Sam Walton, a businessman and entrepreneur with an innovative vision, started his own company, which became the leading in discount retailing today. His brilliance and unusual business practices lead him and his associates to acquire a successful company for over thirty years. Even after his death, the company is still growing steadily today. Walmart executives still continue to rely on Walton’s traditions, concepts, goals, and philosophies. He exerted a tremendous influence and left a legacy behind.
Samuel Moore Walton was born on March 29, 1918, in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. He was born to Thomas and Nancy, who owned a farm in Oklahoma until 1923. Since Sam was born to a lower middle class family, he was a very hardworking boy. In school, Sam
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Seeing though how his family struggled to make a living, he decided to finish his education and attend the University of Missouri (Stanford). Sam Walton’s first real job out of school was with the retailer JCPenney. He worked there as a manager for a year and half before joining the army in 1942 during World War II. During his time at JCPenney, Sam learned many ideas and values about the retail business which further helped him when opening his own retail business later on. While he was still in the army, Walton married Helen Robson in 1943. Sam and Helen moved to Newport, Arkansas after the war, where Walton bought a Ben Franklin five-and-dime franchise and opened his first retail store through the ideas he learned while being a manager at JCPenney. Working hard to bring in customers, Sam turned the store into a success. However, he only had a five year lease and, at the end of the lease, the owner of the building took control of his business (Hayes). Despite this major hitch, Walton did not give up. He was the type of person that learns from mistakes He then opened another store in Bentonville called Walton’s, but this time he purchased the building. Sam attained success once again with his store. This successfulness of his new store lead him to open new stores in other small towns. His managers and employees worked hard due to Sam’s encouragement by offering them profits from the store
Walmart is the preeminent organization that was established by Sam Walton in 1962 and now Walmart’s leads globally including Canada. Walmart was first started as small discount store with the slogan of “more for less”, and now it has grown worldwide in last five decades into the one of the biggest retailer across the globe. And today Walmart controls over 11,000 retail unit under 65 banners in 28 countries with workforce of 2.2 million associates across the globe whereas 1.4million in the U.S alone. Walmart also hires full time and part time employees with the minimum qualification. Company targets the domestic customer looking for more with less spending power. Walmart has deals going throughout the year with amazing offers which fulfills customers need.
In Diamond, MO blacks were not allowed to go school so he decided to go to a school about 10 miles away in Nesho. At age 13 he decided to attend the academy in Fort Scott, Kansas and stayed with his new foster parents,
Sam Walton was born March twenty-nine, 1918 in a small town in Oklahoma. His father was Tom Walton and his mother was Nancy Lee. Walton lived on a farm until 1923, he moved around a lot from one small town to another. He was the youngest Eagle Scott in the state of Missouri history. While finishing his degree at the University of Missouri, Walton joined J.C. Penny as a trainee in the management program in Iowa. In 1942, Walton began the military until 1945 when he completed service. By the age of 26, he took over management of his first variety store by purchasing a Ben Franklin store in Arkansas. Afterward, he purchased his second store called the Eagle right down the street from his first variety store. Sam Walton gave birth to Wal-Mart in 1962. Later that year, Walton along with his brother Bud opened sixteen stores in several states.
Wal-Mart evolved from Sam Walton’s purpose for great price and great consumer service. “Mr. Sam,” as he was known, believed in management through service. The principle that true leadership depends on willing service was the standard on which Wal-Mart was built, and drove the choices the business has made for the past 50 years. So much of Wal-Mart’s past is attached to the story of Sam Walton himself, and so much of our future will be deep-rooted in Mr. Sam’s principles. Sam's rivals thought his plan for a thriving business couldn’t be built around low prices and great service. As it happened, the company's achievement went beyond even Sam's hopes. The company went public in 1970, and the profits funded a steady growth of the business. Sam recognized the rapid increase of Wal-Mart not just to the low prices that fascinated consumers, but also to his staff of workers. He depended on them to give customers the great buying experience that would
High school career started when he attended Collegiate School, a preparatory school in Richmond, Virginia.
It almost seems ridiculous now because Walmart is one of, if not the number one, retail department store, but at one time people could not believe it would be successful at all. Though by 1970 Walmart was expanding and others were beginning to realize the potential Walmart had. Sam himself was shocked that what he had created was now booming. Sam was quick to credit not only himself but his loyal associates who were pleasing and meeting customer expectations. The relationship
Wal-Mart is an American company that was founded in the year 1962 by Sam Walton. The company operates in the retail industry. Notably, the company operates various chains of stores in the entire world which has made the venture a big success in the retail industry. The efficiency and the effectiveness of the company’s operations have seen it ranked the second largest public company in the world (Copeland & Labuski, 2013). The company has over two million workers which makes the leading private corporation employer in the world. Notably, despite the fact that the company is traded publicly, Wal-Mart is more of a family company since Walton’s family still controls over fifty percent of the company’s shares. The company has expanded its business through venturing into external markets such as China, the United Kingdom, North Korea, South Korea, North America, and so forth. However, these markets have produced mixed results in terms of the level of success and profitability. For instance, the German market and the South Korean markets have turned out to be less favorable for the company.
