美国100位历史名人榜(72)：Sam WaltonHe promised us “Every Day Low Prices,” a nd we took him up on the offer.我们都相信了他的天天平价的承诺。
Early lifeSam Walton was born to Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy "Nannie" Lee (née Lawrence) near Kingfisher, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918.[1] There, he lived with his parents on their farm until 1923. Sam's father decided farming did not generate enough income on which to raise a family, so he decided to go back to a previous profession of a mortgage man. So he and his family (now with another s on, James born in 1921) moved from Oklahoma to Chesterfield, Missouri. There they moved from one small town to another for several years. While attending 8th grade in Shelbina, Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout in the state's history.In adult life, Walton became a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.Growing up during the Great Depression, Walton had numerous chores to help make financial ends meet for his family. He milked the family cow, bottled the surplus, and drove it to customers. Afterwards, he would deliver newspapers on a paper route. In addition, he also sold magazine subscriptions. Upon graduating, he was voted "Most Versatile Boy."After high school, Walton decided to attend college, hoping to find a better way to help support his family. He attended the University of Missouri and majored in economics and was an ROTC officer. During this time, he worked various odd jobs, including waiting tables in exchange for meals. Also during his time in college, Walton joined the estimable Zeta Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He was also tapped by QEBH, the well-known secret society on campus honoring the top senior men. Upon graduating in 1940, he was voted "permanent president" of the class.Walton later joined JC Penney's as a management trainee in Des Moines, Iowa three days after graduating from college.[4] This position earned him $75 a month. He resigned in 1942 in anticipation of being inducted into the military for service in World War II. In the meantime, he worked at a DuPont munitions plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Soon afterwards, Walton joined the military in the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps, supervising security at aircraft plants and prisoner of war camps. In this position he served at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah. He eventually reached the rank of captain.The first storesIn 1945, after leaving the military, Walton opened a variety store. With the help of a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law, plus $5,000 he had saved from his time in the Army, Walton purchased a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas.[4] The store was a franchise of the Butler Brothers chain.It was here that Walton pioneered many concepts that would prove to be crucial to his success. Walton made sure the shelves were consistently stocked with a wide range of goods at low prices. His store also stayed open later than most other stores, especially during the Christmas season. He also pioneered the practice of discount merchandis ing by buying wholesale goods from the lowest priced supplier. This allowed him to pass on savings to his customers, which drove up his sales volume. Higher volumes allowed him to negotiate even lower purchase prices with the wholesaler on subsequent purchases. Walton's store led in sales and profits in the Butler Brothers' six-state region. One factor that made this store successful was its central location, making it accessible to a wide range of customers. In an attempt to limit the expansion of his main competitor, the Sterling Store, W alton leased a nearby Kroger store and opened it in 1950 as the "Eagle" department store, but it didn't fare as well.Due to the variety store's enormous success, the landlord, P.K. Holmes, refused to renew the lease when it expired, des iring to pass the store onto his son. The lack of a renewal option, together with the outrageous rent of 5% of sales, were early business lessons to Walton. Despite forcing Walton out, Holmes bought the store's inventory and fixtures for $50,000, which Walton called "a fair price".A chain of Ben Franklin storesWalton went on to open more Ben Franklin Stores with the help of his brother, father-in-law, and brother-in-law. In 1954, he opened a store with his brother James "Bud" Walton in a shopping center in Ruskin Heights, a suburb of Kansas City. He opened another in Arkansas, but it failed to be as successful as his other stores. Walton decided to concentrate on the retail business instead of the shopping centers and opened larger stores which were called "Walton's Family Center."Walton offered managers the opportunity to become limited partners if they would invest in the store they oversaw and then invest a maximum of $1,000 in new outlets as they opened. This motivated themanagers to always try to maximize profits and improve their managerial skills. By 1962, Walton and his brother Bud owned sixteen variety stores in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas (fifteen Ben Franklin and the one independent Fayetteville store).LegacyIn 1985, Sam Walton began a program designed to stem the 'tide of communism' in Central America by promoting capitalism and privatization.In 1998, Walton was included in Time's list of 100 most influential people of the 20th Century. Walton was honored for all his pioneering efforts in retail in March 1992, when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H. W. Bush. Also that year, the Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China awarded him the Golden Star Foreigner's Award for "tireless assistance in the development of People's owned factories in the Suzhou area".Forbes ranked Sam Walton as the richest man in the United States from 1982 to 1988, ceding the top spot to John Kluge in 1989 when the editors began to credit Walton's fortune jointly to him and his four children. (Bill Gates first headed the list in 1992, the year Walton died). