History of WalMart: Recognition and Reward of Employees

In 1950, Sam Walton purchased a store and opened Walton’s 5 & 10 in Bentonville, Arkansas. This later became the home office of the now multi-billion dollar company. As business became more successful, Walton opened more stores and renamed the chain “Wal-mart.” Now, Walmart has stores all around the globe, with 5,229 stores in the US alone. It is considered the largest retail company in the world.

In 1962, Wal-Mart opened their first store in Rogers, Arkansas. In 1970, Wal-Mart's first distribution center and home office in Bentonville, Ark. open and Wal-Mart went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Just nine years from that, Wal-Mart's annual sales exceeded one billion dollars. In 1988, Wal-Mart super centers opened across the country. In a merely three years from that, Wal-Mart opened their own store in Mexico City, Mexico; making Wal-Mart an international corporation. Not even sixty years has past, and yet, Wal-Mart is over-powering our country.

The location of the first Wal-Mart in the Fortune Global 500 for the year of 2001 to 2002 turnover of 219.81 billion dollars. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the retail in the world. The company was much larger than its competitors in the United States - Sears Roebuck, Kmart, JC Penney and Nordstrom combined. In 2002, Wal-Mart operates more than 3,500 discount stores, Supercenters and Sam's Clubs in United States and over 1,170 stores in major countries around the world. The company also sells products online via the website, www.walmart.com. Wal-Mart is one of the largest private employers in the world, with the use of force about 1.28 million. The

As stated on the corporate website (2017), “Walmart is the largest retailer in the world, where 2.3 million associates meet the needs of more than 260 million customers every week.” These numbers are huge, and with so many locations around the globe, they have had allegations been made by employees regarding their dissatisfaction about poor work conditions, gender discrimination, low wages, poor benefits, and inadequate health care. Walmart has been criticized for its policies against labor unions and this issue has prompted public outrage, (Johansson, 2005) which is of great concern for the market. The company has also faced criticism for being anti-union, but it has claimed that it is rather pro-associate, whereby employees

Wal-Mart, founded by Sam Walton in 1962, is the world’s largest retailer and public corporation. It operates over 6,500 stores worldwide, employs 1.9 million associates, and serves more

Walmart is a multinational corporation with 11,000 retail locations located in 27 countries and is the largest retailer in the world. With over 2.2 million employees, Walmart is the also largest employer in United States the world. The history of Walmart dates back to 1962 when founder Sam Walton opened the first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas. By the late 1960s, total sales were over $12 million with 24 Walmart stores spread across Arkansas (Riffel, 2014). “By the end of the 1970s, Wal-Mart had expanded into a number of different services in its stores—selling pharmaceuticals, adding auto service centers, and introducing jewelry divisions.

Wal-Mart is sitting at number one on the Global Fortune 500 list. Sam Walton would never have thought that his creation of Wal-Mart in 1962 would lead to a global dynasty. By 1972 Wal-Mart went public which gave an infusion of money and capital for Mr. Walton that gave them 276 stores by 1980. In the mid 80's Wal-Mart expanded to having member only warehouse stores, Sam's Club. From there Wal-Mart opened supercenters that included full grocery and 36 departments of regular merchandise. By the end of the 1980's there were 1,402 stores and 123 Sam's Clubs (Wal-Mart corporate 2012).

With around 5000 retail outlets worldwide, operating in more then a dozen countries and with over US$286 billion in annual sales, Wal-Mart is the top retail chain and number one fortune 500 company in the world. Wal-Mart is the top employer in the U.S. with 1.3 million employees, “the company accounts for 9 cents of every US retail dollar and sells around 20 per cent of the nation’s groceries and pharmaceuticals.” (Times News Network).

The success of companies in today's market place is a process that involves the way business practitioners manage its workers and the financial resources and structures. The management of employees, structures, and financial resources includes the development and establishment of effective compensation strategy. Actually, the lack of a sound compensation system has negative impacts on the company's ability to recruit and retain competent and best-qualified employees. Consequently, compensating workers represents an important practice of a company's human resource management (Martocchio, 2013). Wal-Mart is not only a cultural but also a business phenomenon that operates in a competitive environment that is very unique. The company has grown steadily since its inception to an extent that it has become the number one ranked firm on Fortune 500 for four consecutive years. The success of the company is attributed to sound business practices and strategies throughout the years. Currently, the firm has over 1.3 million employees in America, making it the largest employer in the United States. In addition to being the biggest corporation worldwide, Wal-Mart's ability to attract and retain qualified employees is based on its compensation strategy.

When Sam Walton founded the first Wal-Mart in 1962, the idea of bringing in a discount-shopping store into rural America was almost unheard of, except for the local five and dime stores. When Walton noticed that he had a lot of competition from regional discount chains, him and his wife Helen traveled the country to study other new retailing concepts, and were convinced that it was the wave of the future. With Walton's vision, Wal-Mart grew to be a multi-billion dollar, international company, operating about 4,600 stores around the world.

Wal-Mart was first opened in 1962 by Sam Walter as a retail store. It started out a five and dime store in Rogers, Arkansas and was called Walton’s. He opened this store with one goal in mind, to sale at the lowest prices possible, quality leadership and great customer services. He thought that his idea could change the retail industrial. Wal-Mart was built on a solid foundation that remains stable even after the death of Mr. Walton. Wal-Mart became the largest multinational retail store in America, with a grocery store and a pharmacy. There is a Wal-Mart in all fifty states and seventeen international states and has more than 2.3 million employees. This store

Wal-Mart is the highest revenue generating organisation in the world (Forbes, 2014). According to WalMart’s annual report (2014), the company owns 6,100 stores in 27 countries. It employees 2.2 million

Wal-Mart was founded by businessman Sam Walton in 1962 as a small retail store in Arkansas, USA. From there it has grown to become the largest retail giant in the world. Ranked by Forbes 2000 list for 2011 as the 18th largest public corporation in the world, Wal-Mart is the highest revenue generating public entity in the world as of 31st January 2011, with gross revenue of 422 billion US Dollars (Walmart Annual Report, 2011). It is also noted for being the largest private employer in the world having just over 2 million employees serving in 8500 stores, in 15 different countries, under 55 different names, worldwide. (Daniel, 2010)

The premier Wal-Mart location opened in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Walton and his wife Helen set up 95% of the cash for the endeavor. Only six years after the fact Wal-Mart started extending outside of Arkansas State. Wal-Mart stores opened in two more southern states, Missouri and Oklahoma. On October 31, 1969, Wal-Mart had become incorporated. In 1971, Wal-Mart stock had its first 100% part and was sold at a stock price of price of $47. By 1972, Wal-Mart was being traded on the New York Stock Exchange. By its 18th birthday, Wal-Mart turned into the speediest organization to reach $1 billion in sales. The chain included 276 stores, 21,000 partners, $1.248 billion in sales. All through the 1980s, Wal-Mart developed to have areas in 13 new states. By 1991, Wal-Mart proceeded onward to the international business sector, opening its first

In 1983, the first Sam’s Club members-warehouse store opened. The first Supercenter opened in 1988, featuring a complete grocery, and 36 departments of general merchandise. By 1989, there were 1,402 Wal-Mart stores and 123 Sam’s Club locations. Employment had increased tenfold. Sales had grown from $1 billion in 1980, to $26 billion.