The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy Into the World's #1 C

by Bob Slater and Robert Slater

Cuando Sam Walton fund? Wal-Mart, la compa??a de venta al detalle m?s c?lebre y exitosa del mundo en la actualidad, probablemente no imagin? las fabulosas proyecciones y el destino espectacular que el... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591840066
• ISBN13: 9781591840060
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Portfolio
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Average but the only book that does a real business analysis

For those who enjoyed made in America this is the book that will take your through Wal-Marts current years. There is a brief synopsis of their past but it mostly focuses on the 1990's and the tremendous backlash against Wal-Mart that resulted from that decade. The book is well written but could have had more information. If you are looking for more on Wal-Mart though this is the best place to get it and Robert Slater has put out several books on the company and he does first rate analysis. If you are looking for a book that blames Wal-Mart for the sins of the country you won't find it here. This is simply business analysis.

A perceptive view

I had the privilege of meeting the author personally at his home in East Jerusalem -- he gave me a copy of this book as a parting gift, and I read it on a 11 hour flght to North America from Tel Aviv. Of course, one views a book differently after a five hour in depth conversation with the writer, but understanding the writer's values and approach helps explain things. Mr. Slater openly trades 'critical journalism' for access -- he is not out to do a hatchet job on his subjects; they know this, and thus allow him a closer peek at the inner workings of the business. With this understanding in mind, if you are looking to validate the 'problems' of Wal Mart (of which there are many) you are likely to be disappointed; if you wish to see the world from the perspective of the Wal Mart executive team -- and then supplement it with more critical books -- you will significantly increase your understanding of this massive business, and its successful transfer to the professional executive management (with continuing family ownership interest).

~A Look After The Founders Deaf~

Part 2 chapters 2-4 talks about Sam Walton (the founder) and how he started his retail empire. It talks a lot about him and how he managed Wal-Mart and his employees. In Part 1 chapter 1 it talked about where Wal-Mart is today. In Part 3 chapters 5-6 it talks about how the company followed Sam Waltons strategy after his deaf. Part 4 chapters 7-10 it talks about Wal-Marts growth strategy and how it went into different countries and applying the Wal-Mart culture at each store. Part 5 chapters 11-13 talks about who defines Wal-Mart as in what other people think of the retailer and what the head leaders at Wal-Mart think and stuff like that. I don't know how else to say it. Part 6 chapter 14 talks about where the future will take Wal-Mart. Where Wal-Mart is headed. The best book to know about retailing. The best book on Wal-Mart ever since "Sam Walton Made In America" book. If you are interrested in Wal-Mart, retailing, or building a company or have a company of your own and need some advice on keeping a company strong this is a good book to read but I think the "Sam Walton Made In America" book is a better read. It talks more about building a company. This book pretty much talks about Wal-Mart after the founders deaf and how it kept up even a decade later. When Sam Walton passed away the company was worth 43 billion. Part One*Wal-Mart Today1 Celebrating in a Basketball ArenaPart Two*The Founder And His Legacy2 The Man From Kingfisher3 Give Me A Squiggly:Sam Walton's Culture4 Avoid The Layers, Avoid The FrillsPart Three*A New Wal-Mart, A New Team5 A New Management Team Follows Mr. Sam6 A Strategy Of GrowthPart Four*Wal-Mart As A Growth Engine7 The More Complex Wal-Mart Today8 Applying The Culture A Store At A Time9 Beyond The Seas:A New Outlet For Growth10 Live Snakes And Turtle Races:Wal-Mart in ChinaPart Five*Who Defines Wal-Mart?11 Mr. Logistics Takes Over12 A Matter Of Reputation:Taking The Gloves Off13 A Strategy For The Twenty-First Century: The New OpennessPart Six*Whither Wal-Mart?14 Where The Future Will Take Wal-MartAcknowledgementsNotesIndexSixteen black and white photos are inside the book. Each photo has a description about it. Robert Slater the author who wrote the book is a very good writer. He even wrote the national bestseller Jack Welch and the GE Way. The book is a very good read and you learn a lot.