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. als o runs Sam's Club warehouse stores. Wal-Mart stores operate in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States.At the University of Arkansas, the Business College (Sam M. Walton College of Business) is named in his honor.Mr.Walton was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1992.Sam Walton was one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time. He was also a self-made man. Starting from scratch, with a singularity of focus, he built Wal-Mart into the largest and most successful company in the world.As a continuous learner, Walton was committed to constantly increasing his own knowledge. He challenged existing business theories and paradigms by developing and implementing a new set of rules and used this new information to build and improve every aspect of Wal-Mart. During his career, Walton—who associates respectfully referred to as "Mr. Sam"—developed a list of what he considered the most important rules for entrepreneurial success. As far as he was concerned, there were ten key result areas that he considered pivotal to his own success.In The 10 Rules of Sam Walton, author Michael Bergdahl offers you an insider's perspective of Mr. Sam's genius, by revealing the story behind the self-professed rules Walton embraced in order to become successful. Entwined in each of these rules are reoccurring themes of innovation, common sense, hard work, the power of positive thinking, and how to treat people.Each of Mr. Sam's ten rules is easily understandable and can be duplicated by anyone in both their professional and personal lives. But, like so many things Wal-Mart does, these rules require a high degree of discipline to implement.As a former Wal-Mart employee, Bergdahl had the opportunity to work directly with Sam Walton. These experiences have provided him with a treasure trove of great lessons, experiences, and stories that he now shares throughout the pages of The 10 Rules of Sam Walton.Sam Walton was a man who took chances, never said never, and kept on fighting the odds. He was like no other man in this world. All through his life he has fought an up hill battle and in the end he won. Sam Walton was a leader not a follower. Sam Walton grew up during the depression and knew that hard work and thrift were a way of life. Sam was described as to be industrious, always trying to get the most out of money, and had a burning ambition to succeed. This is all apparent by: how he helped his family through the depression, started his own business from almost nothing, and how he c hanged the field of management.Sam Walton was born on March 29, 1918 to Thomas Gibson and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, they owned and lived on a farm until 1923. The Walton's then decided that the farm was not profitable enough to raise a family on. So, Sam and Jame's (Sam's younger brother born in 1921) dad decided he would go back to being a Farm Loan Appraiser. Once this job started the Walton family moved out of Oklahoma and moved from town to town in Missouri. This would traumatize most children but for the Walton boys though it was no big deal. This could be seen when Sam was in8th grade at Shelbina he became the youngest boy in the state's history to become an Eagle Scout and this was only a start of his many of accomplishments.As Sam Walton grew up he was always an ambitious boy. He attended Hickman High School in Columbia there he played basketball and football, in which he was the starting quarterback for the football team and lead them to the state title in 1935. He wasn't the most smartest person at school but he was determined to do good so with hard work and lots of studying he became an honors student. Besides being athletic and smart he was also a political figure at school, too. He severed as V ice- President of his Junior Class and President of the Student Body his senior year. Don't think this is all Sam did though, he also had to help support his family, along with his father and brother because money was lacking due to the depression. Sam's job was to milk the family cow, bottle the milk, and then deliver the surplus of to customers and then went off to deliver newspapers afterwards. When he graduated from high school he was voted the "Most V ersatile Boy" in his class. During this time it would have beeneasy for Sam to just give up on school and go to work full time. Seeing though how his family was struggling to make ends meet, he decided he was going to stay in school and attend the University of Missouri.At the University of Missouri Sam majored in Economics. He could not really afford to attend school so he worked extra hard to get the money. Sam waited tables in exchange for meals, lifeguarded at the school pool, and also delivered newspapers. While he was not doing that he was either at his fraternity in which he was an officer, or at a student government meeting since he was a member of the student senate, or fulfilling his duties as an ROTC Officer, and then on Sundays he was President of a Sunday School Class in which many of his fellow classmates attended. While accomplishing all this he was also in the National Honor Society. When Sam Walton graduated in 1940 he was voted the permanent President of his class. Three days after graduation he entered the retail world working at JcPenney's in Des Moines, Iowa as a management trainee earning a salary of $75.00 a