Sam Walton : Made in America My Story

Product Information

Walton graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in economics (1940) and entered a J.C. Penney Company management training program in Des Moines, Iowa. He opened his own Ben Franklin variety (five-and-dime) store in Newport, Arkansas, in 1945 and relocated the store to Bentonville, Arkansas, five years later. By the early 1960s he and his brother, James, operated a regional chain of Ben Franklin stores, and, when that company’s executives rejected his concept for a new discount store chain to be based in small towns, Walton decided to set up such a chain on his own. He opened the first Walmart store, Wal-Mart Discount City, in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962, offering a wide variety of merchandise at discount prices in a no-frills setting. (In 2018 the company’s name was changed to Walmart.) So in 1962, Sam Walton opened his first discounter store in a town called Rogers Arkansas. That was the birth of Wal-Mart. The first Wal-Mart was a big hit immediately, with almost a million dollars in sales per year. Sam Walton recognized these stores were the future of retail and he wanted to stay ahead of the trend by opening up more and more Wal-Marts. Some of the other big retail companies resisted the discounter trend, probably because they didn’t want to give up the 45% markup they were used to charging customers. 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.

Always watch out when you need to promote one person out of a small pool of candidates as people will naturally be jealous. Even after he found success, Walton never stopped copying good business ideas whenever he saw them. The Kmart was cutting prices so drastically that Walton was forced to take action; he told the manager to make sure that everything in their store was as cheap as, if not cheaper than, the items in Kmart.

Summary Points & Takeaways from Sam Walton: Made in America

Throughout the book, Walton talks about how they ignored doubters, and Wall Street critics. They also didn't let short term problems or temptations derail them from their real priorities: the customer and their people. Inspired by his mother’s efforts to bring in money for the family, Walton got his first job when he was just eight years old. He started by selling magazine subscriptions around the neighborhood, and by 7th grade he was out on his bike delivering newspapers. Even though I’m not a big fan of a life only for work, I learned hugely from this book. I can only recommend Sam Walton: Made in America.

Some of the values you can learn from Sam Walton are: frugality, creativity, confidence, a competitive spirit and, most importantly, always putting the customer first.Ortega, Bob. "In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and How Wal-Mart Is Devouring America". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 9, 2005 . Retrieved February 7, 2007. Trimble, Vance H. (1991). Sam Walton: the Inside Story of America's Richest Man. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-451-17161-0. Discounter stores. In the early 1960’s, a new type of retail store called a discounter store began popping up. The idea was to sell products at cheaper prices, but with a higher volume of sales they still made a lot of profit. Sam Walton saw discounter stores very successful in the northeast US and he knew they would come to Arkansas soon. These meetings help bring the full power, experience, and creativity of the leadership staff to every challenge they face; they work together to solve problems and share ideas. He and his family (now with another son, James, born in 1921) moved from Oklahoma. They moved from one small town to another for several years, mostly in Missouri. While attending eighth grade in Shelbina, Missouri, Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout in the state's history. [6] In adult life, Walton became a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. [7]

In a way, Walmart was another experiment for Sam. Walmart indeed was ugly to start with, but the question for Walton was: would shoppers shop strictly because of the lower prices? Furthermore, he elaborated that he learned from a very early age that it was important for them as kids to help provide for the home, to be givers rather than takers. Walton realized while serving in the army, that he wanted to go into retailing and to go into business for himself. [11] But at the time the Newport and the Ben Franklin had great potential, and I’ve always believed in goals, so I set myself one: I wanted my little Newport store to be the best, most profitable variety store in Arkansas within five years. I felt I had the talent to do it, that it could be done, and why not go for it? Set that as a goal and see if you can’t achieve it. If it doesn’t work, you’ve had fun trying.” p.28

What are the chapters in Sam Walton: Made in America?

Taking the job away from Mayer when he was the CEO was a risky move. Nobody takes demotions from a power position lightly. Instead, it was expanding and leveraging its earning power. Walton’s Mistake: Walmart’s Power Moves For example, in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, the owner of a local paint store came into a recently opened Walmart to thank the store’s manager. It turned out that the Walmart paint department had been recommending her store to customers who couldn’t find what they needed at Walmart.

The book begins with Sam Walton’s childhood in rural Oklahoma, where he learned the value of hard work and frugality. Walton’s first job was delivering newspapers, and he used the money he earned to buy his first business, a milk route. He was always trying creative new ways of promoting specific products to increase their sales, including hanging items from the ceiling or putting them in a boat. And he encouraged his store managers to get creative too. Although many have applauded his business mind and the Walton Family’s philanthropic endeavors, Wal-Mart has also been criticized for enforcing bad labor practices and driving out mom-and-pop shops and wreaking environmental havoc due to the size of the stores. But the retail giant it was to become got its start in Walton’s humble goal of making goods more affordable to rural America.Fred Meijer, West Michigan billionaire grocery magnate, dies at 91". MLive.com. November 26, 2011. Archived from the original on April 10, 2018 . Retrieved November 26, 2011. The author has painted an interesting landscape of the dynamics of the retail industry & his plan to become the best retailer, along with a fair share of self-aggrandizement and too many unnecessary positive endorsements from various people who have interacted with him. For those of you that don't feel so glowing about Wal-Mart, realize that this was written over 20 years ago. Part of the purpose of the book, according to the opening chapter, was to be a reminder to his family why he started the business, and the values that were important to him and Wal-Mart's success. Hodges, Sam (April 20, 2007). "Presbyterian obit on Wal-Mart founder's widow". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on November 1, 2019 . Retrieved November 1, 2019.