Sam Walton : Made in America My Story

Product Information

Bianco, Anthony (2006). The Bully of Bentonville: how the high cost of Wal-Mart's everyday low prices is hurting America. New York: Currency/Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-51356-9. At 32 years old, Sam moved with his family to another town called Bentonville and he opened up a new store. And he grew that store to be very successful too. So over the years he opened up more stores in nearby towns. 15 years later in 1960, Sam Walton had opened 15 little stores. Some of these were called “Walton’s Five and Dime.” Driving to visit all the locations was taking too much time, so he began flying between the towns in his small 2-person plane. In 1945, after a brief stint in the army, Sam Walton started his venture in the retail business. In his last military assignment, he studied as much as he could about retail and department stores. So there was still to decide where to settle. The first store Sam really had only one goal for all of his stores: to make each and every single customer as happy as possibly can be.

Hands on approach to his business, down to each store, business unit - even if you are the toppest manager;

Summary Points & Takeaways from Sam Walton: Made in America

He was never married to procedure, only to values and concepts. He accepted changes to his operations as necessary, but the driver to those changes was his overall vision and values, which never faltered. I learned early on that one of the secrets to campus leadership was the simplest thing of all: speak to people coming down the sidewalk before they speak to you.” p.19 This book captured Sam Walton’s voice and spirit and I bought in right away. There are many concepts I’d like to include in my teaching or coaching - I’m not in retail or a conventional “business”. I plan on using much of my highlights from Made in America in my Sociology class. I don’t know much about Sam Walton as a person, except from my experiences in his stores and from this book. I understand there are many critics, but I am not one of them.

Sam Walton: Made in America" offers relevant tips for those looking to be successful entrepreneurs, especially in the retail business. What can I learn from "Sam Walton: Made in America"? Blinkist’s summary isn’t bad at all, but I must still urge you to get this book – it’s neither a long nor hard read, but priceless. Who would I recommend the Sam Walton: Made In America summary to?

What are good quotes from Sam Walton: Made in America?

Sam’s had to take his fair share of criticism over the years, being accused of driving local stores out of business hundreds of times. But Sam thought that that’s just the nature of the business. After all, the market decides what’s good, and if people shopped rather at Walmart than at 5 different local stores, then that probably meant Walmart served them better.