David Koehler
April 24, 2006
Corporate Finance
"Can Wal-Mart Possibly Fail"
The Wal-Mart story is one that is sweet and simple led by small town man with a hard work approach. The one thing that Sam Walton valued was the idea of hard work. He was your every day hard working man that had an idea that would change the retail world forever. In 1985 when Forbes magazine named the Walton "richest man in America", he surely was not your prototypically billionaire (Walton 1992). No, he did not reside in the financial capital of the world, New York, nor did live in the million-dollar mansion; his residence was in the little town in Arkansas called Betonville. His business principles were started at a very young age from his first couple of jobs. From his first venture as a milk boy, Sam always understood the value of the dollar and this knowledge of the dollar carried him very far in life, as we will discover later. If there was a penny lying on the street, Sam was the first to pick it up. Through my research of Wal-Mart's dominance, I found Sam's extensive background in athletics played a major part in Wal-Mart's success. He was always one step ahead of his competition in whatever he did set out to do.
When answering the question, Can Wal-Mart actually fail? First I will examine the factors that led to their supremacy. The Wal-Mart family has always kept their finances very private. They never liked to be in eye of the public. Their old fashion approach to business from the start still remains in the company today. The family owns almost half of all the Wal-Mart stock on the market, thus making it hard for another entity to takeover the company. Sam always knew where his stock was. He was the never the person that wanted to live the high life. He always ...