The Retail Revolution: How Wal-Mart Created a Brave New World of Business (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lichtenstein (Walter Reuther) offers a comprehensive if dry discussion of Wal-Mart—the world's largest private sector employer—and its place in the changing global economy. The author covers the company's rise from a group of tiny rural Arkansas stores to an enormous international entity, plagued by equally enormous problems: accusations of widespread sexual and racial discrimination, a history of dodging minimum wage law and unemployment claims, union-busting, destruction of smaller companies, chronic employee theft and bad publicity following the discovery of goods produced by child laborers. Though Lichtenstein speaks with bemused awe of Wal-Mart's omnipresence in commerce and culture, advanced logistics system and evangelical background, the message is that Wal-Mart—whose eerie motto Our long-term strategy is to be where we're not—has gotten too large and unwieldy to support its own weight. While it serves well as a primer on the company many Americans love to hate, the distant tone and ponderous detail will not help this book stand out from the rank and file of Wal-Mart exposés. (Aug.)
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Review

“A terrific book... Lichtenstein does a beautiful job of putting Wal-Mart in its historical context... A definitive account not only of Wal-Mart’s past but also of the forces shaping its future.”

—Los Angeles Times

 

“Offers penetrating insights… Lichtenstein sheds valuable light on the technological reasons for Wal-Mart’s success… and provides a detailed look at the dark side of the company’s employment practices.… As Lichtenstein argues, Wal-Mart may have done more than any other American institution to undermine labor regulations.”
—The New York Times Book Review

 

“Surely the best account we have of Wal-Mart’s metamorphosis from a backwater chain to the nation’s dominant corporation... The rise of Wal-Mart, and the national economy it has shaped in its image, is a story that Lichtenstein is eminently suited to tell.”

—The American Prospect

 

“Usefully comprehensive… The Retail Revolution offers the best account yet of the myriad problems that Wal-Mart employees endure.”
—The Big Money

 

“Comprehensive socioeconomic history… Lichtenstein paints a convincing portrait of a multinational conglomerate willing to dehumanize people in the pursuit of profit, even as it tries to convince us that people are its No. 1 concern. A definitive survey of Wal-Mart and the company’s worldview.”
—Kirkus Reviews

 

“Nelson Lichtenstein has written the book on Wal-Mart. You can read it as a sober indictment of the rogue company that happens also to be the world’s largest corporation. Or you can read it as a brilliantly reported case study in what’s gone wrong with the American—and the global—economy. Either way, you will read it, as I did, with complete fascination.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed

 

“America’s wisest historian of business and labor has produced a masterpiece of reportage and analysis about the self-service country store that grew into the biggest merchandiser in the world. The Retail Revolution is far more than the best book ever written about Wal-Mart. It is a landmark work about the history of our time.”
—Michael Kazin, author of A Godly Hero: The Life of William Jennings Bryan

 

“This lively yet incisive account of Wal-Mart, one of our era’s most important economic institutions, challenges the claim that the company has been a boon to the U.S. economy, providing a thoughtful and much-needed perspective on inequality and insecurity in modern America.”
—Sanford M. Jacoby, author of The Embedded Corporation

 

“Lichtenstein’s calmly critical book sets the rise of Wal-Mart within its broader historical and cultural context, adding a valuable new perspective to the often fraught debate over the role of the world’s largest retailer.”
—Jonathan Birchall, U.S. consumer correspondent, The Financial Times

 

“Nelson Lichtenstein is the paramount authority on the world’s largest and most influential company, one that affects the lives of nearly all Americans and has transformed traditional business. In The Retail Revolution, original research and a profound understanding of American capitalism combine to produce a vivid account not only of how Wal-Mart has changed society, but how society in turn is now changing Wal-Mart.”
—Ron Galloway, director of Why Wal-Mart Works

 

“Readers wishing to grasp the brave new world of Wal-Mart in all its dimensions can’t do better than Nelson Lichtenstein’s engrossing and chilling account.”
—Robert Kuttner, co-editor of The American Prospect

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Metropolitan Books (July 21, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805079661
• ISBN-13: 978-0805079661
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,480 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The WalMartization of Retailing -, August 3, 2009

