Can a company change how it does business?

They sure can! I see it all the time - in small businesses. But what if the company is the largest of the large: Wal-Mart? I written about Wal-Mart before (see here and here), including a recent post about the man who said 'no' to Wal-Mart (see here).

The Fast Company Blog will have a guest host blogger this week, who will have a series of posts on Wal-Mart. Why? Wal-Mart is adding a couple of positions that have gotten them quite a bit of attention recently: 1) The Director of Global Ethics will be responsible for "ensuring that ethics is embedded into key business processes."; and 2) the Senior Director of Stakeholder Engagement will "help pioneer a new model of how Wal-Mart works with outside stakeholders resulting in fundamental changes in how the company does business." The first post, definitely worth the time to read, can be found here.

As the guest blogger correctly points out, it seems like Wal-Mart is beginning to think about something other than just price. Will the regular shoppers notice much difference? Doubt it. Will the folks who don't like Wal-Mart begin to change their minds? Probably not. But it is a good start for the company many consider to the destroyer of small-town businesses. We'll see where it all leads.

In the meantime, follow along this week's conversation about Wal-Mart on the Fast Company Blog.