Today's News Discussion: Why do you think that the World's Largest Retailer's US sales are very sluggish?
Fox Business News: Wm announces new US CEO
With today's announcement WalMart acknowledges a lack luster year here in the United States. Why is this occurring? Is it the results of a recession that has ended by official definition but is still lingering on? Is it that the numbers that the Government had brought forth were not accurate either by accident or on purpose? Could it be that the retail market is changing and WalMart's time honored methods are no longer working?
I think we need to look at the possibility that it very may well be a combination of all of these. We know that the unemployment numbers are inaccurate because we have so many people that are just not looking for work. We also know that on line retail is taking a larger bite of the market each quarter. We can see where this could have an impact on the US divisions sales.
But just possibly a bigger issue is in the lack of staffing in US stores, each store I have entered in the last 3 years has been grossly understaffed and customer service in the departments is non-existent. This is a direct result of budgets set way up the ladder in the home office and not at the district or regional level. WalMart according to many managers, etc. has become a very controlled and predictable company that manages with a broad brush and misses out on innovation and local flavor in all parts of the business.
Mr. Sam built a company with 10 rules he followed #10 says it all
Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody
else is doing it one way, there's a good chance you can find your niche
by going in exactly the opposite direction.
Don Soderquist was the COO of the WalMart Company for years and is recognized as a "Keeper of the Culture" who knew Mr. Sam and below reflects on what made the company successful was it's people , the local influence.
With today's announcement WalMart acknowledges a lack luster year here in the United States. Why is this occurring? Is it the results of a recession that has ended by official definition but is still lingering on? Is it that the numbers that the Government had brought forth were not accurate either by accident or on purpose? Could it be that the retail market is changing and WalMart's time honored methods are no longer working?
I think we need to look at the possibility that it very may well be a combination of all of these. We know that the unemployment numbers are inaccurate because we have so many people that are just not looking for work. We also know that on line retail is taking a larger bite of the market each quarter. We can see where this could have an impact on the US divisions sales.
But just possibly a bigger issue is in the lack of staffing in US stores, each store I have entered in the last 3 years has been grossly understaffed and customer service in the departments is non-existent. This is a direct result of budgets set way up the ladder in the home office and not at the district or regional level. WalMart according to many managers, etc. has become a very controlled and predictable company that manages with a broad brush and misses out on innovation and local flavor in all parts of the business.
Mr. Sam built a company with 10 rules he followed #10 says it all
Sam's 10 Rules for Building a Business
Sam Walton believed running a successful business boils down to
10 simple rules. These rules helped Walmart become the global leader it
is today. We continue to apply them to every part of our business. You
can read the rules below, excerpted from his book,
Sam Walton, Made in America: My Story.
1. Commit to your business.
Believe in it more than anybody else. If you love your work,
you'll be out there every day trying to do it the best you possibly can,
and pretty soon everybody around will catch the passion from you – like
a fever.
2. Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners.
In turn, they will treat you as a partner, and together you will all perform beyond your wildest expectations.
3. Motivate your partners.
Money and ownership alone aren't enough. Set high goals,
encourage competition, and then keep score. Don't become too
predictable.
4. Communicate everything you possibly can to your partners.
The more they know, the more they'll understand. The more they
understand, the more they'll care. Once they care, there's no stopping
them.
5. Appreciate everything your associates do for the business.
Nothing else can quite substitute for a few well-chosen,
well-timed, sincere words of praise. They're absolutely free – and worth
a fortune.
6. Celebrate your success.
Don't take yourself so seriously. Loosen up, and everybody
around you will loosen up. Have fun. Show enthusiasm – always. All of
this is more important, and more fun, than you think, and it really
fools competition.
7. Listen to everyone in your company.
And figure out ways to get them talking. To push responsibility
down in your organization, and to force good ideas to bubble up within
it, you must listen to what your associates are trying to tell you.
8. Exceed your customers’ expectations.
Give them what they want — and a little more. Make good on all
your mistakes, and don't make excuses — apologize. Stand behind
everything you do.
9. Control your expenses better than your competition.
This is where you can always find the competitive advantage. You
can make a lot of different mistakes and still recover if you run an
efficient operation. Or you can be brilliant and still go out of
business if you're too inefficient.
10. Swim upstream.
Don Soderquist was the COO of the WalMart Company for years and is recognized as a "Keeper of the Culture" who knew Mr. Sam and below reflects on what made the company successful was it's people , the local influence.
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