Wal-Mart has grown from a small grocery store in a small country town to a large multinational retail empire at the top of the world's top 500 companies, and its influencing factors are manifold.On August 12, 1996, a sunny day in Shenzhen, China's first Wal-Mart shopping plaza and Sam's Club store opened at the same time, which marks the world's largest retail chain company
Year 1960 1970 1980 1990 1998
Sales $1.4 million $31 million $1.2 billion $26 billion $133.2 billion
Profit $112,000 $1.2 million $41 million $1.1 billion $4.1 billion
Number of Stores 9 32 276 1528 More than 3,000
As you can see from the above history of Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart has been expanding at a rapid pace for 50 consecutive years, taking a step up every 10 years, and still hasn't stopped until today. So what makes Wal-Mart have such a strong competitiveness and expansion? The author would like to analyze Wal-Mart from the point of view of competitive strategy, digging its deep factors, which can play a role in the current economic benefits of the general slump of large domestic commercial enterprises.
(a) Everyday price
When you walk into the door of Wal-Mart, into your eyes must be "Everyday price, always" slogan, even Wal-Mart's shopping bag printed on the sentence, we can easily imagine that this sentence for Wal-Mart's degree of importance.
Daily Parity is fundamentally different from general discounting. The daily price is the basis of discount sales, is to reduce prices as a long-term marketing strategy, price reduction is no longer irregular seasonal sale or promotion of slow-moving products only when used, but as the core of the entire enterprise market pricing strategy, is the fundamental existence of enterprises, is the basis for the development of enterprises.
Wal-Mart is in all the discount chain stores will be the most thorough implementation of this strategy of a company, it wants to do everything possible to reduce costs, and strive to make Wal-Mart goods cheaper than other stores. This guiding philosophy has made Wal-Mart a cost-control expert in its industry, and it has ultimately minimized its costs to the point where it is truly affordable every day.
Wal-Mart's low-cost mainly depends on the following aspects of control:
1. Incoming cost control
Incoming cost is the focus of enterprise cost control, especially the key to cost control of retail enterprises. To achieve a lower cost of goods, we must purchase a large number of goods, high-volume sales, enjoy the price of bulk discounts, give full play to the scale effect of modern business. Enterprises will be the advantage of this low-volume low-cost goods, and further transformed into a relatively low price competition advantage, thus forming an effective stimulus to the consumer's desire to buy, and retail enterprises in the fierce competition to take the initiative, the formation of a virtuous cycle of business operations. In the purchase of goods, Wal-Mart has taken the following practices to reduce costs: First, take the centralized purchasing system, as far as possible to implement the unified purchase of goods. Especially in the global sales of high-profile goods, such as Coca-Cola, Kodak film, etc., Wal-Mart will generally be a year of sales of commodities one-time signing of the procurement contract, due to the huge number of price concessions are much higher than counterparts, the formation of others can not be compared to the advantage; two is to buy out of the purchase of goods, and fixed-time settlement. Due to the unpredictability of the retail market, in order to avoid business risks, many merchants have to use the business mode of sales, the risk of transferring to the manufacturer to bear, but this also raises the cost of retail enterprises. Wal-Mart is the implementation of the buyout policy, and fixed settlement of payments, never delay, which, although to risk some of the backlog of goods, the risk of stagnation, but can greatly reduce the cost of goods, to win the trust of suppliers; Third, and suppliers to take a cooperative attitude. Wal-Mart due to the huge volume of purchases, generally from the factory directly into the goods, and with the supplier to maintain a long-term cooperative relationship, through the computer network, to achieve information *** enjoy, the supplier can be the first time to understand Wal-Mart's sales and inventory, timely arrangements for production and transportation. Because of the improvement of efficiency, the supplier cost reduction, Wal-Mart will be able to get from the concessions to customers. This cooperation model, suppliers, Wal-Mart and customers are all three winners.
2. Logistics cost control
It is an important measure of the level of retail business management, but also an important factor affecting the results of retail business. Fast information feedback and efficient logistics management system, you can make the inventory of goods greatly reduced, the speed of capital turnover accelerated, the natural reduction of enterprise costs. Wal-Mart in the logistics management on the peer can not look forward to, Wal-Mart has established a strong distribution center system, has the largest private satellite communications system and the largest private transport fleet in the United States, all the outlets of the computer and the headquarters are connected to the distribution center from the receipt of the store's orders to the manufacturers of goods and delivery, as long as 2 days of time, and the United States, the other two large-scale discount stores Kmart and Daggett need 5 days. Wal-Mart's logistics cost ratio is higher than the latter's. Wal-Mart's logistics expense ratio is more than 60% lower than the latter.
