Richest Man in America: The Autobiography of Walmart Founder

Author: [USA] Sam Walton
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-07-01
Features: For decades, under the management of the Walton family, Wal-Mart has flourished, with its chain stores reaching 4,150 and spanning the globe. In 2001, the company's revenue reached $218.9 billion, surpassing the American oil giant Exxon and rising to the "Global 500" list. This is indeed a remarkable miracle, as there were no service companies in the World 500 list before 1995. According to the 2001 global billionaire ranking released by British and American media, the Walton family, who operate Wal-Mart, topped the list of global billionaires with a net worth exceeding $65 billion. Like many famous American entrepreneurs, Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, is a classic example of rising from nothing. This book introduces the legendary life of Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, with unique and vivid writing. Sam Walton was born into a poor family and, during his studies, mostly funded his tuition and living expenses through his own work. After leaving the military in 1945, he began his entrepreneurial career by running a retail business in the small town of Bentonville. Through decades of relentless effort, he finally built the world's largest retail empire—Wal-Mart. In October 1985, Sam Walton was listed by Forbes magazine as one of America's top billionaires. So, over these 40 years, how did the Walton family, starting from a small, low-income store in the underdeveloped town of Bentonville in Arkansas, grow into the retail empire with the highest sales in the world? An important factor is the use of innovation to firmly grasp the advantage of productivity. Many of Wal-Mart's innovations (such as barcodes, wireless scanners, and computer inventory tracking) have now become industry standards, regardless of their size. Another key factor in Wal-Mart's success is its customer-first service principle. "To do better than customers expect" is one of Sam Walton's ten business rules for Wal-Mart. Perhaps this is the secret behind Wal-Mart's ability to win the trust of customers worldwide today. Wal-Mart's human-centric management philosophy, as well as the strong cohesion it fosters, is also one of the guarantees of its success. In the company's language, employees are not called employees but partners. The company grants employees the right to access business information and shares the responsibility of running the business. Today, Wal-Mart, this global retail supergiant, has taken root in China. For the retail industry in our country, as well as other industries, this is both a major challenge and a rare learning opportunity. This book is vividly narrated and deeply moving, especially the entrepreneurial spirit of Sam Walton and Wal-Mart's business experience, management methods (especially the ten business rules), which are worth referencing for many business leaders.