Customer Reviews

What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World

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The key to Wal-Mart's success may be a 7:00 a.m. meeting each Saturday. While competitors are rubbing the sleep from their eyes, 500 top managers gather at headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. They discuss current performance and future goals in free-wheeling discussions that may even feature visits by GE or Disney executives or even country music stars like Garth Brooks.

Michael Bergdahl, author of What I Learned From Sam Walton: How to Compete and Thrive in a Wal-Mart World, points out the benefits of such meetings, where everyone has to pay for their own coffee and donuts at an honor bar. Every manager hears the same message in the same way. Ideas, successes and failures are shared. Strategic execution can begin while competitors are playing golf.

"I believe competitors who are losing the competitive battle against Wal-Mart (or who have already lost) probably don't even understand the significance of the Saturday morning meetings to Wal-Mart's competitive advantage. It's as if the company leadership has a management retreat every Saturday of the year," writes Bergdahl. "Unless competitors are willing to go to a six-day workweek and hold meetings with all their top executives each week to plot counter strategies, I don't know how they can even think about competing directly."

It's hard to compete against Wal-Mart. Just ask Kmart as well as the myriad mom-and-pops who have gone under whenever a Wal-Mart opened nearby. How did Wal-Mart become the force of nature it is today? Bergdahl uses his experience as a director at the retail giant and at other retail chains to explain how Wal-Mart conquered common retailing and business issues through a relentless emphasis on cost-control and execution. Based on this experience, he outlines how companies can compete against Wal-Mart if it invades their town or competitive space. Each chapter concludes with a checklist of questions and actions that reflect either Wal-Mart's best practices or a weakness ripe for potential exploitation. One example: "Run the pay week from Thursday to Wednesday so necessary labor cuts are made on the slowest retail days." The advice is enlivened with anecdotes about Sam Walton, the firm's founder and exceptional retailer, businessman and manager, who brought his beloved bird dogs to run around each Saturday morning's meeting.

The book has no stunning strategic or other insights. But that is not the point. As Bergdahl explains at the beginning of his book, "Wal-Mart's success strategies and tactics are easy to understand yet hard to duplicate." In other words, Wal-Mart owes its success to in-the-trenches execution, based on the total-quality principles of continuous learning and continuous improvement. "By focusing constantly on trying to become more operationally efficient, Wal-Mart sets itself apart from its competitors," writes Bergdahl. "Wal-Mart isn't successful because of its strategies so much as because of its lockstep tactical execution of those strategies."

These operational advantages include close vendor partnerships, an awesome distribution system that can get products from a California dock into customer hands in as little as 72 hours, and an advanced IT system so integrated that even the temperature of every Wal-Mart store is centrally controlled from the Arkansas headquarters.

If the organization is undeniably the brand, how do you communicate corporate values, provide consistent service and ensure "lockstep tactical execution," especially in rapidly growing organizations? The challenge is even more daunting among retailers like Wal-Mart, which pay close to minimum wage, have turnover rates as high as 300% and face an insatiable demand for new employees to staff the one or more stores opening each week.

One Wal-Mart answer is the concept of "servant-leadership." Essentially, that means all managers put the needs of their employees and colleagues first. Managers are required to respond to any request for help, even if it means delaying their own work. The concept stems from Sam Walton's oft-stated belief that "if you take care of your people, your people will take care of the customer and the business will take care of itself."

Another key tool is the corporate story. Sam was a natural storyteller, and his anecdotes illustrating key principles would be repeated from manager to employee to employee for years. In contrast to other large firms, Wal-Mart hires for attitude and then teaches the necessary skills. To overcome the natural human tendency not to hire someone who might outshine us, Wal-Mart requires managers two levels above the open position to interview and approve all new hires. Finally, managers spend more time in the field than they do at headquarters to both communicate corporate messages and obtain firsthand market intelligence.

Unlike too many other companies which focus on products or sales more than customers, Wal-Mart has an unremitting focus on customers. The Wal-Mart cheer, which reinforces the service culture every day, ends with the question, "Who is number one?" Every employee - or associate, in Wal-martspeak - shouts, "The customer...ALWAYS!", sometimes even while standing on a chair. When complaints are received, associates ask, "What would you like us to do to fix the problem?" and are empowered to provide the requested solution.

