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Wal-Mart is Coming
沃尔玛入侵
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (branded as Walmart) is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world's largest public corporation by revenue, according to the 2008 Fortune Global 500. The company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962, incorporated on October 31，1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. Wal-Mart is the largest private employer and the largest grocery retailer in the United States. It also owns and operates the Sam's Club retail warehouses in North America.
沃尔玛超市（隶属沃尔玛品牌）是一家美国的公营公司，营业模式为大型连锁折扣超市。根据2008年财富杂志全球500强的名单，沃尔玛是全球财政收人最多的企业。这家公司于1962年由山姆·沃尔顿创立，1969年10月31日注册，1972年在纽约证券交易所上市。沃尔玛是美国最大的私人雇主和最大的杂货零售商。该公司同时也拥有自己在北美的山姆俱乐部零售仓库。
On June 30，2008, Walmart unveiled a new company logo, featuring the non-hyphenated name "Walmart" followed by a stylized spark, as it is referred to on store advertisements. The new logo made its debut on the company's walmart.com website on July 1，2008. The new logo will eventually replace store logos at the company's US locations throughout the year. Wal-Mart Canada started to adopt the logo for its stores in early 2009.
2008年6月30日，沃尔玛公开了新的公司标志，完整的没有连字符的“Walmart”名称加上一个设计精美的火花图案，一如卖场广告上出现的标志。新标志于2008年7月1日在沃尔玛官网上首次出现。新标志将最终在今年之内代替之前在美国使用的旧标识。沃尔玛加拿大店在2009年上半年开始在卖场采用这个新标识。
Walmart operates in Mexico as Walmex, in the United Kingdom as Asda, and in Japan as Seiyu. It has wholly-owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and Puerto Rico. Wal-Mart's investments outside North America have had mixed results: its operations in South America and China are highly successful, while it was forced to pull out of Germany and South Korea when ventures there were unsuccessful.
沃尔玛在墨西哥叫作“沃玛”，在英国叫作“阿斯达”，而在日本叫作“西友百货”。在阿根廷、加拿大和波多黎各的沃尔玛都是完全独资。沃尔玛在北美以外地区的投资结果有好有坏：它在南美和中国的投资获得了巨大成功，然后在德国和韩国的投资则差强人意而被迫撤回。
Walmart has been criticized by some community groups, women's rights groups, grassroots organizations, and labor unions, specifically for its extensive foreign product sourcing, low rates of employee health insurance enrollment, resistance to union representation, sexism, and management efforts to pressure employees to vote for specific parties during national elections. Conversely, others point out that Wal-Marfs rapid growth and logistical efficiency has enabled it to bring lower prices to consumers and more low paying jobs.
沃尔玛屡屡受到一些社会团体、女权组织或是基层组织还有工会的批评。特别是针对其广泛的外国货源、员工较低的健康保险注册、对工会代表的拒绝、性别歧视和在大选时通过管理层施压使得员工为某一特定政党投票等。相反，其他人则指出沃尔玛迅速的发展以及有效的后勤运输才是使得他们能够为顾客提供低廉价格和为社会提供更多收入不高的工作职位的原因。
The company was incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31, 1969. In 1970，it opened its home office and first distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas. It had 38 stores operating with 1,500 employees and sales of $44.2 million. It began trading stock as a publicly held company on October 1, 1972, and was soon listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The first stock split occurred in May 1971 at a market price of $47. By this time, Wal-Mart was operating in five states: Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma; it entered Tennessee in 1973 and Kentucky and Mississippi in 1974. As it moved into Texas in 1975，there were 125 stores with 7,500 employees and total sales of $340.3 million.
这家公司在1969年10月31日注册为沃尔玛超市。1970年，在阿肯色州的Bentonville开设了自己的内务处理办公室和第一个物流配送中心。沃尔玛拥有38家超市，1500名员工和4420万美元的销售业绩。该公司作为一家公共控股公司，在1972年10月1日起开始买卖股票，不久之后便在纽约证券交易所上市。该公司第一次分股是在1971年的5月，当时每股的市场价为47美元。到那时为止，沃尔玛在5个州拥有业务：阿肯色州、 堪萨斯州、路易斯安那州、密苏里州和俄克拉荷马州。1973年沃尔玛开始进驻田纳西州，1974年进入肯塔基和密西西比市场。到1975年进人德克萨斯州为止，沃尔玛已经拥有125家分店，7500名员工和3.403亿美元的总营业额。
In the 1980s，Walmart continued to grow rapidly, and by its 25th anniversary in 1987 there were 1,198 stores with sales of $15.9 billion and 200,000 associates. This year also marked the completion of the company's satellite network, a $24 million investment linking all operating units of the company with its Bentonville office via two-way voice and data transmission and one-way video communication. At the time, it was the largest private satellite network, allowing the corporate office to track inventory and sales and to instantly communicate to stores. In 1988，Sam Walton stepped down as CEO and was replaced by David Glass. Walton remained as Chairman of the Board, and the company also rearranged other people in senior positions.
上个世纪80年代沃尔玛持续快速的增长，并且截止到1987年公司成立25周年之时已有1198间连锁店，营业额达到159亿美元并且拥有20万名合作伙伴。同年，该公司完成了卫星网络设置。这是一项2400万美元的投资，可以将该公司所有的分店通过双向音频和数据传输器和单向的视频交流，同其设在Bentonville的办公室连接起来。在当时这是最大的私有卫星网络，可以让办公室追查到存货清单和销售情况并立即反映给卖场。1988年，大卫·格拉斯接替山姆·沃尔顿出任该公司首席执行官。沃尔顿仍旧是董事会主席，并且该公司也将其他人安排在高位。
