How important is business ethics and social responsibility to a?

[Jozeph]

How important is business ethics and social responsibility to a
companies success?

Do you think Walmart acts responsibilty given it size as the largest
retailer in the world?

What actions can local companies take to demonstrate good business ethics?

[Shizam]

Walmart is successful in the sense that it is able to capitalize on our need to get the bigger better deal. Walmart's advertising focuses entirely on the deal you're getting, but the trick is that only certain things are sold below that of other retailers, and everything else in the store is of the same price as another retailer (for example, target or zellers). But, the store is a superstore, which gives the buyer the impression that all the deals can be found there, that it is "one stop shopping" which appeals to people because people are often overworked and don't want to spend time on shopping. It's a clever idea, really.
And because people fall for this, other smaller retailers lose out and often go into bankruptcy. So, in my opinion, Walmart is a big blue beast, a huge corporation that is eating up the opportunities of smaller businesses in the labor market.
Additionally, I rarely shop at the big blue beast. If I do shop there, I have a specific list in mind, so I only buy what actually is a good bargain.

[Neil]

I think it's a complicated subject and there are many different points of view, depending on whose side you're on.
In any case, who is in a position to decide for sure.  Right and wrong are relatives, no absolutes.
You might like to try Affiliate Marketing because there are thousands of different programs available for every conceivable type of product, whether online or physical.
Yes, of course, you need to know what you're doing or you'll go wrong, but there's plenty of good education available these days and various software tools to help you succeed.  One thing I would recommend, though, is that you don't try too many different marketing approaches at the same time.  Just learn the steps, proceed with caution, monitor results and tweak your approach where necessary until you get results you're looking for.
I've come across an article which may well prove useful to you and there's  plenty of useful information on this website to give you to give you more than enough food for thought.
Hope this helps
Regards
Neil