Walton’s business values and principles are succinctly described in Chapter 17, where he shares his 10 rules to build a successful business. These rules form the core of Walton’s business philosophy, and they are reflected in many of the book’s earlier chapters. The rules are: It would be easy to discount this book as irrelevant for many for the younger generation, or for many tech entrepreneurs. Marquard, W. H. (2007). Wal-Smart: What it really takes to profit in a Wal-Mart world. McGraw Hill Professional.

My whole life I never played a losing football game. […] I think that record had an important effect on me. It taught me to expect to win, to go into tough challenges always planning to come out victorious. Bias towards ActionSam Walton’s stores were so successful that every time he would open a new one in a new town, local smaller shops would go out of business.

Communicate with your associates, listen to the ideas of everyone in your company. The development of a company is a collective effort; Indeed he even managed to expand. His papers delivery business became a small business where he hired new delivery men. You see, Sam Walton grew up during the Great Depression and his parents taught him not to spend money foolishly. He didn’t grow up poor, but his parents worked hard at regular jobs. So even as Sam became more successful, he continued to avoid luxury and unnecessary spending.The first true Walmart opened on July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas. [22] Called the Wal-Mart Discount City store, it was located at 719 West Walnut Street. He launched a determined effort to market American-made products. Included in the effort was a willingness to find American manufacturers who could supply merchandise for the entire Walmart chain at a price low enough to meet the foreign competition. [23] Walmart's test store for new technology, Sam's Club Now, opens next week in Dallas". TechCrunch. October 29, 2018 . Retrieved November 6, 2020. As we said, Sam Walton franchised his first store through a company called Ben Franklin. They provided the store branding, systems and training. Ben Franklin taught Sam the basics of running a retail store, but their rules soon began to feel restrictive. I don’t think any other retail company in the world could do what I’m going to propose to you. It’s simple. It won’t cost us anything. And I believe it would just work magic, absolute magic on our customers, and our sales would escalate, and I think we’d just shoot past our Kmart friends in a year or two and probably Sears as well. I want you to take a pledge with me. I want you to promise that whenever you come within ten feet of a customer, you will look him in the eye, greet him, and ask him if you can help him. Now I know some of you are just naturally shy, and maybe don’t want to bother folks. But if you’ll go along with me on this, it would, I’m sure, help you become a leader. It would help your personality develop, you would become more outgoing, and in time you might become manager of that store, you might become a department manager, you might become a district manager, or whatever you choose to be in the company. It will do wonders for you. I guarantee it. Now, I want you to raise your right hand—and remember what we say at Wal-Mart, that a promise we make is a promise we keep—and I want you to repeat after me: From this day forward, I solemnly promise and declare that every time a customer comes within ten feet of me, I will smile, look him in the eye, and greet him. So help me Sam.”