Wal-Mart sets an agenda of social change

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Wal-Mart offers big price cutsUS retail sales surge as economy stabalisesJuly US retail sales lack bounce

: 2008, four times the number filled last year. Such prescriptions are considered safer than traditional handwritten doctors’ notes, which can be misread by pharmacists, leading to medical errors, experts said. And the chain said it would provide electronic health records to all of its US employees and their family members by the end of 2010. These are intended to give doctors a full survey of a patient’s medical history.

On energy, Scott said Wal-Mart would work with suppliers of televisions, air conditioners and microwave ovens with the goal of making them 25% more energy efficient within three years. “We do not know exactly how we will get there,” Scott conceded.

Finally, he committed Wal-Mart to creating a more socially and environmentally conscious network of suppliers. He called on other major retailers to join a global network of retailers and consumer goods companies, led by a Paris organisation known by the initials CIES, which is developing socially conscious manufacturing standards.