Wal-Mart operates more than 4,400 discount stores throughout the United States. The company reported sales of $256 billion and employed 1.4 million people in fiscal 2003. The mega-corporation is the largest employer in the world.  If it were an independent nation, it would be China’s eighth-largest trading partner. In its efforts to become the world’s largest retailer, the company has encounter many criticisms for its human rights violations, racial and gender discrimination, and its disregard for workers, among many other issues.

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