Introduction
In today’s business world, very few people can measure up to the immense success that Sam Walton has made in his professional career. In spite of setting off his company from a rocky foundation, Sam Walton has been able to diligently manage the company, build it and expand its business tentacles to make it the distinguished multi million business empire it is today. In this paper, focus will be on highlighting some managerial accounting lessons that can be learnt from Sam Walton’s management. In doing so, scholarly journals, articles and books (especially the thirteenth edition of Managerial Accounting by Garrison, Noreen, and Brewer) will be used.
Background information on Sam Walton and Wal-Mart
Essentially, Wal-Mart is the trading name for Wal-Mart Stores Incorporated which is an American public multinational corporation established in 1962 and Incorporated in 1969 (Frontline, 2004). Wal-Mart mainly deals with large discount stores and warehouse all over the United States of America. Several Wal-Mart stores are also coming up in other regions like Europe, Asia and even Africa. Recent rankings by the famous Forbes 2000, positioned Wal-Mart as the 18th largest public owned corporation in the world. Wal-Mart is also the largest global company as well as the largest private employer in the world—with over 2 million employees (Frontline, 2004)
This laudable success would have, however, not been possible had it not been for the ingenious management of Sam Walton and his business compatriots. Given below is a brief documentation of how Walton has been able to offer good leadership—despite the challenges he has faced—and lessons we can learn from him.
Main Discussion: Lessons from Sam Walton
The first lesson worth noting from Sam Walton’s business life is that, to succeed, we must begin by setting goals (both short-term and long-term) then working towards them constantly—depending on the nature of their urgency. To explicate this, Walton and Huey (1992, p.6-15) report of Walton’s difficult childhood and the several impediments that might have made him lose focus. However, being the determined person he is, he chose to persistently work towards his goals until he eventually succeeded. Additionally, Walton ensured that he interacted with several people including his schoolmates, his mentor, fellow workers, business associates and family who, in one way or another, helped him to focus circumspectly on his aims (p.10-30).
The second lesson from Sam Walton is that we should strategically plan for our actions, hope for the best while also expect and duly strategize on how to resuscitate ourselves from bad business scenarios. According to Garrison et al. (2009, p.34-38), the world of business is a highly dynamic arena which is influenced by several factors that can lead to success or failure. Consequently, we should always be ready for all sorts of outcomes. Walton, probably, learnt this lesson a long time ago and that is why he has been able to better Wal-Mart in spite of the several challenges faced—including: gender discrimination issues, unsatisfactory customer service and relatively high-priced good in some of its outlets (Little, 2010; Mallaby, 2005; & Frontline, 2004).
The third and last lesson that can be learnt from Wal-Mart’s management by Walton is that we should know our target market and ensure that we serve them adequately (Garrison et al., 2009, p.23-27). As glimpsed in the previous paragraph, there have been some complaints about Wal-Mart’s customer services. However, overalls, most macroeconomic analysts agree that, to a great extent, the company rightfully serves its clients. A good example is the renowned policy of selling products at good discounts. This enables the company to reach a wide range of audience thus eventually making huge profits. To support this, annual financial reports (between 2010 and 2011) indicate that the company made a whooping profit of $15.4 billion (after taxes and other deductions have been made) from annual revenue of $421.849 billion. This profit represented a 24.7 increase in the company’s gross profit. All these admirable figures simply emphasize the fact that Walton’s strategy in the company is truly working and is worth being copied or learnt (Wal-Mart’s Official Website, 2011).
Conclusion
It is undoubtedly clear that when we follow good managerial accounting practices; we are bound to eventually succeed. As is commonly said, the road to success can sometimes be long and we should be well-prepared. It should be duly noted that the lessons given above are just a few of the many strategies that can lead us to success. We should, therefore, endeavor in practicing them as we continually learn from other hallmarks of success such as Sam Walton.
References
Frontline. (2004). Is Wal-Mart good for America: the rise of Wal-Mart. Web.
Garrison, R. H., Noreen, E. W., & Brewer, P. C. (2009). Managerial accounting (13th Ed). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Little, L. (2010). Mom bloggers question if Walmart lost its vision. Web.
Mallaby, S. (2005). Progressive Wal-Mart. Really? Web.
Walton, S., & Huey, J. (1992). Made in America: my story. New York: Doubleday.
Wal-Mart Website. (2011). Wal-Mart 2011 annual report. Web.