Wal-Mart’s rise to become one of the most successful business franchises in American history can be seen as either a Cinderella story...

From its inception, The Wall Street Journal has provided reliable information for investors. It has become the quintessential source for specific facts as well as detailed studies of companies and industries.

Wall Street is considered by many to be the financial center of the world. It is both an actual center of financial activity and a symbol of that activity.

The daughter of former slaves, Walker became the first female millionaire in the United States by developing and marketing hair-care products for African American women.

Wages are a major component of business costs, and wage policy is an important tool for management.

Wrongful discharge occurs when an employee is terminated for a reason other than JUST CAUSE. The concept of wrongful discharge is one of the results of the development of the concept of EMPLOYMENT-AT-WILL. Most employee/employer relationships are “at will,” meaning that either party can terminate the relationship at any time and for any reason.

The World Wide Web (WWW) is a system that connects computer networks around the world. Software engineer Tim Berners-Lee is credited with the creation of the Web through the application of hypertext to networked computers.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the major global organization involved in negotiating, establishing, and resolving international trade rules and disputes. In 1995 the WTO replaced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which was created at the end of World War II to reduce TRADE BARRIERS through multilateral negotiations.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an agency of the United Nations charged to promote INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY rights worldwide. Intellectual property rights are “works of the mind,” including inventions, designs, books, music, and films; TRADEMARKs, COPYRIGHTs, and PATENTs are all considered intellectual property.

The World Bank is a joint effort of 180 member countries to provide development assistance to more than 100 developing “client” countries. In the countries where it operates, the World Bank uses a combination of strategic poverty-reduction measures and LOANS to promote health, education, social development, environment protection, institutional development, and governmental self-reliance.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was a federal program created during the GREAT DEPRESSION, a time of severe UNEMPLOYMENT, that was intended to stimulate the economy and boost morale by paying unemployed laborers and artisans to do useful projects.

See LABOR FORCE.

Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system developed by the government in response to serious societal problems that occurred with the significant rise in the number of workers injured in industrial settings.

The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) requires employers covered by the act to provide 60-day advance notice of large-scale EMPLOYMENT loss, generally resulting from plant closings and mass LAYOFFs.

A work council is a representative body of employees selected to provide direct input into the company’s operational activities. Typically seen only in European nations, the work council provides MANAGEMENT with ideas of what the employees would like to see at their particular company.

A wholesaler is a market intermediary who purchases PRODUCTs from manufacturers and then distributes them to retailers. Wholesalers act as an alternative to manufacturer or retailer-owned DISTRIBUTION CHANNELs. Wholesalers have existed as long as trade has existed.

White-collar refers to employees who typically wear white, collared shirts: professionals, administrators, and office workers. White-collar contrasts with BLUE-COLLAR, the traditional color of clothing worn by ASSEMBLY LINE or other laborers. White-collar is often used to describe specific groups or conditions, including white-collar salaries, crime, UNIONs, and RECESSIONs.

According to Janet P. Near and Marcia Miceli of Indiana University, a whistle-blower is an “employee or member of an organization (former or current) who discloses the illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices of their employers to persons or organizations that may be able to effect action.”