In 1934, J. Horace Willis starts his journey at an iconic place called Webb’s City. J.H Willis and his family decided to move from High Point, North Carolina to St. Petersburg. Shortly after, they opened their own grocery store. The location of this family-owned grocery store was near where Webb’s City was located. James Earl Doc Webb, the owner of Webb’s City, oversaw their success of the grocery store and decided to pay a visit. Doc Webb saw the Willis’ family as a threat to the sales of Webb City. Doc Webb decided to hire the Willis’ family to work at Webb’s City in order to get rid of his competition. Webb’s City at the time was growing at a rapid rate as the St. Petersburg Times described it, “It sometimes has as many as 30,000 customers
Samuel Walton was a businessman and entrepreneur known for establishing the discount chain Walmart, that grew to become the largest corporation in the world. Samuel Moore Walton was born March 29, 1918, in King Fisher, Oklahoma. He is the first son of Thomas Walton and Nancy Lee, they lived on a farm. Sam’s father decided farming did not provide enough money for his family and started to work for his brother in farm martagons. Sam and his family moved to Shelbina, Missouri. In eighth grade, he was active in boy scouts and became the youngest eagle scout in his state along with receiving the recipient of Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the boy scouts of America. Later, the family moved to Columbia, Missouri, where Sam was a good student, quarterback on the football team, and voted most versatile boy at Hickman High School. After graduation, he attended the University of Missouri where he was a ROTC cadet and a member of the Zeta Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. Sam was also an active member of QEBH, a secret society on campus for senior men, and president of the Burall Bible Class. In 1940, Sam graduated with a bachelor in Economics. Sam worked for J.C. Penney as a manager trainee in Des Moines, Iowa, and was paid $75 monthly. He had to leave the company because of being inducted in the Army for World War II in 1942. While in the army, Sam worked at DuPont in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
One of Walton’s most important, influential and successful ideas he used at the Benjamin Franklin store were his deals. He credits the success of Wal-Mart to the fact that the profit for a product would be greater if the product was sold as a package deal, “...say I bought an item for 80 cents. I found that by pricing it at $1.00 I could sell three times more of it by pricing it at $1.20.”
Walmart was founded on the belief stated above by its founder Sam Walton in 1962. “Saving people money, so they can live better,” was the main objective when Sam Walton opened the doors to the first Walmart (“History”). Today, Walmart is the world’s largest retailer and corporation in the United States and have been awarded and recognized by various organizations for being the best employer throughout United States and other countries. By the Fortune magazine, it is listed as one of the most admired
Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, which is the biggest retailer in the world, had coined the famous saying ‘individuals don’t win, teams do’. There are several characteristics of Sam Walton that enabled him to be successful in his life and business dealings. Sam Walton could do anything he put his mind to. This can be witnessed in his ability to transform a small town store into a 25 billion-dollar industry at the time of his death. Also, Walton difficult childhood gave him something to strive towards later on in his life.
Sam Walton was known to be industrious, always trying to get the most out of money, and had a burning ambition to succeed. This was evident in his book Sam Walton, Made in America, My Story. He was a hard working individual who helped his family through the depression, started his own business from almost nothing and changed the field of management for ever.
Wal-Mart is a general merchandise discount retailer, which was incorporated in 1962. Wal-Mart’s history is based on one man, Sam Walton, who changed the course of retailing forever. Sam Walton first entered retailing when he was a management trainee at J.C. Penny Co. in 1940 in Des Moines, Iowa. After serving in the Army in World War II, Walton acquired a Ben Franklin variety store franchise with his brother James Walton in Newport Arkansas, until they lost the lease to the store in 1950. By 1962, when the first Wal-Mart Discount City was opened in Rogers Arkansas, both Walton’s were operating fifteen stores under the “Walton 5 & 10” name, and were the largest Ben Franklin franchisee in the
In 1963, Sam Walton had a vision. A vision, that he could bring what the consumers needed, to them, at the lowest price possible. Mr. Walton believed that a company could not be run by just one person, it had to take team work. With Mr. Walton relying on his associates at the lowest level possible, he created the retail empire known today as Walmart. Mr. Sam, as he was referred to, would visit each and every store to learn about its culture. He would sit down with each and every associate and get ideas, comments, concerns, and anything that the associates wanted to talk to him about. This practice allowed for Walmart to create a culture of its own. A culture where each person makes a difference, no matter what your background or life style. The cultural synergy remains the same today. This philosophy is the basis for Walmart’s slogan, “Every person makes a difference.” Sam Walton knew that in order to be successful he needed to hear from everyone, to make everyone a spokesperson for the company. Many of the ideas that have been put into play have come from the lower level associates who never thought they could make a difference. Each associate comes from a different walk of life and background. This leads to the diverse workforce that Walmart has today. Sam’s practices have been instilled in today’s current CEO, Doug McMillion.