Entrepreneur-Sam Walton

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ENTREPRENEUR’S SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES

Sam Walton understood the importance of communication very well, he felt that it was important for everyone to understand what is going on around them so they could help to solve the problem. He knew that every member had to be engaged and participated, he devised daily stand-up meetings in every store and distribution centre every day. By requiring the meeting, Sam Walton was able to ensure his teams were constantly updated and was given confidence to get the job done. Wal-Mart company culture was to develop talents and potential staffs then promoting them, which was the critical component in the achievement of Wal-Mart’s growth. Sam Walton emphasized on the importance of having strong people skills, mostly individuals promoted by Sam Walton had the ability to work with and motivate a group of people.

Sam Walton was a customer focused entrepreneur, he liked visiting his own stores and talk to his customers just to ask about their ideas on his products. He always greeted and approached his customers in the stores, which was also part of his service philosophy to exceed customer’s expectations. The customer service standard remains in place until this day. Besides his own stores, he also visited his competitors’ stores so he could take back good ideas to Wal-Mart. Sam Walton felt that it was important to listen to the associates and he insisted upon open, free and honest communication upon all the organization. He was a fact finder not a fault finder, he encouraged associates to solve their issues by using the company’s open door policy. This helped workers to come up with new ideas and new ways of doing things. He admitted that many of the best ideas used around his company had come from the employees.

One of the concept established by Sam Walton at Wal-Mart was the concept of continuous improvement. Good was never enough to Sam Walton and he encouraged everyone to improve all Wal-Mart’s work processes. The goal was always reducing amount of time and effort required to complete task this was because small improvements in one place had big impact towards other places. Wal-Mart was a profit-sharing company with their employees, Sam Walton figured out that the greatest success came from communicating with his associated as if they were his business partners. Moreover, it would make employees concern about company’s sales and success which keep them motivated all the time to achieve high performance.

Sam Walton believed in the spirit of teamwork and the synergy it creates. He was a role model for innovation, teamwork and functional problem solving in order for his company to grow. Effective and high performance teams were the foundation of success and the role of Sam Walton in leading his team mean effectiveness required trust and empowerment. At Wal-Mart, everything was being organized. This was because Sam Walton and his team had good plans in place to make sure tasks get done on time. Planning help to set priorities for work and help to see big picture of what the company was doing. Moreover, adjustments were made to the plan based on environment and market to maintain profitability. Wal-Mart’s operation focus on efficient logistics and inventory management systems to help reduce costs. Wal-Mart has a reputation for caring their customers and employees, Sam Walton believed in providing his customers the good value service and to have good relationship with his employees.

One of the greatest strengths of Sam Walton was his unique ability to gain the trust and support of the people around him. He called his customers "neighbours" or "guests" and he referred to the managers in his company as "coaches." He referred to the employees of his company as associates or business partners and they referred to him, out of respect, as "Mr. Sam". Sam Walton was driven by 3 core values which were respect for people, service to customers and strive for excellence. These values were taught and use within his leadership team. The basis of Sam Walton's success resulted from the fact that he was an entrepreneur with incredible discipline. He put his heart and soul into creating, nourishing and growing his retailing empire. He spent every day trying to make his company, the most successful in the world, and over time he succeeded.

Sam Walton was one of the best leaders that consistently approached with his team and it was vital for Wal-Mart’s success that Sam Walton set clear and specific expectations. Those expectations were set so that the team could easily see the structure and purpose and consequently be more engaged and productive. When problem occurred in Wal-Mart, everyone is expected to get involved, from managers to cashiers, employees were pulled together to determine how a situation can get best solution. Sam Walton enjoyed addressing a wide array of problems in the retail work environment. He was an excellent leader and problem solver, he improved his distribution system by creating distribution centres after brainstorming with his associates. Sam Walton internalizes his competencies and demonstrated the values in it. These skills were important to Sam Walton as they affected him to have a successful company.

CHALLENGES ENCOUNTERED BY ENTREPRENEUR

It was in 1945 after Sam Walton left military, he purchased a Ben Franklin store which was under Butler Brothers franchise chain. He took over the management at the age of 26, with the help of $20,000 loan from his father-in-law and his saving of $5,000 from his time in army. Sam Walton made sure the shelves in his store were always stocked with wide range of goods. Within thirty months of time, he paid off his debt to father-in-law and he managed to open second store. Sam Walton and his brother James owned total of 15 Ben Franklin franchises in the 1950’s. Sam Walton planning on to open a bigger discount store in rural area to achieve more sales but the idea was turned down by the Ben Franklin executives who were not thrilled by Sam Walton’s freelancing way, they refused to renew his lease because they saw how well Sam Walton’s Ben Franklin stores were doing it caused the closing of Sam Walton’s stores.

The problem was the lease Sam Walton has signed in 1945 for his store because it contained no renewal clause, Sam Walton along with his wife and their four kids were forced to leave Newport where they have built a life there for several years. That was the lowest point of Sam Walton’s life, he was sick and he could not believe that it was happening to him. It was really like a nightmare, he built the best variety store in the region and worked hard for the community, but he was being kicked out of