Sam Walton : Made in America My Story

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Sam Walton graduated college in 1945 and he began working at JC Penney as a management trainee. This experience got him excited about the retail business and he decided to open his own store. But before he could do that, he served in the US army and got married. He was also reading all the books he could find in the libraries about the retail business. Walton’s business values and principles are succinctly described in Chapter 17, where he shares his 10 rules to build a successful business. These rules form the core of Walton’s business philosophy, and they are reflected in many of the book’s earlier chapters. The rules are: My only disappointment was that he died in the early 1990’s and Walmart has grown so much since. I wish there was a follow up from its current CEO or member of the Walton family. Sam had beenmeasuring the width of the aisles to determine whether Brazilian retailers knew something he didn’t. That’s how dedicated he was to learning from the competition. Chapter 4 talks about adding a bit of anarchy to business. Shaking up the status quo and ignoring conventional wisdom is a big theme in Walton’s book; he understood that innovation is crucial to finding a profitable niche. Larger-format stores and a generous return policy were two inspired ideas that proved especially lucrative for Walmart.

Focus on the customer: Sam Walton believed that the customer is always right. He made it a priority to listen to his customers and give them what they wanted. He knew that if he could make his customers happy, he could build a successful business.Sam Walton encourages his people to care about Walmart by sharing the success. Early store managers, company executives and even regular employees are rewarded when Walmart does well. Conclusion These rules to create empathy in buyers proved priceless. The increased communication helped Wal-Mart stay nimble as they grew; it became easier to find something selling well at one store and figure out what other stores to try the same thing.

Empowering managers and associates to test their radical ideas contributed to Walmart´s success. Sam Walton gives the associates their due credit recognising their constant dedication and vital role in remaining in touch with the customer. Walmart outcompeted other retail stores by always having the lowest prices. Everything else was less important than maintaining that strong focus on selling for less. 8. Shared Ownership: Give your people responsibility and recognitionRecognize Associates: If an associate did something worthy of recognition, they were invited to the Saturday meeting and then also publicly recognized. Self-service stores. In the past, a store employee would find the items you want and bring them to you. Sam heard about the first self-service stores and rode an overnight bus to see them firsthand. Then he opened the 3rd self service store in the USA. Given its scale and economic influence, Walmart is noted to significantly impact any region in which it establishes a store. These impacts, both positive and negative, have been dubbed the "Walmart Effect". [25] Personal life [ edit ] Executive compensation. Walmart executives are rewarded more based on how the company performs. If Walmart doesn’t grow, they make a lot less income. So, Walton promoted one of his two executive vice presidents, Ron Mayer, to CEO. But this move ended up causing a lot of bad blood between him and Ferold Arend, the other vice president.

In 1945, at the age of 27, Sam Walton opened his first discount store, Walton’s 5-10. The store did all right, but Walton knew he could do better. This experience taught Walton an important lesson: upon the arrival of a big competitor, Walmart prices had to be as low as possible so that customers would remain satisfied.Sam Walton: Made in America” is available in English language editions. There are no known translations available in other languages. Book Editions a b "Sam Walton". Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Archived from the original on April 18, 2012 . Retrieved March 30, 2012.

In 1974, Walmart was performing well, and Walton decided he might be able to enjoy an early retirement. Sam Walton wrote this book to recount his fascinating story of how Walmart made it from a small-town America discount store to the present-day giant retailer. The tone of the book is informal, as if Sam Walton is right in front of you. That makes the book funny and engaging. Walton reconsidered his relationship to Walmart’s non-managerial staff when he came across a sign for an English store that listed the name of the company as Lewis Company, J. M. Lewis Partnership. And underneath the sign was a list of all the “associates” that worked there. What we guard against around here is people saying, ‘Let’s think about it.’ We make a decision. Then we act on it.” He spoke to everyone he could in the industry, and took intense notes (he obviously learned best by writing). He went to trade organizations, competitors, both domestic and global. He was always in his stores, around his employees, asking questions, seeing how things were done. He never stopped learning. He was always look to improve every aspect of his business.Townley, Alvin (December 26, 2006). Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts. Asia: St. Martin's Press. pp.88–89. ISBN 0-312-36653-1. Archived from the original on December 19, 2006 . Retrieved December 29, 2006. Lesson Learned: lower your prices to sell more and you still come out with a bigger profit. Price Wars Sam was never reluctant to copy a great business strategy. The truth is he was always experimenting, sometimes with his own ideas, sometimes with practices he saw his competitors use successfully. Sam Walton is the founder of the worlds biggest company Walmart with now over 2 million employees. He basically grown up selling stuff and he knew very early in life that he wanted to work in the retail business. He involved almost the whole family in his career and earlier businesses which he already had founded before he created his great idea called Walmart. During the first 8 years, Walmart was considered by some a failure because it was financially treading water.