Product Description

Since Sam Walton's death in 1992, Wal-Mart has gone from being the largest retailer in the world to holding the top spot on the Fortune 500 list as the largest company in the world. Don Soderquist, who was senior vice chairman during that time, played a crucial role in that success. Sam Walton said, "I tried for almost twenty years to hire Don Soderquist . . . But when we really needed him later on, he finally joined up and made a great chief operating officer." Responsible for overseeing many of Wal-Mart's key support divisions, including real estate, human resources, information systems, logistics, legal, corporate affairs, and loss prevention, Soderquist stayed true to his Christian values as well as Wal-Mart's distinct management style. "Probably no other Wal-Mart executive since the legendary Sam Walton has come to embody the principles of the company's culture—or to represent them within the industry—as has Don Soderquist," Discount Store News once reported.

In The Wal-Mart Way, Soderquist shares his story of helping lead a global company from being a $43 billion company to one that would eventually exceed $200 billion. Several books have been written about Wal-Mart's success, but none by the ones who were the actual players. It was more than "Everyday Low Prices" and distribution that catapulted the company to the top. The core values based on Judeo-Christian principles—and maintained by leaders such as Soderquist—are the real reason for Wal-Mart's success.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #171797 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780785261193
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Booklist
This book is a cross between college text, motivational epic, and company history, written by the former vice chairman and COO of Wal-Mart. First, Soderquist spells out 12 reasons behind the success of Wal-Mart, from the vision of Sam Walton to the vowed commitment to neighborhoods and communities. Every rule is explained in detail, from^B stories of Soderquist's own career in the retail giant to tales of real-life associates who have made it up the ladder. Plus, each chapter ends with a handful of questions for reflection and action; for example, how comfortable are you with change? Are you committed to growth? Sidebars explore salient quotes from the likes of Ben Franklin and Warren Buffet and feature little-known facts and figures about Fortune magazine's number-one multinational corporation. Problem is, it's written with a promotional twist and "we're the best" attitude that's sometimes hard to believe in light of recent Wal-Mart headlines. Appended are listings of "The Wal-Mart Way" principles and recommended reading and a perspective on external criticism of Wal-Mart. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Insider's account of how Wal-Mart does business
Author Don Soderquist, Wal-Mart's retired Vice Chairman and COO, writes passionately about the company its founder, the late Sam Walton and its corporate culture. Once dubbed 'keeper of the culture,' he is not here to write a balanced, objective corporate biography. Instead, his admiration and respect for Walton and Wal-Mart shine from every line. He examines the company's workings from its humble beginnings to its rapid, phenomenal expansion. Soderquist describes Wal-Mart's commitment to its customers and employees, and describes its cost-cutting zeal. He details its use of new technology to revolutionize internal systems. These insights from the inside are very interesting, but - perhaps because the author was in the highest ranks of the company's leadership - the tone is so pro-Wal-Mart that it has the taste of public relations. However, if you seek immersion in this distinctive corporate culture and want to emulate the principles that worked for it, we stand beside the big glass doors and welcome you to Wal-Mart. Do you need a shopping cart?

Good Lessons in a We're-Better-than-Everybody Package
There's a lot to be learned from the story of Wal-Mart. A lot of it is in this book by a former Wal-Mart COO, a man who actually knew Sam Walton. And that's where the problems start.

Sam Walton was one of the great entrepreneurs of all time. He created a great company with a culture that has survived his death in 1992. But he was not a saint and he wasn't always right, though this book treats Walton as if both of those things were true.

For example, the Soderquist tells us about a truck driver who was fired for poor performance. The performance had been poor for a while and continued despite counseling. We're told that the driver's bosses did everything right, doing the right things, documenting the sub-standard performance, giving the man opportunities to correct behavior, etc.

But once the fellow is fired, he goes in to see Sam Walton. Walton decides that the fellow should be kept on after all. He over-rules both Soderquist and the driver's immediate bosses. We're told that this is because Sam Walton wanted to send the message that "the open door policy works." We're told it was a good thing.

There's no mention of other messages that might have been sent, such as "it doesn't matter if you don't perform, just go appeal any discipline to the big boss" or "It doesn't matter if you do everything right when you fire an underperformer because that person can appeal to the big boss and you'll be back on the job in no time."

It seems, in this book, that if Sam Walton did it, it must be right by definition. Evidently the company didn't make any mistakes either. There is plenty of mention, for example, of everyday low prices, but no mention I could find of everyday low wages and benefits. Obviously this sets Wal-Mart apart from other, lesser creatures of business.

Other retailers are clearly lesser creatures. They "just don't get it" and "use bait and switch tactics."

Other companies are clearly lesser creatures. Read this book alone and you'd think that Wal-Mart single handedly created supply chain thinking, donation-matching programs, and every IT innovation from EDI to RFID.

Even the vaunted "associates," though often explicitly praised as a group, are clearly lesser creatures. Soderquist says that he wants associates to communicate "with" management, but when management communicates it is "to" associates.

If things like that bother you, then you may not want to buy this book. You'll just get upset and miss the very important lessons that are in the book. It starts with the importance of vision.

The book points out that it's important to have a real vision and strong values to build a big and lasting company. It also shows that one of the particular strengths of Sam Walton's vision was that it didn't involve building a big company.

Instead, Walton saw his company as creating an excellent shopping experience for customers in smaller cities and towns. That vision led Wal-Mart to see the customer as the boss. It led the company to view itself as the buyer for the customer, rather than as selling to the customer and all of that finds its way into culture.

The most important lessons this book has to teach are about vision and culture. You'll learn about the importance of culture to a successful company, but that's old news. If you don't know by now that culture is a powerful driver of behavior, then you haven't been paying attention.

But the book also outlines the mechanisms that Wal-Mart uses to re-enforce its culture and values. You'll learn about how this is done in regular meetings and through rituals and symbolic actions.

You'll see many examples of Wal-Mart's cultural value of constantly seeking improvement. You'll see how Wal-Mart lives out the value of "everyday low prices."

That value is a two-edged sword for Wal-Mart. On the one hand it's a source of both profitability and improvement. On the other, it's the source of the holier-than-everybody tone of this book and the salary and benefits decisions that have made such bad press for the company.

The best thing about the book is that it shows how one very, very big and successful company has managed to maintain an entrepreneurial energy true to the spirit of its founder. The worst thing about this book is that the author is too proud of that to discuss Wal-Mart's flaws, failures or shortcomings and, it seems unwilling to give outsiders much credit for getting anything right.

Do you want to be like Wal-Mart?
Whether you think of Wal-Mart as an abomination or your second home, you will find excellent principles with illustrating stories about how to build and run a successful business.