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Bob Ortega
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In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and Wal-Mart, the World's Most Powerful Retailer Paperback – March 21, 2000

by Bob Ortega (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 25 ratings
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If bigger is better, Wal-Mart has rightfully won its leading position in the pantheon of international institutions. With more than 100 million customers a week, Wal-Mart is by far the world's largest retailer. It is the biggest private-sector employer in North America, and one of the most dominant and influential corporations anywhere. Sam Walton's company prides itself on being a paragon of service, integrity, and frugality to its customers. But all is not well in the many areas where people have been "Wal-Martized" and have faced Wal-Mart's controversial business practices.

In Sam We Trust is the true, unvarnished story of the Wal-Mart colossus at work, and of how its remarkable success illustrates the glory as well as the underbelly of American capitalism. A flinty workaholic obsessed with his stores at the expense of his personal life, Walton established the ruthlessly efficient strategy that enabled Wal-Mart to surpass Sears, outsmart Kmart, and crush small-town mom-and-pop stores. Bob Ortega, a veteran reporter who covered Wal-Mart extensively for The Wall Street Journal, has written an illuminating and authoritative account of the world's most powerful store, and of how Sam Walton's way of thinking is transforming America's -- and the world's -- business practices, workplaces, and communities.
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  1. Print length
    448 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Three Rivers Press
  4. Publication date
    March 21, 2000
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 1.25 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0812932978
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0812932973
  8. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Bob Ortega has a storyteller's rich ear for detail. . . . His deft description of Walton's amazing rise to power and wealth is so delicious that it is hard to believe this is a business book. It roars with incisive, powerful writing."
-- Chicago Tribune

"An insightful, judicious, and immensely illuminating book,
one of the best on retailing."
-- Worth

From the Inside Flap

better, Wal-Mart has rightfully won its leading position in the pantheon of international institutions. With more than 100 million customers a week, Wal-Mart is by far the world's largest retailer. It is the biggest private-sector employer in North America, and one of the most dominant and influential corporations anywhere. Sam Walton's company prides itself on being a paragon of service, integrity, and frugality to its customers. But all is not well in the many areas where people have been "Wal-Martized" and have faced Wal-Mart's controversial business practices.

In Sam We Trust is the true, unvarnished story of the Wal-Mart colossus at work, and of how its remarkable success illustrates the glory as well as the underbelly of American capitalism. A flinty workaholic obsessed with his stores at the expense of his personal life, Walton established the ruthlessly efficient strategy that enabled Wal-Mart to surpass Sears, outsmart Kmart, and crush small-town mom-and-p

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Three Rivers Press; Reprint edition (March 21, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 448 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0812932978
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0812932973
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1.25 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 25 ratings

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Bob Ortega

Bob Ortega

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
25 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

