Sam Walton - Entrepreneur of the Century

Many industry observers regard Walton's management style as unique, entrepreneurial, participative and goal-oriented. Analysts described him as a hardworking, highly motivated and determined personality always willing to take risks.

They said that Walton constantly thought of novel ways to do things and strived for continuous improvement. Appreciating Walton's personal traits, Glass said, "Two things about Sam Walton distinguish him from almost everyone else I know.

First, he gets up every day bound and determined to improve something. Second, he is less afraid of being wrong than anyone I've ever known...

Though Walton was one of the top businessmen in the US and worldwide, and won many enviable awards for bringing in the retailing revolution, he was not spared his share of criticism from industry analysts and the media. Walton was criticized for making Wal-Mart a virtual monopolist in the retailing industry and having forced small retailers to close their businesses down. Some of the critics said that Wal-Mart's aggressive expansion had brought down employee wages and working standards in the retailing industry, diverting millions of dollars from other retailing stores to the company, and that it impoverished small independent retailers and destroyed historical downtowns in small communities...