Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Retail Resources (Part 1 of 2)
Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.
The company that’s easy to hate pulls off another project management coup. Wal-Mart has a knack for making headlines, whether for its unprecedented continuous growth, its unscrupulous business practices or for doing some unexpected good.
No one can argue the fact that the Bentonville, Ark.-based corporate behemoth--with 3,400 U.S. stores--is the most powerful retailer in the world.
How did War-Mart do it? For starters, shrewd, cunning managers, many of whom were schooled by founder Sam Walton himself, had something to do with it. Walton’s vision of a retail company that would provide affordable products and services for his customers was unique. In Walton’s own words, “Each Wal-Mart store should reflect the values of its customers and support the vision they hold for their community.”
Walton’s contention that sophisticated technology would be the engine fueling growth was clearly futuristic. In the early 1960s, when the foundation of the Wal-Mart empire was being built, it’s doubtful that Walton actually understood computers. Yet he sensed their awesome potential as a vehicle for fueling rapid growth and for accomplishing what human beings were incapable of achieving.
Like most entrepreneurs, Walton invested heavily in expansion efforts, but he also parted company with most growing companies at …
Please log in or sign up below to read the rest of the article.
ADVERTISEMENTS
|
"It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them." - Ralph Waldo Emerson |