There are many ways to measure a company's size．WalMart still trails General Electric and Microsoft in stock value．Nevertheless, the company displays unrivaled reach．Besides being the world's largest retailer overall, it sells more groceries, toys, and jewelry than any other U.S．chain.
But increasingly, the success and spread of WalMart is generating a backlash(强烈反应) of criticism．For example, while WalMart didn't invent sprawl(无限制扩张), it has taken it to its logical conclusion．It is moving from large discount stores to even larger supercenters where shoppers can buy briefs, bean sprouts, and big screen TVs all under the sane roof.
'Personally, I can't hear shopping in them,' says Roberta Gratz, coauthor of a book about the rebirth of downtown shopping areas．'There's a definite indication out there that people are bored with the sameness of the mall atmosphere.' Mr．Norman, who was dubbed 'the advocate of the antiWalMart movement', successfully kept WalMart from locating in his hometown of Greenfield, Mass．Now, several dozen antisprawl groups are trying to do the same around the country.
Just as worrying to some is WalMart's impact on workers' earnings．As the world's largest private employer—more than 1.2 million at last count—WalMart is hardly a pacesetter in boosting people's takehome pay．Union officials claim the company typically pays its workers $2 an hour less than unionized supermarket employees．Nearly twothirds of its workers don't participate in the company's health plan, they add, because of high insurance premiums(费) and huge deductibles.
That's quite a change from the justended era when GM and Exxon stood at the top of the corporate heap．They paid solidly mid dieclass wages．WalMart illustrates the' er of what happens when wellpaid industrial jobs give way to lowpaid service positions.
If measured in terms of trade volume, ______.