By forcing suppliers to achieve the lowest cost to improve its profitability, and suppliers *** to build a contact system to assist suppliers to reduce the cost of products, such as labor costs of suppliers, production sites, inventory control and management of the questioning and recording, forcing them to re-engineer the process and improve the price-performance ratio, so that they are committed to reducing the cost of products and its supply chain cost operations from the same point of view as Walmart stand! Wal-Mart's operations to reduce product costs and supply chain costs. Wal-Mart thus achieved a complete low-priced positioning and globalization of marketable categories of high-volume purchases, 90% of its goods from manufacturers to buy directly, and the formation of more than 35% of the private label goods, so that the cost of distribution down to less than 3% of the total sales, the formation of an absolute advantage
3. Powerful distribution centers and communications equipment for technical support. Wal-Mart has the nation's largest private satellite communications system and the largest private transport fleet, all the stores are connected to the headquarters of the computer, the general store orders issued within 24 to 48 hours, you can receive the distribution center to send the goods. Such fast information feedback and efficient inventory management, making the inventory greatly reduced, faster capital turnover, the cost of natural reduction.
4. Strict control of administrative costs. Wal-Mart's control of administrative costs to the extreme, such as procurement costs shall not exceed 1% of the purchase amount, the entire company's administrative costs for the entire company's sales of 2%, while the industry average is 5%.
5. Reduce advertising costs. Wal-Mart also believes that to maintain the daily price is the best advertising, so Wal-Mart does not use too much promotional advertising, and will save advertising costs, used to introduce lower-priced goods to return customers. Among its retail peers, Wal-Mart has the lowest advertising costs but the largest sales.
Table 2 Wal-Mart's level of cost control
Item Wal-Mart Industry average
Incoming cost (as a percentage of total cost of goods) 3% 4.5 to 5%
Proportion supplied by distribution centers 85% 50 to 60%
Replenishment time (the average interval between the store placing an order and getting it replenished) 2 days 5 days
Administrative expenses (percentage of total sales) 2% 5%
Merchandise loss rate 1.2% 3 to 5%
5. Adoption of warehousing operation. Wal-Mart store decoration is simple, the goods are mostly used in large packages, while the store address will never be selected in the expensive rent of the busy commercial area.
6. and suppliers to take a cooperative attitude, Wal-Mart due to the huge amount of purchases, generally from the factory directly into the goods, and with the supplier to maintain a long-term cooperative relationship. Through the computer network, the realization of information *** enjoy, suppliers can be the first time to understand Wal-Mart's sales and inventory, timely arrangements for production and transportation. Due to the improvement of efficiency, the supplier cost reduction, Wal-Mart will be able to provide cheaper goods to customers. This cooperation model, suppliers, Wal-Mart and customers are all three are winners, a three-in-one.
7. other cost control Wal-Mart's cost control, embodied in any small link. In the Wal-Mart code of managers at all levels of office, do not see expensive office supplies, furniture and carpets, there is no luxury decorations, the company also often encourages employees to do their best to save money for ideas, and constantly reward and promote those in the loss of control, display and merchandise promotions have creative staff. Wal-Mart store decoration is simple, the goods are mostly used in large packages, while the store will never be selected in the expensive rent of the busy commercial area. In addition, Wal-Mart minimize advertising costs, they believe that to maintain the "daily price", is the best advertising. In the retail industry, Wal-Mart's advertising costs are the lowest among its peers, but its sales are the largest. The following is Wal-Mart in cost control and peer comparison of some data, from which can be seen Wal-Mart cost leadership strategy to implement the formation of competitive advantage.
(ii) Satisfactory service
In all Wal-Mart stores are hanging such a slogan: "1. Customers are always right; 2. Customers if there is a mistake, please refer to the first."