month.As Sam grew up and anyone could see how determined he was to succeed and as time passed he went from being a poor town boy to the richest man in the world. He gained experience at Penney's but in early 1942 Walton resigned to wait to be inducted into the military services for World War II. While waiting, Sam took a job in a Du Pont munitions plant near Tulsa, Oklahoma. While working and living near Tulsa, Sam met his future wife Helen Robson. She lived in a little town called Claremore where she attended Claremore High School and graduated valedictorian of her class and went on to attend college at the University of Oklahoma at Norman and graduated with a degree in business. They met in April of 1942 and were married on February 14, 1943. In 1944 they had their first son, Samuel Robson (Rob), John Thomas was born in 1946, James Carr (Jim), born in 1948, and Alice born in 1949. Her father was L.S. Robson, a prosperous banker and rancher who would go on to help Sam start his first store.Soon after they were married, Sam went to serve in the US Army intelligence corps in the continental United States, supervising security at aircraft plants and prisoner of war camps. By the time Sam was discharged from the war he was ranked as captain and decided he wanted to own his own department store. This dream came a reality in the fall of 1945 when he purchased a store in Newport with the help of his father-in-law. Sam borrowed $20,000.00 from his father-in-law and had $5,000 saved from the military.Sam's store was a franchisee of the Butler Brothers, who consisted of two chains. One chain was the Federated department stores, which were small department stores and then the Ben Franklin variety stores. Sam store was going to a variety store and with the assistance of the Butler Brothers, his store led in sales and profits in the six-state region. Sam made this possible by properly stocking all the shelves with a wide range of goods with very low prices, keeping his store centrally located so it was easily accessible to many customers, stayed open later than most stores especially during Christmas seasons, and experimented with discount merchandising ( buying straight from the wholesaler which enable him to lower his price per item and then was able to sell a greater quantity of goods, and thereby increasing his sales volume and profits). All these were ideas were new to businesses but Sam caught on fast and was able to use them to his advantage. Since his store was such a success everyone wanted a piece of the action. So, when his lease was up his landlord would not renew the lease because he wanted the business for his son. Sam sold the store and made a profit over $50,000.00. This deal was complete in January 1951 and the new owner then took possession of the store. This did not stop Sam from continuing with his dream. Before the sale was even finalized between him and his landlord Sam started looking for a new place in town but he would have no such luck. In 1950 though, he purchased a store in Bentonville, Arkansas, which ended up being called Walton's 5 & 10, this store was also a member of the Butler Brothers' Ben Franklin chain. Before this store opened it needed many improvements but to Sam that was no problem. He was never discouraged for a second. To introduce his store to the new town in July 1950, Walton staged his first sales promotion , called the "remodeling sale" and then the following March he had the grand opening. During this time Sam operated both stores the one in Newport and the one in Bentonville. In 1951 after his landlord took over the Newport store his family and him moved to Bentonville and settled in quite nicely. They became quite involved with town activities, such as Walton served as president of Rotary Club and the chamber of commerce. He was elected to the city council and served on the hospital board and in 1954 he launched a Little League baseball program in town. This is only to name a few of his activities and accomplishments in the community.Most people would not have time to do anything else but Sam did, he decided to start a second store in Fayetteville, located about 20 mile south of Bentonville. This was also named Walton 5 & 10 but it was not a Ben Franklin franchise but it was just as successful as the other Walton 5 & 10. Walton knew though he needed a qualified manager to run the store so it would be as successful as his other store. So, he said, " I did something I would do for the rest of my run in the retail bus iness without any shame or embarrassment whatsoever: nose around other people's stores searching for good talent" ( Scott 11 ). With this search he hired Willard Walker, the manager of a TG&Y variety store in Tulsa. He attracted Walker by offering him a percentage of the store's profits, now known as profit sharing. Even with this new manager Sam did not neglect the new store. He visited once a week to make sure everything was running smoothly and once a month he examined the store's books and compiled a profit-and-loss statement.To keep his stores running in tip top shape Sam was always trying to find new ideas to improve business. The next new thing he found was a concept known as self-service. This is that the cash registers that were located at the counters throughout the store would be replaced by checkouts located in the front of the store where customers would pay for everything at one time.The cashier would unload the new light weight baskets and ring the goods up and put them in bags and then the customer was ready to exit the store. Some other customs, Sam had to keep customers happy were: he had a wide assortment of goods, had special promotions, kept the place well lighted and clean, demanded that the staff be loyal and