Wal-Mart Essay -- essays research papers fc

Many retail stores are created by an owner that has a very creative idea for marketing products. Not all stores seem to stay in business partly due to the lack of interest shown in later years of the business's growth. The chains that tend to succeed are of course financially backed but the owner of the stores stays creative and innovative in their ideas to keep promoting the chain. One of the best examples of an entrepreneur succeeding in their idea for success lies in one man: Sam Walton, creator of Wal-Mart. At the heart of Wal-Mart's growth is the unique culture that "Mr. Sam" built. His business philosophy was based on the simple idea of making the customer No. 1. He believed that by serving the customer's needs first, his business would also serve its associates, shareholders, communities and other stakeholders. The goal at Walmart.com is to bring Mr. Sam's culture and philosophy from Wal-Mart stores to the Internet. Sam Walton had three basic beliefs the company was built on. Sam Walton built Wal-Mart on the revolutionary philosophies of excellence in the workplace, customer service and always having the lowest prices. They have always stayed true to the Three Basic Beliefs Mr. Sam established in 1962: 1. Respect for the Individual 2. Service to Our Customers 3. Strive for Excellence Sam Walton always knew he wanted to be in the retailing business. He started his career by running a Ben Frankling franchise store and learned about buying, pricing and passing good deals on to customers. He credits a manufacturer's agent from New York, Harry Weiner, with his first real lesson about pricing: "Harry was selling ladies' panties for $2 a dozen. We'd been buying similar panties from Ben Franklin for $2.50 a dozen and selling them at three pair for $1. Well, at Harry's price of $2, we could put them out at four for $1 and make a great promotion for our store. Here's the simple lesson we learned ... 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 than by pricing it at $1.20. I might make only half the profit per item, but because I was selling three times as many, the overall profit was much greater. Simple enough. But this is really the essence of discounting: by cutting your price, you can boost your sales to a point where you earn far more at the cheaper retail than you would h... ...t have not agreed to pay back wages. Wal-Mart tends to hire very faithful, hard-working employees. They tend to stay in the company over their whole career. Brenda Whitlock, a Wal-Mart co-manager, stated, â€Å"There haven’t been any recent changes in our upper management or change of ownership.† She also stated that they were only hiring for cashiers at this time due to their successful upper management. She wouldn’t release the information pertaining to their computer and distribution systems due to their high regard towards their IT department. Wal-Mart has shown a steady surge in annual revenues — reaching the level of $1 billion in annual sales in 1979. Today, it often sells that much in a single day in 2001. In 2002, Wal-Mart — with its $220 billion in revenues — topped the Fortune 500 for the first time ever, overtaking Exxon Mobil and General Motors. Wal-Mart started off as an innovative idea and later became a marketing and sales success. Bibliography â€Å"1998 Year-end Earnings Fact Sheet,† Wal-Mart, February 24, 1998, pgs. 1-2. â€Å"Wal-Mart: Creation of a profitable Retail Chain,† Wal-Mart, February 8, 2001, pgs. 1-10. Whitlock, Brenda. Co-Manager of Wal-Mart, Fayetteville, Ga.