Wal-Mart in addition to cost control in the peer win, the secret of its business also lies in constantly to understand the needs of customers, put themselves in the customer's shoes, to maximize the convenience for customers. Walton often said: "What is the secret of our success? Is that every hour of every day we want to exceed the needs of customers. If you imagine yourself as a customer, you will hope that all things can meet their own requirements - a full range of varieties, excellent quality, low commodity prices, warm and friendly service, convenient and flexible business hours, convenient parking conditions and so on." Therefore, Wal-Mart, despite the rise of warehouse-style operation in the retail industry,
its mode of operation determines the impossibility of providing too much service, but they have always regarded the superb service as their supreme duty. Walmart not only provides customers with high quality products at low prices, but also provides detailed
service. If customers come to the store on a rainy day to store, the clerk will take them into the store with umbrellas and send them to the car. Once, a customer to Wal-Mart looking for a special paint, and the store just out of stock, so the clerk will personally take the customer to the opposite side of the paint store to buy. Wal-Mart often said to employees: "Let us treat customers with kindness and enthusiasm, as if they were guests in their homes, so that they feel that we care about their needs all the time."
Wal-Mart's customer satisfaction also not only stay in the front sales service, more importantly, he has a set of customer satisfaction to ensure that the whole process of management control system. Through this system, he was able to do in a timely manner to consumer feedback to the manufacturers, and help manufacturers to improve and perfect the product. In the past, commercial retailers only acted as intermediaries, passing goods from producers to consumers, and in turn feeding consumers' opinions back to manufacturers by phone or in writing. It doesn't seem like Wal-Mart is unique, but the results vary greatly. The reason is that Wal-Mart is able to participate in the production planning and control of the upstream manufacturers, so it can quickly reflect the opinions of consumers to the production, rather than simply acting as a second hand or telephone microphone. This is the depth of service that Chinese retailers should learn the most from. Around the commodity management of the supply chain, service is the fundamental means to make the supply chain into a value chain. This is exactly what Wal-Mart has left us.
Since customer service is an intangible soft work, varying from person to person, the service provider will always be out of mood, physical condition of such and such a reason affecting the quality of service, but also due to the personal qualities of each service personnel, experience, training degree of the differences caused by the differences in the level of service. In order to eliminate service level differences, Wal-Mart has established standardized service standards. These service standards are very specific and concise, never ambiguous.
For example, the U.S. Wal-Mart shopping mall employees were asked to swear: "I promise: to three meters (10 feet) within the customer smile, and look straight into their eyes, to express the welcome." In staff training, the company even requires employees to smile the standard is up and down to show a row of eight teeth, Wal-Mart so that the first day into the store employees: "Customers come to the store, they pay us a salary. So no matter what, we have to treat customers well, always try to help customers, always go to the side of the customer, ask if they need help."
Wal-Mart also declared: "We strive to do every piece of merchandise to ensure that you are satisfied, if not satisfied, you can return within a month, and get back all the money." Wal-Mart is doing this, not only because it maintains the price at the same time, try to purchase brand-name high-quality products, product quality is guaranteed, more importantly, it is that it believes that, to regain a customer cost, than to maintain the existing customer to five times more, therefore, Wal-Mart would rather have to go back to a dissatisfied with the merchandise, but do not want to lose a dissatisfied customers.
Customer convenience This is the basic feature of Wal-Mart stores, whether it is the design of its stores, shelf design, merchandise display, environmental construction, and so on, is the secret of his success in pleasing customers. Let's look at Walmart's approach:
★ Free parking. For example, the Wal-Mart store in Shenzhen has a business area of more than 12,000 square meters, there are nearly 400 free parking spaces, and another business area of more than 17,800 square meters of Wal-Mart shopping plaza also has about 150 parking spaces.
★ Walmart moved the pastry room into the mall, with "Sam's Lounge", all the flavors of the food, fresh pastries to customers in the shopping after a long day of leisure enjoyment.
★Free consultation. The store employs professionals to provide customers with free advice on computers, cameras, VCRs and related products, which helps reduce the risk of blind purchases.
★Business Center. There is a document processing business center in the store, which can provide customers with a number of services, including the production of color documents, photocopying, enlargement and reduction of engineering drawings, high-speed printing.
★Delivery service. A purchase of 2,000 yuan or more, Walmart can provide delivery services, within the designated range of cheap charges ? because delivery costs are not included in the price of the item?
★Opening to townships. In the choice of store locations, Wal-Mart also takes the convenience of shopping for customers as the primary consideration. In the United States, it reaches out to small, remote townships that Sears and Kmart don't bother with. From Minnesota to Mississippi, from Southern California to Oklahoma, Wal-Mart is everywhere. Wherever there was a shortage of cheap stores in a township, Wal-Mart set up store.
★ Letting customers off the hook. Wal-Mart has always paid special attention to price competition, and has long practiced the business policy of selling at a small profit.