did this by sharing a percentage of the profits with the employees.As time passed Sam opened more stores with the help of his brother, father-in-law and brother-in-law. In 1954 he opened a store with his brother in Ruskin Heights, a suburb near Kansas City in a shopping center. This store was quite profitable, too. He decided to take this idea to Arkansas but it was not quite as successful as his other stores. At that time Sam decided to go back and just concentrate on retail business instead of the shopping center business. Sam opened larger stores which were called Walton's Family Center. To keep management on their toes and on top of the game, Sam offered them the opportunity to become limited partners if they would invest in the store they were to oversee and then invest a maximum of $1000.00 in new outlets as they opened. This kept the managers always trying to keep profits at a maximum and kept them improving their manager skills. His ways were proven to be successful because by 1962 Sam and his brother Bud owned 16 variety stores in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. With all these ideas and new management techniques that is how Wal-Mart got it start and that is why they are different from any other store today.Wal-Mart first opened in 1962 and became the world's number one retailer. Wal-Mart's success has also given many people today an opportunity for a bigger job market. More than 600,000 Americans work at Wal-Mart. The reason for its popular success it still follows Sam Walton's values: by hometown identity, each person is welcomed personally by People Greeters, each store honors a graduating high school senior with a college scholarship, bake sales to benefit a local charity, associates determine where charitable funds are donated, and the prices are low and customers do not have to wait for a sale to see savings. This is only to name a few of the things that Wal-Mart does for the community. Wal-Mart goes according to what Sam W alton believed, "Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community" ( The Wal-Mart Story). With this saying always in mind the Wal-Mart community outreach programs are steered by local associates who grew up in the area and understand its needs.Sam Walton always made quite an impression on everyone. Sam Walton has done so much for the retail world. He has gone beyond what any other owner or manager has ever done or will ever do and was honored for all his hard work in March of 1992 when he received the Medal of Freedom from President George Bush in which he said,"We're all working together; that's the secret. And we'll lower the cost of living for everyone, not just in America, but we'll give the world an opportunity to see what it's like to save and have a better lifestyle, a better life for all. We're proud of what we've accomplished ; we've just begun." (The Wal-Mart Story) Today, Wal-Mart is the world's #1 retailer, with more than 4,150 stores, including discount stores, combination discount and grocery stores, and membership-only warehouse stores (Sam's Club). Learn Walton's winning formula for business.Sam Walton: The Bottom Reason Wal-Mart Is Today(1)Abstract:Sam Walton, whether you like him or not, has become so well-known in retail sector. Most people view his life as a legend. Under his leadership, Wal-Mart grows from a little grocery store to a world class retail giant. This report shall analyse in detail how Sam Walton’s management theories, skills and behaviors have influenced or are influencing this company. Furthermore, the report shall point out some potential crisis that Wal-Mart might encounter in future and some possible solutions.1. IntroductionIt is an odd thing to think about: the head of world‟s 500 most powerful e nterprise does not fall into the category of oil, steel, or Information Technology sectors, but belongs to the retail world. With several decades‟ growth, the US-based retail giant Wal-Mart has truly become a world wide retail brand, with a lot of stores scattered across the United States and many other stores established or being established in other countries, Wal-Mart enjoys a more and more tremendous profit by non-stop expansion. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is the world‟s largest retailer, with $285.2 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2005. 1.3 million Associates work at Wal-Mart in the U.S. Overall the company employs 1.6 million associates worldwide through more than 3,800 facilities in the United States and more than 2,400 units in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the United Kingdom. More than 138 million customers per week visit Wal-Mart stores worldwide Knowing all of these, p eople will naturally ask: what‟s behind Wal-Mart‟s big success? Why it is Wal-Mart but not other stores? Did the founder of the corporation have some magic power? After a objective search and some deep surveys, we analyse from several aspects how and why, Sam Walton, Wal-Mart‟s founder had lead the corporation into a prosperous statues quo. At last, we take an overall view of Wal-Mart‟s development. There is no power that can stay in the dominating position forever, and so does Wal-Mart. T oday‟s prosperity does not mean that Wal-Mart can stick to its strategy forever yet gaining more and more profits. And Sam Walton‟s management theories, skills and behaviors may not apply well in future (so far we have seen some signs of potential crisis). It must be modified with modern ideas. After all, Sam Walton lived in an era that is not the same with today‟s.2. A Charming Personality Leads to Sam Walton’s initial successSam Walton was a man who took chances, never said never, and kept on fighting the odds. He was like no other man in this world. All