What Next?
would never forget his first meeting with Sam Walton. "How old are you”
Walton asked the then 30-year-old Scott, who had just taken a job managing Wal-Mart's true
fleet. "Do you think you can do this job?" asked Walton. When Scott said yes, Walton agreed
and said, "I reckon you can." More than 20 years later, as Wal-Mart's CEO, Scott faced his
toughest challenge yet: keeping the world's biggest retailer on its phenomenal roll and delivering the huge sales and earnings increases that investors had come to expect from Wal-Mart over the years-all while deflecting increasing criticism of his company's business practice
Analysts had correctly projected that Wal-Mart would surpass General Motors to be ranked
number one in revenue on the Fortune 500 list in 2000. The combination of growth and acquisition had caused revenue increases every year. Increasing profits followed higher sale
How could this be continued if Wal-Mart's management allowed costs to increase and service
to lag?