★ Strive for low prices. Wal-Mart avoids all intermediate links, directly from the factory, its strong economic strength to have a strong bargaining power. More importantly, Wal-Mart is not because of its own size, strength and wantonly damage suppliers to increase their own profits, but the importance of establishing a friendly and cordial relationship with the supplier, to protect the interests of the supplier. Wal-Mart gives suppliers far more favorable than peers. The third largest U.S. retailer Kmart on the supply of goods an average of 45 days to pay, while Wal-Mart only an average of 29 days to pay, greatly stimulate the supplier and Wal-Mart to establish business enthusiasm, which ensures that Wal-Mart's optimal price of goods.
Walmart's concept of customer convenience does not only stay in the mark and slogan, it is deep into the operation of the service action. Wal-Mart stores in the channel, lighting design in order to make customers more comfortable; store door welcome more active and enthusiastic than other counterparts; cashier stand work to show respect for the customer; when any one customer from the salesman 3 meters, the salesman must face the customer, face a smile, take the initiative to say hello and ask "what do I need to do? " Wal-Mart tries to make customers in each chain store feel that "this is our store", will be "attentive, sincere reception" to ensure that "no compromise to meet the needs of customers This is how we ensure that "our customers' needs are met without compromise". It is "everything to the customer first" little by little for Wal-Mart has won the favor and trust of customers.
It is this always put the customer needs in the first place, good customer service quality, as well as in the price to create value for the customer's business strategy. So that Wal-Mart has won the trust of customers, thus bringing great returns. "The customer is always right." This admonition from Mr. Walton to his colleagues has been passed down to this day, and has been playing an invaluable role in Wal-Mart's prosperity. '
II. Wal-Mart's corporate culture
Citation: There are three basic beliefsThree Basic Beliefs
Respect for the IndividualIncludes: call them by their first name, equal opportunity, servant leadership, information sharing,
open door, grassroots investigations, acceptance of differences, co-worker participation
Customer Service Strive for ExcellenceIncludes: honesty and integrity, loss control, overhead control, idea generation, promotion and transfer, evaluation, training
Wal-Mart's growth from a small grocery store in a small rural town to a large multinational retail empire that is the largest of the world's Fortune 500 companies has been influenced by a variety of factors. However, the role played by the Sam advocated, after decades of practice continues to develop and enrich, the unique corporate culture is immeasurable. Wal-Mart's unique corporate culture is mainly the following.
(a) emphasis on the tradition of corporate culture is to create a brilliant guarantee
Wal-Mart, although only 50 years of history, but has always attached great importance to the role of corporate culture, and give full play to the corporate culture to form a good mechanism for promoting and safeguarding the role of the enterprise to enhance corporate cohesion and combat effectiveness. Wal-Mart founder Sam? Walton, for the company developed three mottos: "the customer is God", "respect for every employee", "the daily pursuit of excellence". This can also be said to be the essence of Walmart's corporate culture.
In order to provide consumers with affordable goods, Wal-Mart not only through the organizational form of chain management, high-tech management tools, efforts to reduce operating costs, to the benefit of consumers, and from all aspects of all sorts of ways to save money.
Wal-Mart attaches importance to the spiritual encouragement of employees. Headquarters and the windows of each store, are hung with photos of advanced employees. Each store is arranged for some retired employees, wearing Walmart uniforms, wearing the Walmart logo, standing in front of the store to meet customers, from time to time there are curious customers with its photo. This not only plays the role of security guards, but also a kind of spiritual comfort to the old employees. The company also honors particularly outstanding executives with the title of "Sam Walton Entrepreneur". Walton entrepreneur". The company has made up a set of slogans with each letter of the alphabet of Wal-Mart at the beginning, and the content is to encourage employees to always strive for the first. Every time the company held a shareholders meeting, regional managers meeting and other important meetings, every store every day before the opening of business, we must all chant these slogans, and with the action, in order to lift the spirit, inspire the spirit of the soil.
(2) put forward "employees are partners" slogan
Sam attaches great importance to the role of people, he said: "These high-tech equipment away from our appropriate managers, as well as the entire system for the dedicated employees are completely worthless. " He has been committed to building a partnership with his employees and bringing Wal-Mart's 400,000 employees together to put the good of the whole above the good of the individual and **** with them to move Wal-Mart forward.
