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

Bergdahl, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471679984 ISBN 13: 9780471679981

Publisher: Wiley, 2004

Synopsis

Praise for WHAT I LEARNED FROM SAM WALTON

"Michael Bergdahl's book presents unique insights into the staggering international success of Wal-Mart. Throughout the pages of this book, you can almost hear Sam Walton himself coaching and inspiring his legion of employees to greatness."
-Tracy Mullin, President and CEO, National Retail Federation

"Retailers, non-retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers will enjoy Bergdahl's insights into Wal-Mart's service culture and its leadership icon, Sam Walton."
-Roger J. Dow, Senior Vice President Global and Field SalesMarriott International, Inc.

Bergdahl outlines his competitive strategy with the acronym P.O.C.K.E.T.S.

P-Price: Don't try to compete on price; differentiate your product selection.

O-Operations: Break the retail "ready, shoot, aim" tactical orientation bydeveloping an actual strategy to compete.

C-Culture: Build a can-do culture with a strong sense of urgency. Communicate your values and beliefs over and over again to your employees.

K-Key Item Promotion/Product: Determine who you are and uniformly communicate your brand message to your entire team.

E-Expenses: Become obsessed about controlling costs.

T-Talent: Recruit constantly and hire people who have both experience and high potential.

S-Service: Never take your customer for granted. Empower your employees to make decisions involving customer concerns.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

"Innovative ideas backed by visionary leadership and hard work can lead to transformational changes in the world in which we live."
–From the Introduction

The late Sam Walton began his march to retailing supremacy by building stores in rural areas across the southern United States. After establishing himself and gaining momentum, he began his expansion campaign in the west, north, and northeast–using his innovative business techniques to catch his competitors flatfooted. Walton was innovative, visionary, and hardworking, but these weren’t the only traits that enabled him to take Wal-Mart to the top of the retailing world.

If you want to compete in today’s Wal-Mart world, what better way to improve your business than to learn from the strongest and fastest competitor? In What I Learned from Sam Walton, author Michael Bergdahl uncovers and unravels the principles, culture, and secrets of Wal-Mart’s unprecedented success in a way that no one else can. As a former director under Sam Walton, Bergdahl draws upon his firsthand observations of Walton, his company, and its executive team to help you adapt Wal-Mart’s best practices and principles to your own organization.

With an insider’s perspective, Bergdahl peels back the cultural layers of Wal-Mart and gives you a glimpse into the mind of the founder of the world’s largest retailer. He also shares seven effective strategies you can take from Wal-Mart to build your business. These seven strategies are illustrated by the acronym P.O.C.K.E.T.S.–because to compete effectively you have to carve out a niche or business "pocket" for your company.

Each aspect of the P.O.C.K.E.T.S. strategy is fully examined, with the author devoting an entire chapter to each tactic, namely:

P – Price

O – Operations

C – Culture

K – Key Item Promotion/Product

E – Expenses

T – Talent

S – Service

In each chapter, you’ll be introduced to some of the inside strategies and tactics utilized by Sam Walton and Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart’s success strategies and tactics are easy to understand, yet hard to duplicate. What I Learned from Sam Walton offers a portrayal of Wal-Mart’s strengths and provides strategies, tactics, and ideas you can implement today that will enable you to compete.

About the Author

MICHAEL BERGDAHL has over twenty-five years of business experience working in a variety of business environments with outstanding business leaders. He has worked for three Fortune 500 companies and has been involved in two successful business turnarounds. His experiences in the restaurant, publishing, petrochemical, consumer packaged goods, discount retailing, specialty retailing, and waste industries provide the foundation for his interest in and knowledge of this topic. His years of retailing experience with companies like Frito-Lay, Wal-Mart, and American Eagle Outfitters provided the "business laboratory" for him to fine tune his understanding of business competition. His knowledge of Wal-Mart comes from firsthand experiences working at their home office–with Mr. Sam himself.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0471679984
• ISBN 13: 9780471679981
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 237