How can anyone compete against Wal-Mart? As Bergdahl explains in an early chapter, price is not the answer. Because of Wal-Mart's efficiencies and buying power, retailers can often buy products at Wal-Mart for less than they can get it from a distributor. The key to success involves finding a niche, and providing value-added service, based on intimate customer knowledge. Wal-Mart's only Achilles heel is its inability to address specific customer requirements, although that weakness is masked by the "10-foot rule" and similar policies. Each associate is required to help, or at least smile at customers, if they are within a 10-foot radius.

The book has a few minor flaws. Bergdahl is clear about the stress and overwork, but only alludes to the well-publicized labor problems Wal-Mart now faces. Margins have remained at 4% for years, but what happens when advances into new areas can no longer fuel growth? Wal-Mart's IT capabilities are a primary factor in its success, but they are only discussed in passing.

Although this book never mentions "positioning," "brand vision" or any other of the immeasurable wastes of good ink, What I've Learned from Sam Walton is actually one of the best branding books I've read. It clearly spells out how companies can achieve operational excellence, upgrade their workforce and unify an organization around customer requirements, even in brutal competitive arenas. It reads well, with a nice balance between soft anecdotes and hard advice. If you believe brand success depends on "lockstep tactical execution" instead of pontification, get this book.

I've lived in small towns in fear of a new Walmart with business owners trying to bully the city council to block Walmart. I've never been sympathetic. The small-town stores were often places you visited because there was no choice but they were unfriendly, unhelpful, untidy, and the stock was stagnant.

This is a riveting book about Walmart's management strategies but also a comprehensive to do list of how to compete with Walmart... what they cannot do and how you can carve out a niche and complement the store.

The chapters are well organized and end with a 2-page checklist summary. Very helpful.

I prefer my nearby smaller grocery store (quiet, plays classical music), but next time I visit a Walmart, I'll have a fresh appreciation for what they do differently.

I have recently only been exposed to the WalMart phenomenon - I know, what rock have I been under - so I've been looking them up all over. This is one of the 4 books I have read and it gave me a good understanding of the strategies involved in running the behemoth.

I have been in awe of every single strategy implemented and of course this is no surprise. They have executed every aspect of their business flawlessly.

Michael goes through Walmart's POCKETS:

Pricing Strategy
Operational Strategy
Cultural Strategy
Key Item/ Product Strategy
Expense Control Strategy
Talent Strategy
Service Strategy

He discusses each strategy with relative depth and explains Walmart's competivite advantage in its execution. Overall a very informative book, I definitely recommend it for people going against Walmart or anyone trying to understand Walmart's success.

The book told a lot of stories, when reading this type of book I imagine I am at a conference or a lecture on the topic of the book. A lot of the ideas used by WalMart I already use in my retail store however, the creative thinking of Michael Bergdahl has spawned new ideas that I am implementing in my store right now! Let's just say that it helped the creative side of my brain start thinking a little more.
Great Book

Mike Bergdhal has declared `the pity party is over' and has provided a clear and comprehensive outline for operating a successful business - even in the shadow of the giant. It is not for the timid - "What I Learned from Sam Walton: How to Compete & Thrive in a Wal-Mart World", will demand you take a cold, hard look in the mirror and honestly assess your business and your commitment to it. Success lies ahead only for those willing to roll up their sleeves and `get after it!' Accurate and insightful, this book is a must read for anyone who is in the business of providing goods or services as well as anyone who ever wondered, "How does Wal-Mart do it?" Bergdhal has let the "secret" out of the bag, as only an insider could.
Time and again the words leapt off the pages at me, a steady reminder of how often I heard those same phrases directly from Mr. Sam's lips. It was so unusual, yet very refreshing, to read a book from someone who truly understand the inner workings of Wal-Mart.

In this volume, Bergdahl shares a wealth of personal as well as professional experience during his association with Walton and the Wal*Mart organization. Some of the statistics he shares about that organization are truly impressive:

* In 2004, it plans to open a new store each and every day of the year.

* Wal*Mart employs more people in the U.S. than any organization other than the federal government.

* 1.3 million associates worldwide make Wal*Mart the largest employer on earth

* Over two million associates will work for Wal*Mart worldwide by 2005.

* Over 100 million customers per week cross Wal*Mart thresholds in the U.S.

* The company operates distribution centers in 120 communities across the country.

* In the near future the company plans to increase its annual sales to close to $500 billion.