mak
5.0 out of 5 stars very good
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2013
Verified Purchase
Excellent. All the pages were intact.The condition of the book was comparable with a new one. I strongly recommend the vendor.
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Jamie C.
3.0 out of 5 stars Not worth the time
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2014
Verified Purchase
I think I got this book because I really wanted to believe that the man behind Walmart wasn't such a bad guy. It doesn't seem like he was from the information in the book. Somewhere, at sometime, the business really got turned backward though.
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Eric L
4.0 out of 5 stars Good price
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2013
Verified Purchase
Good price for a quality used book. Only downside was that the fulfilled ships in a very thin bag type package and the book was a little worse for the wear (slightly bent/ visible damage) was still alright though
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John
1.0 out of 5 stars Lazy reporting...antagonistic, formulastic attack from page one.
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2015
This looked promising. A thorough history if Walmart. I threw it away after reading the introduction. The chip the writer gas on his shoulder would sink a battleship. Lazy thinker. Antagonism against Walmart and success story that is loud and clear. Low quality writing done with the standard cliché formula. "Can you believe!!! And "gotcha" mentality. I was looking for history but couldn't get through the moralizing.
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David Roger Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars WAL-MART REPLACES GM AS USA'S #1 PRIVATE EMPLOYER
Reviewed in the United States on February 28, 2002
Bob Ortega's excellent study of America's largest private employer (728,000 workers in 1997) is truly food for thought not only about Wal-Mart as a retail organization, its leaders, and its impact on America, but also about the direction America was headed into at the close of the 20th century.
Ortega's book, IN SAM WE TRUST: The Untold Story Of Sam Walton And How Wal-Mart Is Devouring America (1998) was widely reviewed as hostile to Wal-Mart and those who support it, but one cannot help but notice an overall tone of admiration in Ortega's book at the success of Wal-Mart's well documented rapacity and avarice, and the fact that its bottom line big dollar success was only possible because it's enormous customer base have voted with their feet and their pocket books to keep it going and growing.
Author Bob Ortega is a Princeton grad later schooled at the Columbia U. Journalism School, well known along with the U. of Missouri Journalism School as the most prestigious in America. He's also a WALL STREET JOURNAL employee. For all of the pretentions IN SAM WE TRUST (1998) makes of being a true muck-raking tome, the author's WALL STREET JOURNAL mentality and morality shines through to any who examine his book closely.
When all is said and done, Ortega has written a book which admires Wal-Mart, and is likely to do that organization no harm whatever. His provided backgrounder information about the nasty and unpleasant side of Wal-Mart doesn't affect the bottom-line, to use a phrase near and dear to Wal-Mart management, and to Ortega's mentor newspaper, the WALL STREET JOURNAL.
The book reminds me of the extravagant PATTON (1969) movie which appeared in the middle of the War In Vietnam, and told the story of General George S. Patton, Jr. and his activities during World War II. The expensive movie (for which the main actor won an Academy Award) provided very critical material about Gen. Patton, and showed his failures and personal problems in some detail. But, all in all, it was a hagiography which was said to have been screened often in the Nixon White House, and which the pro-war people of the Vietnam War era loved. For all its criticism, the movie admired Patton, and was a PR piece for pushy generals, the U.S. Army, and war as a catagory of human activity.
It's doubtful that Wal-Mart bigshots at company HQ in Bentonville, Arkansas lost any sleep over this book. Wal-Mart profits were probably boosted as a result of the book. After all, it provided more publicity about Wal-Mart. As movie star Erol Flynn was supposed to have said often, "I don't care what the newspapers say about me...just make sure they spell my name right."
All this said, the book DOES reveal many interesting facts about Wal-Mart and by reflection, about America these days.
Wal-Mart's status as America's largest private employer is discussed. By 1997, Wal-Mart had long since passed General Motors Corp. to achieve this status. The kind of work offered by Wal-Mart and other "big-box" type discount and "catagory killer" chains... had REPLACED manufacturing to become the dominant new blue-collar job in the United States. This kind of job offered far lower wages, fewer benefits, and less job security than the old manufacturing type job it replaced.
Ortega says the WALL STREET JOURNAL compared GM jobs with Wal-Mart jobs in 1997 and noted that the average GM wage was $19. per hour; at Wal-Mart $7.50 per hour. With benefits included, GM compensation was worth $44. per hour; Wal-Mart's (for those who get benefits) was $10. per hour. Ortega rightfully concludes (but isn't necessarily unhappy about the fact that) Wal-Mart has become a mirror for the new American workplace where Federal employment figures showed that more than 30 percent of American workers hold only part-time or temporary jobs.
It's safe to conclude that when the new #1 employer in America offers less than 25% of income provided by the old #1 employer, Americans as a group are getting poorer.
IN SAM WE TRUST (1998) states that when a new Wal-Mart store arrives in a community, 75% of its profits are drawn from trade previously enjoyed by small, often "Ma and Pa" stores many of which cannot stand against Wal-Mart competition and soon close down. Author Orgega refers to this as "strip-mining" local commerce previously but no longer owned and operated locally, and uniquely responsive to local needs and pressures.
If Wal-Mart ever become history, and its services become unavailable in the 3000 plus locations where it now operates, the loss of the centrally controlled organization would impact the lives of many, many Americans. The re-establishment of the many small business Wal-Mart bull-dozed into oblivion is not likely to provide relief to these Americans.
All this is worth thinking about, and for that reason, Bob Ortega's book IN SAM WE TRUST: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and How Wal-Mart Is Devouring American (1998) is worth buying and re-reading often.
14 people found this helpful
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ross1776
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Story...A Few Details Inaccurate
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2013
As the ex-legal assistant for the labor relations lawyer responsible also for Walmart's growth, this is a great story of the background of Walmart as told in the first five or six chapters. John Tate advised Sam Walton through the 90's, starting in 1972 when Walmart was nothing more than a small family chain in Arkansas and Texas. Those first employees are millionaires today, thanks to John's idea to treat employees like "associates" and reward them accordingly with profit sharing and stock options. It was only as Walmart grew, and the government got involved, that Walmart became such a huge abuser at times of its employees. To John, the employees all the way down to the janitor were the company, and he believed in sharing the wealth - thus was his counsel to Sam. That is the way to keep unions out of viable companies. Stop paying the top brass as much, and let those profits filter down to the lower ranking employees so as to build loyalty, and tenure.

Which is what somehow seems to have gotten lost along the way. Along with the "Buy American" focus Sam had. He is gone - and it is really is no longer a family run business essentially. Much the pity. But it is the story of how you build a brand and a business and that part is what is so well told by Mr. Ortega.

By the way, John worked out of Lincoln, Nebraska and not Omaha. Just a small correction there.
One person found this helpful
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