By	Loyd E. Eskildson "Pragmatist" (Phoenix, AZ.) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Bentonville and Rogers, Arkansas are home to 750+ branch offices of Wal-Mart's largest vendors; P&G alone has a staff of more than 250 there. Another nerve center of its global supply network is Guangdong Province on the southern coast of China. There you'll find more than 15 million migrant workers and tens of thousands of export-oriented factories. GDP in the region leaped from $8 billion in 1980 to $351 billion in 2006, while the population jumped 20X. Ten percent of its output goes to Wal-Mart. Besides low costs, China's attractiveness includes a stable currency, fast customs-clearance and loading (half the time as L.A.), and supportive government.

Lichtenstein begins with Walton's early retailing experiences, including the frustrations at higher-ups that would not support his push for self-service and discount retailing. Confident in his thinking, and after observing early moves in that direction (eg. E.J. Korvette, etc.) Walton struck out on his own and opened his first store in 1962 using money from his wife's parents.

Other early innovations included phasing out jobbers, mandating use of bar-codes (faster checkouts, easier inventory tracking), satellite communications (faster communications with Bentonville, faster credit-card approvals), strict prohibitions against accepting gifts from vendors, going to electronic ordering.

Walton liked to recruit managers internally (76%), from the military, churches, college graduates who were members of "Free Enterprise" groups on campus. Demands were harsh - constant improvement, and even in the booming 1980s, 10-155 of all managers were demoted each year. (The goal was to increase staff by less than the increase in sales - not as hard as it might seem, given inflation.) Assistant managers earned about $40,000, worked 48-80 hours/week (highest during Xmas season). Few layers meant few opportunities for meaningful promotion.

Overtime was banned, and dodged via numerous corporate shells that fell under sales-limit exemptions. Turnover in 1999 reached 70% in urban areas. Unionization efforts were met with a flood of Wal-Mart specialists, grievance corrections, management re-education or firings, false propaganda, and threats. Wal-Mart has also refused to buy unionized locations when making acquisitions, and once quickly closed a freshly unionized store in Canada.

The average large corporation gives away over twice that of Wal-Mart, based on earnings. On the other hand, it provided excellent community support after Katrina.

Berkeley researchers found Wal-Mart wages about 31% less than the average for large retail establishments, resulting in Wal-Mart employees drawing considerable aid from public safety nets. Other firms have emulated Wal-Mart's tactics (eg. Target), and others have stiffened resistance against their unions as a result (eg. Southern California grocers) - thus, there is a significant "Wal-Mart effect."

Wal-Mart claims its profits/associate were $6,400 in 2007 - hence, raising pay $2/hour would eliminate two-thirds of that amount.

The author sees[...] as a company that pays and treats its employees much better, and as an example to be emulated. On the other hand, he also points out that the average [...] customer has a family income in the $100,000+ range - considerably higher than Wal-Mart, and presumably less focused on getting the absolutely lowest price.

My one quarrel with the author is that he believes the world would be better if Wal-Mart paid its employees better, and offered better health coverage - forgetting that this would take away billions in earnings from its shoppers. Further, it doesn't address the root cause of employees being willing to accept Wal-Mart positions - massive job losses due to outsourcing and illegal aliens.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A decent Wal-Mart compendium, September 25, 2009

By	Richard A. Jenkins "Richard A. Jenkins" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Lichtenstein's book is both a compendium of Wal-Mart's various sins on our work force, tax system, and local economies, as well as a polemic. People who have followed Wal-Mart's genius in logistics and their squeezing of employees and suppliers will find little that is new, but will appreciate how Lichtenstein has pulled together a useful history of the company, which highlights some of its lesser known successes, like reducing inefficiencies and costs in the supply chain. As a polemic, the book runs out of gas at the end and he could have done a better job of discussing Wal-Mart's possible futures and what may happen to retail labor. The main subtext here is that Wal-Mart has always done its best to undermine labor rights and to avoid compliance with labor law. They occasionally have improved the wages of some of their hourly employees, such as truckers, but generally they have led the race to the bottom, in terms of retail wages. An important point in the book that deserved more space than it was given involved the paltry amount of profit margin that it would take to raise Wal-Mart wages and benefits to those of more generous competitors. Similarly, it's evident that the public subsidizes Wal-Mart's prices through social welfare benefits to underpaid employees and tax breaks for the construction of new stores. Also is evident is Wal-Mart's willingness to lose enormous amounts of money in unsuccessful foreign ventures and to spend money on public relations ventures such as recent efforts to "go green". The chain seems willing to do anything to appear progressive except recognize unions or, until recently, make any meaningful strides in the areas of wages or benefits. Lichtenstein notes that the deflation of wages by Wal-Mart has finally reached the point where it has become a threat to the chain's long-term volume and profit growth.

