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Company Background Of Wal Mart

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Company Background Founder of Wal-Mart, Sam Walton graduated in 1940 with a degree in economics and started his career as a management trainee with J.C Penney Company. Three years later Sam used all of his savings to open a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. After he lost the lease of the Newport location, Sam and his brother J.L Walton opened up another store in Bentonville. By the early 1960’s Sam felt that he had enough experience and knowledge from studying mass-merchandising techniques to start a new journey in the retail industry. From traveling around the country managing the Ben Franklin stores, Sam learned that small-town populations would have many uses for large discount shopping stores and therefore make them …show more content…

The following year the company had incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.. The success of Wal-Mart was quite unheard of during this time and this success helped them to stay ahead of the competition for many years to come. In order to cut costs Mr. Walton decided to build Wal-Marts own warehouses so it could buy in volume and store the merchandise. In 1970 Wal-Mart went public and by 1975 there were 125 stores in operation with sales of $340.3 million and 7,500 associates. This success earned Wal-Marts number one spot in Forbes in 1977, based on return on equity, capital, sales growth, and earnings. In 1978 Wal-Mart opened its own pharmacy, auto service center and jewelry divisions. By 1979, not only were there 276 stores in 11 states but they also became the fastest company to reach the $1 billion mark. In the 1980’s the company opened up its first three Sam’s Wholesale Clubs, and by 1987 they had opened 18 Sam’s Clubs. In 1988 the Walton’s had opened up the first Supercenter in Washington, Missouri which featured a large selection of merchandise and a wide variety of grocery sections. Not only did Wal-Mart excel within the business aspect of things but they also made sure they did right by the community as well. The company awarded $1,000 scholarships to high school students in each community Wal-Mart served. By 1990 Wal-Mart was the number one retailer in the United

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