關注社會:拜訪沃爾瑪總部

【英文原文】
A visit to Wal-Mart’s home

“Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage.”

That was said, simply enough, by Wal-Mart (WMT) founder Sam Walton. And though today it’s widely known that Wal-Mart is the world’s most efficient retailer, a little-known fact is that for 25 years–long before Wal-Mart became America’s largest retailer–it ranked No. 1 in its industry for the lowest ratio of expenses to sales.

Efficiency runs in the water here in Bentonville, Arkansas, where I’ve spent the past 36 hours. I hadn’t been to the center of the retail universe since 1996, when Wal-Mart crossed the line of $100 billion in annual sales. This past year, the company, which started in 1962, crossed the $400 billion line.

And while it’s now 17 years since Sam has died, the rules he established when he opened his first five-and-dime, on Bentonville’s town square, still apply. On Monday night, when I had dinner with Wal-Mart financial services president Jane Thompson and seven other corporate officers, everybody chipped in $20 a piece for the wine. That’s because Wal-Mart’s founder refused to pay for alcohol of any kind.

【中文譯文】

“比對手更好地控制成本，因爲節約了成本就意味着擁有了競爭優勢。”

這句話非常簡單，出自沃爾瑪(Wal-Mart)創始人山姆•沃爾頓（Sam Walton）之口。現在衆所周知沃爾瑪是世界上效率最高的零售企業，但鮮爲人知的是，在沃爾瑪成爲美國最大的零售企業之前的25年裏，它的銷售費用率在零售業中是最低的。

沃爾瑪在阿肯色州本頓維爾總部的效率極高。我在這裏已經呆了36個小時。1996年以來我就沒有到過沃爾瑪的總部了，而就在那一年沃爾瑪的年銷售額突破了1000億美元。今年這個創辦於1962年的企業年銷售額突破了4000億美元。

雖然山姆已經逝世17年了，但是他當年在本頓維爾的城鎮廣場開第一家廉價商品店時所制定的規則仍然得以應用。週一晚上我與沃爾瑪金融服務部總裁簡•湯普森（Jane Thompson）和其他7位公司領導一起用餐。每個人出20美元用來付酒錢，因爲沃爾瑪的創始人當年就拒絕爲任何酒類付錢。

【英文原文】

Over at the home office (which Sam Walton preferred to “headquarters” because he thought the latter term sounded highfalutin), I ran into Mike Duke, Wal-Mart’s CEO who took charge in February. I asked Duke if I could take a peek of his office–which are Sam’s old digs–and as he escorted me into the tiny room, he noted with pride, “Same wood paneling from 30 years ago.” Duke’s fanciest decoration is an aquarium in the corner. “That’s from David Glass,” he said, referring to Wal-Mart’s chief after Sam, “and I’m just trying to keep the fish alive.” What did Duke add to the space? “Just the pictures on the wall,” he replied. Two framed photos above his desk show Sam’s first store and below that, a picture of the world. “Because that’s where we’re focused now,” the CEO said.

Before moving into Wal-Mart’s top job, Duke headed international operations and worked in a low gray shed next door. At 40,360 square feet total, this may be the world’s smallest office responsible for $100 billion in sales. (Berkshire Hathaway’s (BRKB) headquarters in Omaha comes close, in terms of efficiency. See Monday’s Postcard on “How Warren Buffett manages his managers“). Now Doug McMillon, who succeeded Duke as international chief, works out of the unsightly barracks, where a few fortunate execs get a jailhouse-type window through which, as Duke says, you have to crank your neck to see the sun.

I was invited to Bentonville by Wal-Mart’s women officers, a group that just passed 100 in number and self-finance their events by chipping in $100 each every year–another mark of management’s extreme self-denial. (Anyone who sells to Wal-Mart knows that its managers aren’t allowed to accept even a bottle of water without paying for it.) Yesterday, at their special ”Fortune Most Powerful Women” event, I interviewed Susan Chambers, EVP of Wal-Mart’s Global People Division, and Ursula Burns, the new CEO of Xerox (XRX)–which you’ll read more about on Postcards later. Before the day ended, Thompson, the financial services chief, drove me past the spot where Sam Walton is buried, alongside his wife, Helen. It’s a barely noticeable grave in a crowded cemetery tucked behind Wal-Mart’s home office. Even in the afterlife, Sam Walton is saving money.

【中文譯文】

在沃爾瑪的家鄉辦公室（相對於總部來說，山姆•沃爾頓更喜歡這個稱謂，因爲“總部”聽起來太做作），我遇到了邁克•杜克（Mike Duke），他在二月份成爲沃爾瑪的首席執行官。我問他是否可以瞄一眼他的辦公室-還是山姆的老辦公室-在他陪我進入那個小房間的時候，他驕傲的說“現在的木鑲板與30年前的一樣。”杜克最豪華的裝飾就是角落裏的一個魚缸。他說：“這是大衛•格拉斯（David Glass）留下來的，我只是努力讓那些魚活着。”大衛•格拉斯是山姆之後的第二任首席執行官。“那麼杜克在這個房子里加了什麼呢？”他回答道：“只有牆上的畫。”他辦公桌上方有兩張山姆第一家店的鑲框照片。在這兩張照片的下面是張世界地圖。這位首席執行官說：“ 因爲我們現在的重點工作就是全世界。”

在成爲首席執行官之前，杜克主管國際運營，在隔壁一個低矮簡陋的灰色房子裏辦公。這裏的總面積是40360平方英尺，在世界上年銷售額超過1000億美元的企業中，沃爾瑪的辦公室面積有可能是最小的（伯克希爾-哈薩韋（Berkshire Hathaway）位於奧馬哈的總部在效率方面與沃爾瑪相近）。現在道格•麥克米倫（Doug McMillon）接替了杜克的職位成爲國際部主管。他在難看的軍營房一樣的辦公室裏工作。有一些幸運的高管們的辦公室有着像監獄裏一樣的窗戶，但是就像杜克所說的那樣，大家得伸長脖子才能看到太陽。

我是應沃爾瑪女性高管的邀請到訪本頓維爾的。現在女性高管的數量已經超過了100個，每年她們都會各自出100美元來搞活動-這是沃爾瑪管理層極端自我剋制的另外一個標誌（任何一個受僱於沃爾瑪的人都知道，沃爾瑪的經理們在未付錢的情況下不允許接受任何東西，甚至是一瓶水）。在她們特殊的“《財富》雜誌商界女強人峯會 ”上，我採訪了沃爾瑪全球人事部（Global People Division）執行副總裁蘇珊•錢伯斯（Suan Chambers），還採訪了施樂（Xerox）新任首席執行官烏蘇拉•伯恩斯（Ursula Burns）。當日結束前，金融服務部主管湯普森開車載着我路過山姆•沃爾頓的墓地。他與妻子海倫（Helen）葬在一起。在沃爾瑪家鄉辦公室後面擁擠的墓地裏，山姆的墳墓毫不起眼。即使是在死後，山姆•沃爾頓還在省錢。