Jeffrey Pfeffer

Wal-Mart is seriously committed to environmental sustainability, both as a company and throughout its supply chain.  It boasts of a redesigned milk jug that saves delivery trips and reduces cost.  Meanwhile, studies show that the company pays less than other retailers and, as a consequence, its employees make greater use of public health and welfare programs.  Water supplies in California have been curtailed so that there will be enough flow in rivers to permit salmon to spawn, and when fish get killed going through the generating turbines in dams, there is pressure to do something.  While there are environmental impact reports required for construction projects to avoid endangering habitats and ensuring, to the extent possible, environmental sustainability, companies can lay people off with just some notification—no “human impact” analyses required.

Here we go again.  Last week United Airlines apparently re-started consideration of a merger with U.S. Air—something contemplated a few years ago.  As usual, the media largely parroted the “explanation” for airline mergers—economies of scale, the fact that airlines continue to lose money, and the idea that by combining operations, things would improve.