Wal-Mart and Sam Walton

Sam Walton built the greatest retail empire in history by steadfastly holding true to his vision of making profits by bringing low prices to the masses. A workaholic, obsessed with his stores at the expense of his personal life, Walton developed a ruthlessly efficient strategy that enabled Walt-Mart to surpass Sears, outsmart Kmart, and crush smaller stores. He revolutionized retailing by creating innovative information and distribution systems that were years ahead of the competition.

By encouraging employees to become shareholders in his company, and through the sheer force of his personality, Walton created a corporate culture unlike any other.

Sam Walton died in April 1992.

Sam had 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business:

Commit to your business

Share your profits

Motivate your partners

Communicate everything you can

Appreciate everything your Associates do

Celebrate your successes

Listen to everyone in your company

Exceed your customer's expectations

Control your expenses better than your competiton

Swim upstream. Ignore the conventional wisdom


The US retailing giant, which owns UK retailer Asda, released excellent trading figures Tuesday, with net earnings for the three months to 31st January up 9.2% to £1.3bn.

Recommended reading:

'In Sam We Trust' by Bob Ortega. Kogan Page publications.