Sam Walton :: essays research papers

Wal-Mart, the world’s top retail store wasn’t always so big. Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart saw the opportunity to open a business and later became America’s richest man. Competing against the biggest business to date Walton success is still apparent in today’s economy with stores all over the world. I believe Sam Walton is the world’s greatest entrepreneur because of his success. At an early age of 40 Walton had already owned 15 variety stores. As discount stores started opening around towns where his stores, he saw what was in store in the retail industry. On July 2, 1962, at the age of 44, Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas. The competition also started that same year with Woolco, Kmart, and Target opening their doors as well. His main goal while keeping his business alive was to keep the prices as low as possible. Stores began opening wherever Walton saw opportunity to grow. He brought Wal-Mart from his home state as he spread the stores across others. He always had a good view of the future and could for see that computerized business were the future. In part he traveled to New York’s IBM school and hired the top student to work for him. To this day Wal-Mart’s database is second only to the Pentagons. With his true sight for growing a strong business, Walton may have been the first computer aged CEO. For twenty-two years Walton had been an underground growing mega business. Unnoticed by the majority public he had become the richest man in America. With Forbes magazine determining that his 39% ownership of Wal-Mart's stock made him the richest man his name was know by everyone. As the name Wal-Mart spread around the country and the business grew more money came in and Walton lived his life as he always had, with pickup trucks and a farm instead of limo’s and mansions. Wal-Mart had remained increasing in size because of Walton’s drive to bring prices lower and lower. With consumers always looking for the bargain deal and the sales Wal-Mart never had to have sales because they sell what the have for the lowest possible prices. The concept of supply and demand works perfectly with the way the business is run.