Sam's policies that crystallized the concept of "employees as partners" were three programs: a profit-sharing program, an employee stock purchase program, and an attrition incentive program.
In 1971, Sam started the first program, which guaranteed that every employee who had worked at Wal-Mart for more than a year and at least 1,000 hours per year would be eligible to share in the company's profits. Using a formula related to profit growth, Sam attributed a percentage of each eligible employee's salary to the program, and employees could take that share either in cash or in Wal-Mart stock when they left the company. The Employee Stock Purchase Plan consists of allowing employees to purchase stock through payroll deductions at a price 15% below market value, and now, Wal-Mart has more than 80% of its employees owning Wal-Mart stock with the help of these two plans, while the other 20% of the employees are basically ineligible to participate in profit-sharing. The purpose of the depletion incentive program is to control theft by sharing with employees*** the profits that the company earns by reducing depletion. Attrition, or theft, is the retail industry's worst enemy, and Sam's rewards for stores that effectively control attrition have reduced Wal-Mart's attrition rate to half the retail industry average.
(iii) A vibrant and energetic Wal-Mart culture
"Sam can lay claim to being the greatest entrepreneur of the century. The Wal-Mart corporate culture he has built is the key to all success and is unrivaled." -- Harry K. Cunningham, founder of the American Kmart chain. Cunningham commented on his competitor Sam? Walton.
Whether you go to any of the Walmart chain stores around the world, you will feel a strong vibration. This is a long-established corporate culture, the Wal-Mart spirit - hard work, thrift, activity, innovation. Because of this, every company colleague loves Walmart and quietly dedicates himself to the cause of customer service.
For a long time, Walmart's corporate culture has kept Walmart associates together, and they are energetic, united and friendly. The following is Walmart's unique cheer slogan, from which you can feel a strong sense of honor and responsibility.
"Come a W! Come an M! We are Wal-Mart! Come one A! Come one A! Customers first Walmart! Come one L! Come one R! Everyday Affordable Walmart! We stomp our feet! Come one T! Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart! Hoo-hoo-hoo!"
Walmart employees always try to make life interesting and full of surprises, and they often engage in near-crazy behavior to attract the attention of their colleagues and make customers and colleagues feel interesting. Sam Walton is a typical example. Walton can be called a typical representative, once he promised that if the company's performance leaps, he will wear grass skirts and Hawaiian shirts in the hula dance on Wall Street. When the company's turnover did exceed his expectations, so he really in the financial capital of the United States, Wall Street, jumped up and down the hula, when the press was greatly exposed. The vice-chairman of the company wore pink pantyhose and a blonde wig and rode a white horse in downtown Bentwella.
While some people think Wal-Mart has a bunch of crazy people, those who understand Wal-Mart's culture will know that its intent is to encourage people to break out of their stereotypes and monotony and go for the jugular. "To have more fun at work." That's what Sam Walton's "Whistle Blower" is all about. That's Sam Walton's philosophy of whistling for work.
Through these fun games, not only to make the Wal-Mart employees and leaders more intimate with each other, so that they feel fun, but also one of the best means of publicity and promotion of the company. Wal-Mart's corporate culture was gradually formed when the company was growing in a small town. After the company has grown, Wal-Mart still does not forget to encourage people to create a fun atmosphere in the store, *** with adding life to the community. Foster a sense of teamwork, even if it sometimes has nothing to do with publicizing and promoting merchandise.
(D) unique "Saturday meeting"
Walmart's "Saturday meeting" best reflects its corporate culture. Every Saturday morning at 7:30 o'clock, the company's senior executives, store managers and colleagues at all levels of nearly 1,000 people gathered together, led by the president of the company shouting slogans, and then everyone on the company's business philosophy and management strategy to speak freely, brainstorming. Employees who have made excellent achievements are also invited to the Bentwella headquarters and praised in public. This weekly morning meeting is regarded as the core of Wal-Mart's corporate culture. People attending the meeting are all smiling and happy, and in the relaxed atmosphere the distance between each other is shortened, communication is no longer a difficult task, and colleagues at all levels of the company are aware of the latest progress of the various branches and departments.
On Saturday mornings, participants usually spend some time talking about innovative ideas that seem impossible, and instead of rejecting them right away, they think hard about how to make the impossible possible. One company executive, Al Miles, said, "Saturday was a great day for me. Myers said, "The real value of the Saturday morning meeting is its unpredictability."
