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While the logistics, supply chain execution, management and optimization along with exceptional control over pricing is what Wal-Mart is known for today, it was Sam Walton who initially defined the supply base as strategic partners (Friedricks, 1995). Being partners, the concept of collaborative supply chain planning and execution could easily drive greater value and lower cost for the core Wal-Mart customer base, the Price Value Shopper (Blanchard, Comm, 2008). According to Wal-Mart executives, Sam Walton believed heavily in the vision and mission of his stores as being the necessary foundation for America's middle class to make ends meet (Ramanathan, Gunasekaran, Subramanian, 2011). His focus on managing price as aggressively as he could, in collaboration with suppliers, set a new foundation for low-price retailing while also creating a foundation for middle class families to afford to live within their means (Blanchard, Comm, 2008). This is one of the core precepts of his low-price-everyday (LPED) value proposition and the foundation of how he wanted the company to be run for the long-term. Sam Walton was exceptional in his ability to orchestrate all of these elements together and still create a highly unified culture galvanized with a vision of serving customers.
Conclusion
Sam Walton would have been a fascinating man to...
Of the many, many accomplishments he has been credited with, the fact that Wal-Mart trucks beat the U.S. Government FEMA emergency vehicles to New Orleans by five days with supplies is just one of many examples of how well-run the logistics processes and programs are in the company. His depth of expertise in pricing and supplier enablement, combined with exceptional accounting and financial management skills would have made the experience exceptional.
References
Blanchard, C., & Comm, C.L. (2008). Adding value to service providers: Benchmarking Wal-Mart. Benchmarking, 15(2), 166-177.
Friedricks, W.B. (1995). Wal-mart: A history of sam waltons retail phenomenon. Business History Review, 69(4), 574-574.
Krishnamurthi, M. (2001). Forecasting using data warehousing model: Wal-marts experience. The Journal of Business Forecasting, 20(3), 13-17.
Ramanathan, U., Gunasekaran, a., & Subramanian, N. (2011). Supply chain collaboration performance metrics: A conceptual framework. Benchmarking, 18(6), 856-872.
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