The Green Room

Is Walmart more hype than reality?

By Walmart Green Room on March 30, 2012 Leave a comment

Solar panels on a Walmart in Marina, Calif.

Michelle Mauthe Harvey of the Environmental Defense Fund tackles a good subject today in GreenBiz. Are we at Walmart meeting our sustainability goals, or are we guilty of actually hyping empty efforts? Michelle assesses what has worked and what has not in Walmart’s push to become more sustainable and socially responsible.

Below is an excerpt and you can read the full story here.

Is Walmart more hype than reality? Having worked with Walmart since 2005, my colleagues and I at Environmental Defense Fund are often asking that question, stepping back from our day-to-day work to assess the reality of the world we encounter in Bentonville.

One way to view that question is through something called the Gartner Hype Cycle, a predictable cycle of public expectation and disappointment that accompanies many new ideas.  “Since virtually all innovations require time and experience to realize their real potential, it’s almost inevitable that reports of early experiences will disappoint us,” write Jackie Fenn and Mark Raskino in their 2008 book, Mastering the Hype Cycle. “Once the excitement starts to wane even slightly, the same…factors that drove the excitement upward now begin to drive it right back down again.”

So, is Walmart on an upward or downward trajectory? Is it moving towards a “trough of disillusionment,” or is it on a path to “enlightenment”?

Read more.