Doug McMillon, president and CEO of Walmart International, answered questions from reporters Thursday about the Mexico bribery scandal recently unveiled by The New York Times.
McMillion spoke to reporters in an afternoon Q-and-A session at the Embassy Suites in Rogers.
On the Federal Corruption Practices Act (FCPA) investigation and efforts to strengthen Walmart’s anti-corruption program to approve new stores, McMillon said:
“FCPA compliance and compliance in general are very serious issues, and treating them as such. We are not going to tolerate a lack of compliance in any country around the world, or any level in the company. As it relates to the investigation that’s ongoing we are committed to it being independent and thorough. Relative to compliance we are seizing the opportunity to get stronger in compliance, including FCPA, and to include other areas, for example food safety in China is important. A moment like this causes you to be on your toes and to get stronger.
“I am not expecting any impact on new store growth, we’ll see — only time will tell.”
On the mood at the company, McMillon said:
“Our reaction has been to look for places where we can get stronger and to remind everyone in our business that integrity is a core value of the company. We have 8,000 associates and reaching all of them, to them to let them know what our core values, we want them to take ownership in their business and ensure them and fellow associates and colleagues are doing the right thing. If they need resources we have an open door policy, where they can raise issues with manager, or if not comfortable with open door, they can use our ethics hotline and websites to resolve issues. So the reaction from our country presidents is to say is let me look in my own area of responsibility and find places to become better. We are using this as opportunity to become a stronger company, and that’s what we are in the process of doing.”
The transcript above was provided by Jacqueline Froelich, senior news producer at KUAF Public Radio 91.3fm in Fayetteville.
