Running Head: WALMART

Walmart

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Individual and Company name

One of the most celebrated and successful entrepreneurs is Sam Walton. He is the founder of
Walmart, which is one of the largest multinational retail corporation.
Sam Waltons Background
Sam was born in the year 1918, March 29 at a place known as Oklahoma, in Kingfisher. He was
the first born son of Mr. Thomas Walton and Mrs. Banker, Nancy Lee. He was raised by his
parents in Missouri. He was a bright boy in school and took part in athletes and football. He
graduated from Hick man high school. He later enrolled for his bachelors of economic at the
university of Missouri and graduated later in 1940 (Sam Walton Biography, 2015).
His career in business started early after the college education. He secured a job with J.C Penney,
then, a small retail shop. He worked for some time and later joined the army. He was in the
position of captain in the department of intelligence. He was lucky to survive World War 2 and
embarked on his private life. It was in the year 1945 (Sam Walton Biography, 2015).
He borrowed a loan of $20000 from his father-in-law and had his savings of $5000.He used the
loan in the acquisition of his first stall at Arkansas in Newport. The store was a franchise from
Ben Franklin. It marks the beginning of a successful journey to the birth of Walmart.
The company Walmart was not founded overnight. He started off with one store in 1945 but
owned 15 of them twenty years later. He operated with the help of his brother. Walton wanted to

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open stores in rural communities he had the idea of low prices, large sale volume and hence
profits. . He part ways with the brother.
Foundation of Walmart
1962 is the year Walmart was founded. It was located in Rogers, Arkansas. Walton was lucky,
and all seemed to work out well. In 1976, the company was publicly traded. The share value was
$176 million. Their success was so swift that, by the year 1991 Walmart was leading largest
retailer surpassing Sears, Roebuck and Company (Sam Walton, 2015).
My description of the business
In my description, Walmart is the place to shop.Shopping in Walmart is one of my best
experiences. Variety and relatively low prices keep me going back. They have worked hard to
keep up with the changing market forces and trends. There are a thousand and one things one
would do in Walmart without boredom. Simply stated it is fun.
Setbacks
Just like other large corporations, it has not all been easy at Walmart. Some of the major setbacks
are that it has been accused of evading taxes. It has also been accused of poor employment
practices.Law violation among other. The company to its defense states that all that are false
accusations. Some former workers have gone further to testify against Walmart has infamous
practices. It tarnishes the company image. It has received pressure to pay workers better which is
asset back depending on the policies they have put in place. Walmart has been strong enough to
defend itself and adjust accordingly (Jordan, 2008).
Success
In the year 2014 Walmart was reported to have employed 2.2 million workers world (Location,
2015). The team is larger than a whole our army. It has established itself internationally. It has

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outlets in different parts of the world such as Canada, Mexico, India, Costa Rica, Brazil,
Argentina, Nicaragua, El Salvador, China, Guatemala, Japan Puerto Rico, Honduras and United
Kingdom. As of 2015 Walmart records a $486 billion revenue (Forbes, 2015).
Waltons Key Entrepreneur characteristics
Risk taker he was brave enough to ask for a big loan not knowing that he would comfortably
pay it. He quit his partnership with the brother and went on his own because of the rural
investments that he believed would earn a significant amount of income.
Perseverance he was able to handle obstacles to make it. He received a lot of discouragements
from another retailer because of the belief he had in discounting and large sales volume. He had
shared his idea with the Ben Franklin board, but it was quickly turned down. The negative
recipient did not demotivate him following hid dream.
Resourcefulness- Time to open Walmart had come but resources were scarce. He mortgaged his
house and borrowed start-up cash to the hilt.

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References
(2015, August 15). Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/profile/walton-1/
Jordan, T. (2008, May 24). Retrieved from The Good, The Bad, and Wal-Mart:
http://www.workplacefairness.org/reports/good-bad-wal-mart/credits.php
Location. (2015, September 28). Retrieved from Walmart: http://corporate.walmart.com/ourstory/our-business/locations/
Sam Walton. (2015, September 28). Retrieved from Walmart: http://corporate.walmart.com/ourstory/history/sam-walton
Sam Walton Biography. (2015, September 28). Retrieved from The Biography.com website:
http://www.biography.com/people/sam-walton-9523270