October 26, 2006

 

Springfield OH- What would you do if you had the opportunity to meet a famous author? The evening started for four management majors, Zack Bitzer, Tricia Wendt, Tara Hervas, and Bryan Vehonsky, and two faculty members Professor Schindler and Dr. Wendy Gradwohl with a meet and greet with Charles Fishman and dinner at the Presidents Erickson’s house. The president, his wife, faculty, students and members of the Leventhal Family, who sponsored the lecture, gathered around four tables. Discussion about Wal-Mart could be heard from every table.

Charles Fishman, an award-winning investigative reporter and magazine journalist, spent 3 years researching and investigative Wal-Mart and its effect on the world. Fishman, who received his BA from Harvard University in 1983, began his career at the Washington Post, where he was assigned full-time to the team investigating the space shuttle Challenger disaster. Fishman won a Gerald Loeb Award for his distinguished business journalism. In 2004 Fishman’s story “The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know,” won best business magazine story of the year from the New York Press Club.

The campus wide lecture which followed the dinner was an eye opening experience for the audience. Many students left that Fishman shared many interesting statistics about Wal-Mart but the lecture left them with unanswered questions. Margaret Zmrazek ‘07, a senior management major, stated that she “wanted more of an argument from Fishman and wanted him to take a position.” Another student Ellie Stonecash ‘08 agreed that Fishman lecture was not fulfilling and stated “he presented a problem but he did not give any solutions.”

Although some students were not satisfied with the lecture there were some statistics that they found incredibly interesting. “Wal-Mart sells as much merchandise by St. Patrick’s Day as Target does all year,” was one of the facts that stuck out to Alison Stalzer ‘08.  Fishman was able to show Wal-Marts size with many of his quotes. Joe Karl ‘07, a management major, agreed that he said “he had a lot of good points and he put them into perspective so we could understand them like when he talked about getting 7 free weeks of groceries if you grocery shop at Wal-Mart.”

“Fishman made me realize that Wal-Mart is just better at what they do,” Adam Boggs ‘07, a management major stated. This was a common opinion when the lecture was over. Whether people agreed or disagreed with Fishman or Wal-Mart the lecture relayed to the audience the power and influence that Wal-Mart has on every American.  

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Tara Hervas ‘07