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Starting-Up the 'Outside In' Blog

As Winston Churchill had famously spoken about 'never wasting a good crisis', I am taking some inspiration from the same in the '...

Retail Wisdom from Sam Walton - 2

Some more interesting ideas, summarized from the same book, and some of my comments about what I have seen in Indian Retail in general, today:


6-Ways at Wal-Mart:
1. Think One Store at a Time. Nah, we will talk about 500 Stores, 10000 Crores Revenues, 100000 People Employment - in 3 Years, all the time.
2. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Zero Communication either ways, even when we've begun to carry out as serious an Activity as 'Layoffs'. I've already written about "Lack of Information Sharing even on Retail Operations" in my previous post.
3. Keep your Ear to the Ground. I don't see Head Office people moving around in the Market on a regular basis and forget keeping a Tab on Best Practices by other retailers.
4. Push Responsibility and Authority Down. Ha! Then what will I do at Head Office!
5. Stay Lean, Fight Bureaucracy. Nah, we have already set up an organization to take care of 500 Stores. So, work is well divided already and No single person can take Responsibility.
6. Force Ideas to Bubble Up. If there is no Communication either ways - as noted in point 2 - how are ideas to bubble up? Ideas don't even bubble down - for that matter.

10 Rules at Wal-Mart:
1. Commit to your Business.
2. Share your Profits.
3. Motivate your Partners.
4. Communicate.
5. Appreciate.
6. Celebrate your Successes.
7. Listen to Everyone in your Company.
8. Exceed your Customer’s Expectations.
9. Control your Expenses.
10. Swim Upstream.

Rules by Indian Retailers? There is only 1 Rule - There are No Rules!

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