Quote:
Originally posted by BRISK
How was I proven wrong about what Sam Walton wanted the company to be?
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Had you grasped the spirit of Sam by reading the book or studying him you would have come to the same conclusion that I and Gator had. Sam meant for that company to be almost strictly American in what it sold and who it employeed. When he died the number of foreign produced items being sold in the stores skyrocketed. The CEO's and board of directors took over and went to work making money hand over fist, they did not share the same dream as the founding father of the company, they found it foolish and old fasioned, the old man was dead, time to make money.
As far as corporate movement goes they are doing WONDERFULLY. They hardly mark up food items in the Super Walmarts they increased the number of cheaply made foreign items, signed exclusivity contracts with some producers, effectively giving monopolies to some companies. They increased the numbers and locations of their stores strategically to put family owned markets and producers out of business. They have even started producing smaller more "natural" looking pharmacy stores in our area as a means to counter some of the claims made by mom and pop. I look at them and I marvel at the power of the corporation, yet I know what the costs were. Simular things have happened to Wendy's Food chain. Dave Thomas ran the company one way, making money to take care of himself but gave back to the community, lots of charity work, personable commercials and with quality assurance being JOB 1. He died and his daughter was not able to retain controlling interest due to the movements of the corporate boys. Profits are up but quality and the way the company was run are drastically changed, they have not held their own against other food companies as well and now that Burger King sold to an American company it is one more American Corp to compete against.