Lichtenstein's main interest is labor, but he fails to tie together the challenges facing Wal-Mart, beyond some bland consideration of how the chain's business model has hit a wall and that upward mobility for managers was slowing. He is probably correct that the chain risks the fate of Sears, which has limped along for years, but doesn't go much further than this. Unlike Sears, Wal-Mart has managed to create enemies among main street merchants, organized labor, citizen's groups, politicians, and many potential suppliers. It's a business that talks loyalty but tramples the loyalty of workers and suppliers and probably has alienated potential employees in places where it is a dominant part of the local economy. The remaining markets without Wal-Marts are more expensive places in which to operate and to enter. The need of Sam Walton's heirs and Wall Street to increase yields over time is likely to undermine some of the current model and perhaps lead tinkering with its success. Already, Wall Street has prodded the chain to builder smaller stores. It seems likely that unsuccessful ventures like Sam's Club or the stores in Japan may be sold at some point. The chain also may need to grant more autonomy to store managers and show more flexibility in supplying stores. The chain also may need to rethink its low margin, non-growth areas that have been used to drive store traffic: CDs/DVDs, books, toys, and food. besides being low profit sources of revenue, they also represent the only areas where Wal-Mart still changes less than competitors on a wide range of items. Over time, the chain has focused on volume building items to underprice the competition, while many general merchandise lines cost the same as at other chains. Wal-Mart is reaching a point where ambitious early management employees who reaped the greatest benefit from bonus plans are ready to retire. It's clear from Lichtenstein's book that innovation has come from outside the company and the loss of ambitious early risk takers may weaken management further. Moreover, managers represent perhaps the one workforce where Wal-Mart could cut costs in the future, such as through reductions in bonuses and other compensation. Wal-Mart will be around for a long time, but it may be in a more or less debilitated state, with more or less influence on labor practices and store-supplier relationships. The current recession has proven to be a boon to Wal-Mart, but it's unclear how long that will last. As for labor, it's unclear whether it will ever be successful in organizing Wal-Mart or forcing long-term changes in the way that it's employees are treated and compensated. The neo-feudal Southern cultural roots of the chain (well documented in this book) may be too difficult to change beyond some token non-opposition to minimum wage laws.

Lichtenstein's history of retailing has a number of misconceptions. There had been efforts at mixing food and general merchandise going back to the 1950s and involving chains as diverse as DC's Giant, Grand Union, Meijer, and even laggard National Tea. In addition, supermarkets had grown continuously from the 1950s to the 1970s, when even less aggressive chains typically built new stores in excess of 20,000 square feet, and often had stores of over 30,000 square feet. Finally, SS Kresge had been particularly aggressive in entering post-WWII suburban shopping centers, although these stores were the first to go when that chain began its waves of store closures in the 1960s. Kresge had favorable long-term leases on its urban and small town downtown stores and these locations were unlikely to face direct competition from K-Marts. The weak history of retail and the lackluster analysis at the end knocked off a star, but I think this is still worthwhile reading even for people already familiar with Wal-Mart's effect on retailing and beyond.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first and last word on Wal-Mart!, August 1, 2009

By	Ronald Cohen "[e-mail]" (Gary, Indiana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a most amazing history and insightful study of this retail giant. But the author goes beyond the focus on Wal-Mart in his analysis of the past, present, and obvious future of economic developments in the U.S. and throughout the world. Very enlightening, and also most frightening. Very highly recommended!!!!