through his life he has fought an up hill battle and in the end he won. Sam Walton was a leader not a follower. Sam Walton grew up during the depression and knew that hard work and thrift were a way of life. Sam was described as to be industrious, always trying to get the most out of money, and had a burning ambition to succeed. This is all apparent by: how he helped his family through the depression, started his own business from almost nothing, and how he changed the field of management. Basically we conclude the following characters of him.2.1 IndustriousSam Walton was born on March 29, 1918 near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. Several years later the Walton family moved out of Oklahoma and moved from town to town in Missouri. This would traumatize most children but for the Walton boys though it was no big deal. This could be seen when Sam was in 8th grade at Shelbina he became the youngest boy in the state's history to become an Eagle Scout and this was only a start of his many of accomplishments.Sam Walton wasn't the most smartest person at school but he was determined to do good so with hard work and lots of studying he became an honors student. Besides being athletic and smart he was also a political figure at school, too. He severed as Vice- President of his Junior Class and President of the Student Body his senior year. Don't think this is all Sam did though, he also had to help support his family, along with his father and brother because money was lacking due to the depression.At first Sam's store was a franchisee of the Butler Brothers, who consisted of two chains. One chain was the Federated department stores, which were small department stores and then the Ben Franklin variety stores. Sam store was going to a variety store and with the assistance of the Butler Brothers, his store led in sales and profits in the six-state region. Sam made this possible by properly stocking all the shelves with a wide range of goods with very low prices, keeping his store centrally located so it was easily accessible to many customers, stayed open later than most stores especially during Christmas seasons, and experimented with discount merchandising (buying straight from the wholesaler which enable him to lower his price per item and then was able to sell a greater quantity of goods, and thereby increasing his sales volume and profits). All these were ideas were new to businesses but Sam caught on fast and was able to use them to his advantage. Since his store was such a success everyone wanted a piece of the action. So, when his lease was up his landlord would not renew the lease because he wanted the business for his son. Sam sold the store and made a profit over $50,000.00. This deal was complete in January 1951 and the new owner then took possession of the store. This did not stop Sam from continuing with his dream. Before the sale was even finalized between him and his landlord Sam started looking for a new place in town but he would have no such luck. In 1950 though, he purchased a store in Bentonville, Arkansas, which ended up being called Walton's 5 & 10, this store was also a member of the Butler Brothers' Ben Franklin chain. Before this store opened it needed many improvements but to Sam that was no problem. He was never discouraged for a second. To introduce his store to the new town in July 1950, Walton staged his first sales promotion , called the "remodeling sale" and then the following March he had the grand opening. During this time Sam operated both stores the one in Newport and the one in Bentonville. In 1951 after his landlord took over the Newport store his family and him moved to Bentonville and settled in quite nicely. They became quite involved with town activities, such as Walton served as president of Rotary Club and the chamber of commerce. He was elected to the city council and served on the hospital board and in 1954 he launched a Little League baseball program in town. This is only to name a few of his activities and accomplishments in the community.2.2 Initial and AggressiveAt the beginning, in 1972, Sam Walton compared the performance between his own retail store, Wal-Mart, and Kmart Corporation. At that time, Wal-Mart just had fifty retail stores, eleven groceries and the sale-quantity just got eight thousands US dollars only. On the other side, Kmart Corporation already had five hundred groceries and retail stores, and the sale-quantity reached thirty million US dollars. When he was facing that situation, he decided to treat Kmart Corporation as his “testing laboratory”. He always went there for researching, talking with Kmart’s sales in order to find out their working style, problem solving methods. And he discussed with the customers to find out their feelings. In that case, we can see that Sam Walton is going to find out the competitive advantage which is a basis on which to identify a relative superiority over competitors. This is the fundamental step for management. Also, he also applied competitive intelligence which is a systematic way to obtain and analyze public information about competitors. He finds out what Kmart are doing, and these include keeping track of existing and new competitors, having specialists visit their facilities, and hiring their workers and questioning their suppliers and customers. His strategy and skills when he facing the competition with other business mans. According to his memoir, it is suggested to face the competition rather than waiting for the competition. In his memoir, we can find many real cases show that how he is dealing with problems. His main idea is more competition, more improvements. Now, we will have a deep look on his management skills in the following.2.3 Not Afraid of Changes。
