Former Wal-Mart COO Don Soderquist Discusses Mexican Bribery Scandal
by May 17, 2012 5:33 am 175 views
Don Soderquist, former Wal-Mart Stores Chief Operating Officer and current founding executive of the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics, offered thoughts on the latest scandal rocking the Bentonville-based retail giant.
Soderquist spoke at this week's “Doing Business in Bentonville” meeting, a networking group in northwest Arkansas. In his remarks, he offered his thoughts on the alleged bribery scandal involving Walmart leadership and its rapid growth in Mexico.
Julie Bagley reports for The City Wire:
“In times like this, it's good for reflection. Personal opinion, I believe Wal-Mart will have more resolve in the future as to maintaining the culture,” said Soderquist.
Soderquist was known
as the “keeper of the culture” after founder Sam Walton died.
“I know the leadership well and how they think. I look back when we had difficult times and was in the newspapers and look back when those were times of resolve,” said Soderquist.
As corporate scandals have evolved in the last 15 years, he has reflected on his time as chairman and told the room full of business leaders that corporate leadership at Bentonville-based Wal-Mart never talked about “what we could do to numbers.”
“You will see a better Wal-Mart with tightening controls,” Soderquist predicted. “However, I don't think it is going to have a significant impact on Wal-Mart business or you people here.”
Read more of Soderquist's thoughts here.