walmartSimilar to what Sara Lee did a few months ago, Wal-Mart is working closely with suppliers to make sure that they have ample financing.  Recognizing that if a supplier (or several) were to fail their own costs would rise, Wal-Mart is working closely with their value chain partners to make sure that doesn’t happen, especially in light of the recent bankrupty of CIT Group, a major supplier of financing to small/medium businesses.  You might even look at this as Wal-Mart creating a new value chain connecting its suppliers of merchandise with its suppliers of cash (Wells Fargo and Citibank).

Wal-Mart helps apparel suppliers secure financing. Nicole Maestri and Lisa Baertlein. Reuters. Fri Nov 13, 2009 4:35pm EST