Sam Walton
Samuel Moore "Sam" Walton (born March 29, 1918 in Kingfisher , Oklahoma , † April 5, 1992 in Little Rock ) was an American entrepreneur. He founded and ran the largest global US supermarket chain, Walmart .
personality
Sam Walton was, according to contemporaries who got to know him personally, an exceptionally down-to-earth, sociable and friendly person. As a billionaire, he flew to his branches with a Cessna propeller plane and surprised reporters who wanted to see the (temporarily) richest man in the world with his old pick-up . Although he wasn't particularly interested in politics, he provided financial support to Republican politicians.
Factory: Made in America
In 1992, Sam Walton published his autobiography in the book Sam Walton: Made in America . In this work he describes his personal success story. Some of his theses can be summarized as follows:
- Be customer-centric and persistent
- Be frugal and build the entire business on frugality
- Think in small things ("Retail is Detail", so "Retail is Detail")
- One step at a time ("Think one store at a time", which actually means "Think one store after the other", but can be translated as stated in general terms)
- Communicate, communicate, communicate
- Keep your ear to the ground
- Shift responsibility and authority down the leadership pyramid
- Make sure that good ideas come to the surface
- Keep the organization lean and fight bureaucracy
literature
- George Packer: The settlement. An inner story of the new America. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2015, ISBN 978-3-596-03025-5 , pp. 122–128.
- Sam Walton, John Huey: Sam Walton. Made in America. My story. Doubleday, New York 1992. (American original edition)
- Sam Walton, John Huey: Sam Walton. My story. The path to becoming the world's most successful retailer. Redline, Munich 2019, ISBN 978-3-86881-751-5 . (German edition with index)
Web links
- [1] Sam Waltons Rules translated more extensively into German
- [2] Biography (English)
- [3] Fortune 500 list (English)
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Walton, Sam |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Walton, Samuel Moore (full name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American entrepreneur |
DATE OF BIRTH | March 29, 1918 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Kingfisher , Oklahoma |
DATE OF DEATH | April 5, 1992 |
Place of death | Little rock |