Entrepreneur-Sam Walton

CONTENTS

BACKGROUND OF THE ENTREPRENEUR 

Sam Walton was an American businessman and the founder of Wal-Mart, the largest  employer of America which grew to be one of the world largest corporation by revenue. Sam Walton was born on 29th March 1918 in Oklahoma to a farming family. He grew up working to help his family income by delivering newspaper and helping his mother with her small milk business with a few cows. He was an active person in school, he was class president and boy scouts. He continued to work hard and expanded his newspaper delivery service which gave him a first taste of running his own business. He graduated from University of Missouri in the 1940’s with a bachelor degree in economics.

After he graduated, he joined the US army in order to serve World War II. Sam Walton was always interested in retail business, he had early beginnings working at JC Penney as management trainee before entering the army. After World War II, he decided to open his own business. He then get married and borrowed money from his father-in-law who was a successful banker to purchase his very first variety store called Ben Franklin, which was a franchise of Butler Brothers chain. He found his early success in retail management with his pioneer concept, Sam Walton and his brother James owned total of 15 Ben Franklin franchises in the 1950’s. Sam Walton planning on to open a bigger discount store in rural area to achieve more sales but the idea was turned down by the Ben Franklin executives, they refused to renew his lease and the store was closed.

Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart on July 2, 1962, in Arkansas, Sam Walton built his base in rural towns, he chose these location out of necessity since it was cheaper to build in rural areas. Sam Walton focused on his effort to keep low price of the products by sourcing products from American manufacturers who could supply the entire Wal-Mart chain at very low price. His friendly manner and eye for bargains kept his customer happy, the sales of Wal-Mart sprung up $12.7 million and within several years Sam Walton officially incorporated his company as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. By 1972, Wal-Mart was listed on New York Stock Exchange. By 1980, the company has attained $1 billion in annual sales.

        Sam’s club was launched to serve small business and individuals, Wal-Mart Supercenter was also opened to provide one-stop shopping convenience for customer. Wal-Mart became largest America’s retailer in 1991 the company has now grown into 11,000 stores globally. Sam Walton was named world richest man by Forbes in 1985. Despite being richest person, he still enjoyed driving his own truck and lived a consistent life. However, he realized that money given to him is opportunities to help others. Along with his wife Helen, he supported various charity organizations and had also made considerable amount of financial contributions to churches and college scholarships. Sam Walton step down from CEO in 1988 but remained active in his company. He died of leukemia and bone-marrow cancer on 1992 at the age of 74.  Sam Walton is remembered for making Wal-Mart one of the US largest corporation and his methods are copied and used in stores around the world.

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   Sam Walton                             The first Wal-Mart

ENTREPRENEUR’S MOTIVATION FACTORS

        Sam Walton’s motivation factors were desire, value and beliefs. Sam Walton had always showed his passion in retail, he had the courage of taking risks and he pushed himself to work really hard. The energy of passion has taken his business over the world. In addition he was a money motive person. He worked as milkman and newspaper boy during the great depression. His lifelong passion was to provide low prices and good service to customers at his chain of discount stores Wal-Mart. Sam Walton was a creative person his discount stores brought revolution to the retail industry. Creativity, independence and self-reliance motivated him to entrepreneurship. It was also the pride and sense of accomplishments that made Sam Walton attracted to entrepreneurship. It was about providing the best he could for his customers and striving hard for excellence in endeavors.         

Sam Walton had enough passion and determination to walk his way to success, he was a problem solver and he had clear vision, he worked diligently towards his vision. Sam Walton was fearless to make mistake, he never let failure hold him back, his positive attitude contribute towards his success. At that time, people never looked for innovation, at least not in retail business because it was not as trendy as technology and advertising or entertainment field. But Sam Walton changed the world, he knew how to create things that people wanted, he focused more on value, convenience and building a reliable brand. Sam Walton cared about people and he had time for everyone, he listened to customers’ feedback and employees’ ideas just to improve his stores. Sam Walton was a real hard worker, his day began at 4:30 am and consisted of tough routine and work hours. It was because his “we can make it better” attitude towards his work that he performed so well even during the recession.

Sam Walton beliefs in retail business was ambitious, he set up goals in the hope to increase motivation, efficiency, performance and his store is now leader of the US retail market. Sam Walton’s business tactics was to contribute sense of appreciation as well as positive reception among the workers and create an environment fit for return customers. He established a true meaning of success through these goals. Sam Walton was a team player that had strong communication regarding to everything that went on. He committed himself to the business, his passion drove him to reach his intended goal. Sam Walton always said that his customer was right, all his stores were customer friendly and family oriented. He believed that the best results in business were found through generosity with employees, profit sharing has always been a benefit for Wal-Mart employees. Sam Walton took extremely good care of his employees and he gave them a chance to be successful by allowing them to purchase Wal-Mart’s stock at discounted price because he wanted them to enjoy Wal-Mart’s success.