Walmart

As much as reputation leaders (most frequently the senior communicator, chief marketing officer or the head of business strategy) would like to be able to tell CEOs and board members that everything is under control, the fact is when it comes to stakeholder relationship management, everything is not under control. Although most companies agree that reputation management is important, relatively few have figured out what to do about it.

Building on Walmart's commitment to purchase an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made products over the next 10 years, Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announce that three suppliers have made new domestic manufacturing commitments that will create 385 jobs.

This follows Walmarts announcement in September to move 35,000 associates from temporary to part time and another 35,000 associates from part time to full time by the end of the year.

Earlier this week,Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. President and CEO Mike Duke assuredinvestors Walmart will win no matter what environment it's in. "When you go to our stores, you're going to see fantastic new merchandise, aggressive investments in price through lots of rollbacks and better in-stock levels. We're focusing on execution to deliver results." Here's a review of progress that's been made and Walmart's plans for the future.

The insights gained are expected to benefit Walmart and consumer products manufacturers and further contributes to the firm's mission to simplify and improve the way analytics is conducted within the industry.

The world's reigning retailer expects online sales to exceed $10 billion globally this fiscal year, and will open two large fulfillment centers to allow customers to shop seamlessly across online, mobile and stores. But will these steps enable the company to compete head-to-head with its largest online competitor?

Walmart launches getontheshelf.walmart.com, asking the public to decide which new products from American entrepreneurs will appear on its shelves this fall.

Nearly 1,500 government officials and suppliers convened at the recentWalmart U.S. Manufacturing Summitto advance American renewal in manufacturing. The event underscored Walmarts commitment to buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made productsover the next 10 years and featured announcements from suppliers that, combined, are expected to create more than 1,000 domestic jobs.