Once an assistant manager at the Oneonta, Albemarle, location had a problem ordering four or five times as many round moonshine cakes, and in order to sell all of them before they went bad, he came up with the idea of a round moonshine eating contest. This idea not only enabled the assistant manager to achieve the purpose, but also to make up for the mistake, and since then every year on the second Saturday of October, Wal-Mart will be held in the parking lot of the Oneonta branch of the contest, attracting a lot of customers from other states to participate in and watch, and even the news media interviews, the Wal-Mart's fame is greater.
Wal-Mart's annual shareholders' meeting is just as lively and interesting, sort of like a regular Saturday meeting on a larger scale. When Wal-Mart publicly listed its stock, they used to let Wall Street securities analysts and shareholders canoe on streams or camp out on lakeshores. The Walmart shareholder meeting has since become the largest shareholder meeting in the world, with about 10,000 people attending each year.
Unique corporate culture, so that every employee has a sense of family closeness. Struggle for *** with the same goal, so that Walmart maintains a strong competitive ability and exuberant fighting spirit. The establishment of this corporate culture fully demonstrates Walton's art of leading the network.
(V) training, often training
Wal-Mart operators in the continuous exploration, to understand the importance of talent for the success of the enterprise. If they want to grow, they must bring in educated people and give them the opportunity for further training.
Walmart sees how to develop talent, bring in talent, and train and place existing talent as a top priority. Mr. Walton and his wife Helen at the University of Arkansas specifically set up the Walton College, so that some of the managers who did not have the opportunity to receive higher education in the early years of the manager to have a chance to further training and recharge. Wal-Mart develops training and development programs for its employees to better understand their job responsibilities and to encourage them to rise to the challenges of the job.
The company offers lateral training and management internships to eligible employees. Horizontal training is a long-lasting program, Walmart attaches great importance to the work attitude and ability to do special performance employees, they will be selected to participate in horizontal training. For example, cashiers have the opportunity to attend training for cashier supervisors. In order to give employees with leadership potential the opportunity to join leadership positions, Wal-Mart has also set up a managerial training program in which qualified employees are sent to other departments to receive business and management training.
In addition, Wal-Mart has strengthened communication between the organization and its employees through training. Training is not only a way for employees to improve, but also a way for them to learn about the company. Wal-Mart has a training library that gives employees the opportunity to learn about company information and other departments. After all employees enter the Wal-Mart Company and go through job training, employees will have a better understanding and appreciation of the company's background, benefits system, and rules and regulations. Walton, an outstanding leader, always believed that employees are the driving force behind the development of the company, and taught this truth to Wal-Mart's present and future operators and extended to Wal-Mart around the world.
III. Wal-Mart's human resources
Wal-Mart is the world's largest retail business. 1962 Wal-Mart founder Mr. Sam? Mr. Sam Wal-Mart, founder of Wal-Mart in 1962, started from nothing, in the small town of Bentonville, Arkansas, the United States, invested in the operation of the first Wal-Mart discount store, the store name is WAL-MART, "the lowest selling price, satisfaction guaranteed," as the business philosophy. 70's, Wal-Mart has grown into the nation's largest regional retailing company, and in the 80's, it has developed into the nation's largest discount chain company. In the 1980s, Wal-Mart grew to become the nation's largest discount chain, with annual sales increasing at a rate of 40%. To November 1990, Wal-Mart exceeded the U.S. discount department store industry leader for 10 years Kmart (KMART), became the first retail company in the U.S. sales. 1991 and exceeded since World War II that is ranked first in the United States, the old department store industry allies Sears (SEARS), the top of the U.S. retail industry. After that, it continued to grow, and in the 1990s, it became the No. 1 retailer in the U.S. and the world again. 2002 was Wal-Mart's most brilliant year since its founding. In the "Fortune" magazine announced the global 2001 annual list of the top 500 companies, Wal-Mart to 219.812 billion U.S. dollars in total revenue, won the United States and even the world's first gold chair of the enterprise.
So what made Wal-Mart beat all the giants in the industry in just 30 years, creating such a brilliant miracle in the history of the world retail industry? The competition in the retail industry is, in the final analysis, the competition for talent. Wal-Mart's most unique advantage is the dedication and teamwork of its employees. Sam? Wal-Mart and his successors have repeatedly emphasized the importance of people to Wal-Mart, employees are regarded as the company's greatest asset. Wal-Mart's human resource strategy can be summarized in three sentences: retain talent, develop talent, and absorb talent.