On the surface Wal-Mart is a place to buy cheap tube socks. But scratch that surface and the Bentonville, AR multi-national is a Goliath, with a steady stream of incoming rocks slung by a nation of Davids.
One of those highly organized group of Davids is Wal-Mart Watch.
The group recently got its hands on two Wal-Mart job listings for top-level PR positions, which they quickly provided to the New York Times.
One job includes “opposition research,” presumably into Wal-Mart’s major critics. The other requires the ability to “mobilize resources” during a “crisis situation.”
The two jobs reflect how much life has changed at Wal-Mart, which has come under withering criticism over its wages, health benefits and treatment of workers. The company barely had a public relations department in the early 1990’s, but now has a staff of dozens, including a public relations war room full of former political operatives who dispute the assertions of its opponents.
The job postings are being circulated by Crowe-Innes & Associates, an executive search firm.
And who can blame them, really. The problem is that Wal-Mart is playing catch up because for many years their critics, though vocal, weren’t hurting sales on tiny bit. So they did nothing about it.
But over time, the image has started to get a few nicks and dings and that costs money to repair. It also has begun to significantly hinder expansion plans.
I’m no fan of Wal-Mart as a company. But you do have to marvel at how well they’ve played the Capitalism game.