Walton Was on a Crusade
Sam Walton knew that he wanted to be a retail discounter from early in his career. Once the decided on that he was like a crusader looking for ways to drive costs out of the merchandising system.
He understood the purpose of the store and why they existed and never moved off of that purpose ever. He's been criticised for it a number of times, but that doesn't matter. The company could only be what he saw it being if he remained true to its reason for existence.
It didn't matter where he found places to drive down costs; whether it was in the stores, the manufacturers or the middleman - he found their inefficiencies and challenged them to bring down their prices through improving them. Like he said one time: "Why should Wal-Mart (WMT) have to pay for their inefficiencies?" The 
answer is that no company should have to.
This is the type of focus and passion that must accompany any of us that understand the purpose their business exists for. To allow others to dictate that purpose is a sure recipe for failure. Walton never allowed it and neither should we.
That doesn't mean there aren't better ways that Walton needed to learn. For example, one time he wouldn't place an order for a product because the supplier wouldn't or couldn't meet the price. When Walton found out that if he increased the size of the order they would be able to give them the price, he went ahead with it.
He wasn't past adjusting and adapting when he saw the problem. It's that he wouldn't simply buy stuff to make somebody feel good if they weren't able to be on the same page with him. If they were, there was more than once that he made decisions in favor of those seeking to do business with him. Most the time in the way I mentioned that he would place larger orders so that the company would be able to lower prices to the desired level.
In it all he obsessed in a healthy way over what he could do to offer the greatest deals to the largest amount of people. It worked!
Sam Walton: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Business
Sam Walton - Retail Success Story
Sam Walton: King Of The Discounters
Sam Walton: Great From the Start
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