The Wal-Mart Way - Book Review

THE WAL-MART WAY

- DON SODERQUIST

I had the opportunity to read the book"THE WAL-MART WAY" when I was doing my post graduate Program in Management. This is one of the popular books among management students as the author talks about few innovative methods and techniques adopted by Wal-Mart, American Multinational Retail Corporation, to reduce the operation costs of the company, thereby providing the customers the products with low prices.

"Every Day, Low Prices" was the tagline for a long time until recently when it was changed to

"Save Money, Live Better".

The motto has always been to sell products at low prices. To make this happen the company adopted new practices. The book widely talks about these methods and also throws light on the work culture and attitude towards the employees.

About the Author

The author of this book Don Soderquist was the Chief Operations Officer (COO) and Senior Vice Chairman of Wal-Mart. He has worked alongside Sam Walton, the founder of Wal-Mart, and knows the company from inside. He joined the company in 1980 and was known as the "Keeper of Culture". Don officially retired in 2002. He wanted to talk about the company from his own perspective and that is when "The Wal-Mart Way" was born in 2005. He died in 2016 owing to health complications.

Book Review

One of the few secrets about the Wal-Mart's success is the working culture. All employees in the company shared the same grounds, be it the cleaner or the manager. Each one was considered important. There was always an eye for new ideas, even if the idea came from a cleaning lady. Few such incidents are discussed in the book that proves the respect and dignity the employees receive from the fellow workers.
Sam Walton believed in "Management by Walking Around (MBWA) technique, where-in managers wonder around the workforce or other stores to make key observations about the organizational structure and work practices.

Customer is the Boss

Ten Foot Rule

As part of the customer service strategies, Sam Walton introduced Ten foot rule. As per this rule, when the WalMart associate came ten feet close to the customers, they were to smile, make eye-contact with the customers, greet and offer them assistance.

Every Day low prices

Sam Walton always strove to provide the customers with lowest priced products. For this to happen he reduced the operations cost, promotion costs and other expenses. For advertisements and promotions he used his own associates as models. He also reduced his travel expenses, stayed in moderate hotels. "Reduced Price, Reduced cost" was the principle.

Supply Chain and Distribution Network
"No One wins until everyone wins".  Supplier relationship was the key for efficient supply chain management. Suppliers had direct access to Wal-mart computer network to track the sales and stock on all shelves of retail outlets.
To reduce the storage costs, the company built its own warehouses, the first warehouse being in Arkansas. These warehouses were then used as distribution centres by automation.
Wal-Mart implemented many other innovative techniques in supply chain to reduce the cost and for the efficient functioning of all the operations within the company. Just in Time (JIT) deliveries, Back hauling and Cross Docking are few such techniques mentioned in the book. All these techniques are discussed in detail in the book by the author.



Overall "The Wal-Mart Way" talks about the core values, culture, principles of the organization along with the various management techniques. The book is definitely a good read for all the management students and also for those interested and curious to have an insight on the functioning of one of the biggest retailers of the world.