Having previously performed IT and financial analysis services for several years under one of WM’s primary product vendors, I can attest to the power of WM as an entity pushing down policy and directives to their suppliers. This is exactly how they are able to run so lean and keep their margins up while still pushing change. Don’t comply and they can make things really tough or even cut you off. Though, like “trans fat”, there is a LOT of PR “spin” involved here, if they push this out it’s likely to happen to some degree. Do any research on RFID and where it is today and you will find that much of the strong push was initiated by WM. Something to chew on at least.

Also, support should come like it does for silicon value start-ups: by public recognition of the value of the offered service and subsequent growing user base, not by building up a big alliance of organisation in advance of having a usable product.

Finally, however much Wal-Mart has appeared to change over the past five years, it is still a company whose primary concern is to sell more stuff, not to help sustainable business practice diffuse across the world. I can understand their motives, given the PR disasters of the past decade, but they as an organisation are inherently less genuine in this endeavour than if the initiative were spearheaded by a start-up.