An Excellent Book

When it comes to Wal-Mart there are two schools of thought: The company is the model of efficiency and capitalism at its best or Wal-Mart is a runaway train without any regard for its suppliers or the impact it has the communities where they build their stores. I ascribe to the former and not the latter opinion. I purchased this book not to learn every corporate secret of Wal-Mart but simply to gain a better understanding of the decision making process within the company after Mr. Walton passed away. Although I conducted a case study analysis of Wal-Mart for my MBA, I was very surprised at how much new information I learned about the superb leadership within the company. Wal-Mart didn't just happen, it required sound business decisions from very intelligent and visionary leaders within the company to make Wal-Mart what it is today. This book provides excellent insight into the vision and culture of Wal-Mart and how this culture contributes to the overall success of the company. By far my favorite chapter was `Mr. Logistics Takes Over' because in order to understand why Wal-Mart is so successful the reader must understand the importance of logistics. I was involved in many discussions regarding Wal-Mart and other retailers while I was earning my MBA and I found that most people simply don't understand the competitive advantage that Wal-Mart has achieved due to their mastery of logistics and the supply chain. This book does an excellent job of giving the layman a lesson in logistics and providing evidence of why Wal-Mart succeeded with their logistics strategy while other companies failed. Although I was very pleased with this book I think some people may be disappointed as there isn't an "aha" chapter that provides the magic formula for Wal-Mart's success. Therefore, let me take the time to summarize why Wal-Mart is so successful:1. They don't do fads. If it doesn't contribute to the bottom line or align with the strategic vision of the company, Wal-Mart management won't waste their time on it. In essence, unlike quite a few other companies that practice Strategy Du Jour, Wal-Mart has a vision and they use hard work and common sense to turn vision into a reality.2. Wal-Mart has a culture where they want their people to work hard but more importantly they want their associates to work together. A distinction must be made here. A lot of companies have employees that work hard but how many companies really have a culture where the employees work together to achieve a desired outcome? Culture is everything to Wal-Mart.3. Wal-Mart's leaders NEVER rest on their laurels. At one time Kmart was much larger and more established than Wal-Mart but Kmart rested on their laurels instead of investing money into technology and into improving their supply chain. Even when Wal-Mart became the world's largest retailer they continued to find ways to reduce costs while improving the shopping experience for the customer. All in all this was an excellent book that I fee

"Give me a Squiggly!"

What? Another book about Sam Walton? Actually, as the subtitle of Slater's book correctly indicates, he focuses most of his (and the reader's) attention on "How the Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company.?" To the best of my knowledge, that is a story that hasn't been told until now. Slater begins by examining Wal-Mart today and allocates only three of 14 chapters to "The Founder and His legacy," devoting the remainder of his book to explaining how the new management team devised and then implemented strategies for rapid but prudent growth. After a decade, those strategies have enabled Wal-Mart to become (in 2003) the first company ever to head both the Fortune 500 list of American companies and that magazine's list of Most Admired Companies.There really have been three quite different periods of Wal-Mart's development from a Ben Franklin franchise (opened in Bentonville as the Walton 5 and 10 in March of 1951) to the global retailing giant it is today. First, the Sam Walton Years until his death in 1992, the David Glass Years (1992-2000), and the Lee Scott Years 2000-Present). However, as Slater carefully explains, it would be a disservice to Glass and Scott as well as to their associates to exaggerate the importance of CEO during "The Wal-Mart Decade." Devised and constantly nourished by Sam Walton, the company has always had a culture based on Three Basic Beliefs: 1) respect for the individual; 2) service to the customers; and 3) striving for excellence. Walton was also totally committed to what he characterized as his Ten Rules of Business. He had serious reservations about rapid and substantial growth (especially internationally) and was reluctant to make the capital investments which modern technology required. He wanted everyone within the company culture to follow the Ten Rules, managing and growing the company "one store at a time." During Walton's lingering illness and following his death, Glass and then Scott reaffirmed their quite sincere commitment to preserving the Wal-Mart culture and its values, and, to following the founder's Ten Rules of Business. However, neither that culture and its values nor those rules precluded the growth achieved under Glass's leadership and technological/logistical superiority achieved under Scott's leadership. To me, one of the the most interesting developments throughout the past decade has been the gradual but increasing resentment of Wal-Mart among competitors, suppliers, customers, business media, and even some employees. (That resentment is also obvious in some of the other Customer Reviews of this book.) Slater carefully examines several of the reasons (several of them justified) and how Wal-Mart responded, at least up to the completion of this book's manuscript. "In case anyone had had any doubts," Slater observes, "it was now [on February 18, 2003] clear to all Wal-Mart managers that the company had become fully engaged in a broader mission. In addition to