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Sam Walton: Made In America
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Sales rank 19,126
Customers rating (based on 93 reviews)
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It's a story about entrepreneur, and risk, and hard work, and knowing where you want to go and being willing to do what it takes to get there. And it's a story about believing in your idea even when maybe some other folks don't, and about sticking to your guns. Sam Walton. Meet a genuine American folk hero cut from the homespun cloth of America's heartland: Sam Walton, who turned a single dime store in a hardscrabble cotton town into Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the world. The undisputed merchant king of the late twentieth century, Sam never lost the common touch. Here, finally, Sam Walton tells his extraordinary story in his won inimitable words. Genuinely modest, but always sure of his ambitious and achievements, Sam shares his thinking in a candid, straight-from-the-shoulder style. In a story rich with anecdotes and the "rules of the road" of both Main Street and Wall Street, Sam Walton chronicles the inspiration, heart, and optimism that propelled him to lasso the American Dream. "
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| Publisher | Bantam | | Release date | 06/1993 | | Availability | Usually ships in 9 to 12 days | | Edition | Mass |
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 Great story about an American "all star"
Anyone interested in making a success out of himself--in any endeavor--ought to read Sam Walton's autobiography (another good one is "Straight from the Gut" by Jack Welsh). This book is basically Mr. Walton's life story from A to Z. There are hundreds and hundreds of anecdotes provided not only by Mr. Walton himself, but by his family, close friends, and business associates. Just a few points that I was astonished by:
1)Sam Walton is the ULTIMATE hands on guy: he would fly his private airplane over "virgin" business territory in order to scout out new sites for stores (can you imagine any other CEO's doing this?). He would fly his airplane to visit the stores personally. He would stop in and spy on his competitors' stores non-stop. He would hang out with the Walmart truck drivers in the back of his stores and learn from them. Mr. Walton was not one to deligate too much (or relax)--he clearly loved being involved in every aspect of his business.
2)KMART was the king of retail when Mr. Walton was getting Walmart off the ground. This is a really important point. Just because one company possesses market dominance does not assure the persistence of the pecking order. Mr. Walton was relentless in developing a better retail concept, and he did, and it overtook KMART (and everyone else!).
3)The importance of humility. Mr. Walton never flaunted his wealth, although what he created is now worth more than Carlos Slim, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett.
4)He answers "yes" to the question of whether or not there is another "young" walmart out there. It's too bad that Mr. Walton died before Amazon.com was born, but I see many similarities between Mr. Walton and Jeff Bezos. Like Walton, Bezos is obsessed with offering the widest selection, at the lowest prices, with satisfaction guaranteed. I think Amazon will ultimately surpass Walmart because it should be able to keep a lower cost structure than Walmart. For example, after reading this book it is clear that Walmart spends an inordinate amount of time and resources 1) opening up stores and 2) keeping those stores well staffed and well stocked. By managing a few warehouses rather than 1000's of stores, I think in time Amazon will be able to offer lower prices on goods. We will see!
Finally, I had tears in my eyes by the conclusion, when Sam was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and then soon passed away from multiple myeloma. He has left quite a legacy!
 The most unintentionally hilarious title ever conceived by the mind of man
Sam Walton- the man who has done more than probably any other man in history to destroy American industry and American jobs- has the astounding gall to entitle his biography "Made in America". He should have called it "How to Get Filthy Rich Selling Out your Country". The Chinese Communists should build a monument to this piece of garbage.
Walmart - MADE IN AMERICA? Nothing Walmart Sells Is made in America!
What gall to name a Walmart biography "made in America" when virtually everything you sell is NOT made in the USA! What we need are books about how to survive Walmart type business models! Our current horrible economy is an example of what happens when everything is outsourced. I think this type of biography simply shows how unpatriotic people can ruin a country. I hope we survive this anti MADE-IN-THE-USA philosophy.
He built the biggest retailer in the world from scratch
Wal-Mart can be loved and hated at the same time, but there is no question that its success is unmatched by other corporations in the world. Sam Walton revolutionized the retail industry. He knew from the beginning that customers wanted low prices, so he was determined to deliver them. Unfortunately, this also meant low wages for all the employees, but since he was extremely frugal himself, he did not see it as a problem.
He built Wal-Mart from scratch in a small town in Arkansas. To come up with the best ideas, he visited many stores and borrowed from them if he thought they would be beneficial. Originally, his business model was only implemented in small towns, but as the company grew larger, expansions included big cities. Today, many businesses around the world are learning from Wal-Mart's success and applying its concepts just like Walton borrowed ideas from others. I found this book to be very educational.
- Mariusz Skonieczny, author of Why Are We So Clueless about the Stock Market? Learn how to invest your money, how to pick stocks, and how to make money in the stock market
 Self-serving autobio of a truly great entrepreneur
Walton's story is certainly worth reading. He built a business - now the biggest in the world - that can only be described as the work of a genius.
The great virtue of this book is the portrait of his mind: he was utterly obsessed with retailing and bent a truly formidable energy to think about it at almost every working hour of the day. It may sound corny, but he reminds me of Miles Davis, who lived, breathed and ate his music. Walton looked at things from every angle, learning as he worked and unafraid to walk into a competitor's office unannounced with a tennis racket to talk. He was a showman and true believer, but also focused maniacally on operations and implementation. (About this, he pontificates about his competitors enjoying the trappings of success to the detriment of their attention to business - surely this is true in some cases, but repeatedly hearing it gets a bit boring.)
The business model he created is simple: always offer the lowest price possible, depending on higher volume to generate higher profit. The second pillar was to relentlessly pursue logistical superiority, in both a distribution system and computer-aided controls, enabling Wal-Mart to continually enhance its efficiency and speed of delivery. As the company grew, it was able to use its power to force suppliers to sell at ever-lower prices. Its stores spread slowly, oozing out like molasses, always supported by the distribution system. The third pillar, which in my opinion is exaggerated to the point of self-delusion, is the "family" aspect of employees (or "associates"), both as members of a store and in relation to customers. Certainly there is something to that, but it is far more limited than he seems to be aware of. Throughout, Walton offers many invaluable recommendations for business men and entrepreneurs. THere is no question he was one of the best.
The great failure of the book is Walton's inability to reflect on the impact of his company. Rather than taking the arguments of critics to heart honestly in the slightest, he dismisses them as people who moved to cities and are merely nostalgic about their childhoods in rural towns that have changed in no way because of his business practices. He also refuses to contemplate the impact of his company's power to act as a monopsony (sole buyer), forcing conditions on suppliers that can ruin them. That is one of the great changes in 20C capitalism: the shift of power of retailers to the detriment of manufacturers and suppliers, which Wal-Mart pioneered. Finally, he views unions exclusively as divisive influences rather than legitimate players and potential allies. In this, he shows little realistic empathy whatsoever regarding employees who don't appreciate their position or treatment in his stores.
Walton appears to believe in his own myth and he presents it well: his tone is down home, expresses a genuine Christian humility, and believes in small-town values. Fair enough, but there are many who see things differently. I suppose that that self-serving tunnel vision and absolute confidence in the system he created is part of his entrepreneurial genius, but it is also a clear statement on its limits.
Recommended. This is on a par with Ray Kroc's autobio and will interest all students of business.
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