes over via boat, which means there's a delay from factory -> boatyard (in a sealed container), boatyard -> ship, ship -> sea, sea-> US, port -> customs, customs -> truck -> distro center, there's a pretty long delay.
I wouldn't think almost anything gets from china to the US in under 2-3 weeks, unless the rare instances where they send it by air.
To: SirAllen; Kevin Curry
ping
To: Unwavering Conservative
Yeah, I'm thinking the time required to container the cargo and load it, along with flight times to ship would exhaust the virus' lifespan.
20
posted on
04/28/2003 1:40:34 PM PDT
by
azhenfud
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