In his Introduction, Bergdahl explains that one of his purposes in this book is to "discuss the realities associated with direct competition with Wal*Mart." He selected the acronym P.O.C.K.E.T.S as a means by which to organize his material: Price, Operations, Culture, Key Item Promotion (KIP), Product, Expenses, Talent, and Service.

It is important to keep mind as you read this book, that the global retailing organization which Wal*Mart has obviously become began as a small single store franchise of of the Butler Brothers' Ben Franklin chain (Walton's 5 & 10) in Bentonville (AR) in 1950. Walton soon added a second store in Newport (AR) which was not a Ben Franklin franchise. By 1962, Walton and his brother Bud owned 16 variety stores in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. The first Wal*Mart store opened that year. My point is, as with JCPenney with which Wal*Mart shares much in common, over time Sam Walton planted a series of "acorns" in carefully selected and rigorously nourished "soil" within which progressively more profitable "harvests" were produced. In my opinion, it is possible but unlikely that there are other Sam Waltons and James Cash Penneys out there who can duplicate such success.

Bergdahl seems to agree, explaining that he initially intended to write a book which shares his "perceptions of what it takes to be successful in the Wal*Mart world...uncovering the secrets of Wal*Mart strategies and demonstrating HOW competitors can compete with Wal*Mart and survive." He then realized that, instead, it would be easier to write a book about WHY it would be difficult to do so. That is the book which he wrote.

One of this book's most important value-added benefits is derived from the "Checklist" of key points with which Bergdahl concludes each of the seven chapters in which he examines Wal*Mart's expertise in Price, Operations, Culture, Key Item Promotion (KIP), Product, Expenses, Talent, and Service. For whom will this book be most valuable? Another opinion: Decision-makers in those those companies which are deficient in one or more of the seven core competencies, and, decision-makers those companies which do now or plan to do business with Wal*Mart. Bergdahl can help the former to achieve the desired improvement by using the Wal*Mart organization as a benchmark model by to measure the nature and extent of what must be done. He can help the latter to coordinate, indeed integrate their values, policies, and procedures with those of an organization which has significantly elevated standards of measurement and accountability for organizational performance.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Don Taylor's Up Against the Wal-Marts: How Your Business Can Prosper in the Shadow of the Retail Giant, Adam Morgan's Eating the Big Fish: How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders, Walton's Sam Walton: Made in America : My Story, Robert Slater's The Wal*Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company, and Terri Dougherty's Sam Walton: Department Store Giant (Giants of American Industry).

Yup, I realize people would say , oh yeezz npt another Walmart book. !!! But the catchy part of this books overall emphasis is the subtitle : `How to compete and thrive in a Walmart world'.

It's a really easy read book, all of just around 225 pages and has neatly divided the book as follws : POCKETS

· Introduction

· Chapter 1 : Pricing strategies and Tactics

· Chapter 2 : Operational Strategies and Tactics

· Chapter 3 : Cultural Strategies and Tactics

· Chapter 4 : Key Item/Product Strategies and Tactics

· Chapter 5 : Expense Control Strategies and Tactics

· Chapter 6 : Talent Strategies and Tactics

· Chapter 7 : Service Strategies and Tactic

· Conclusion

Though the book is an easy read, the author does tend to go round and round once in a while and could have really saved 50-75 odd pages. But manages to keep the reader alive by using his personal experiences and those of others with Walmart .

http://www.bloglines.com/blog/PrashantP

ANYONE in retail can benefit from reading this book. These days, any business other than Wal-Mart, is viewed as a "small business". This book provides detailed strategies and tactics for gaining the edge on the competition--no matter who that competition is. Heck, the forms in the Appendix are worth the price of the book! Bergdahl's style is well researched and is delivered straight from his heart--a heart that is filled with first-hand experiences from the retail giant from Bentonville, Arkansas.

ANYONE in retail can benefit from reading this book. These days, any business other than Wal-Mart, is viewed as a "small business". This book provides detailed strategies and tactics for gaining the edge on the competition--no matter who that competition is. Heck, the forms in the Appendix are worth the price of the book! Bergdahl's style is well researched and is filled with first-hand experiences from the retail giant from Bentonville, Arkansas.

It's an inside about the largest retailer in the world. In my opinion it's a very accurate picture not only of the operations, but also of the company's spirit. The description is far more accurate because M. Bergdahl is an outsider that knows other companies as well.