Faith in the Workplace

How does the rest of the retail world win against Wal-Mart? What can Wal-Mart teach other companies—and individuals—about analysis and competition? For thinkers of every stripe, a new book by business author Bill Marquard assembles the analysis and principles of how to go up against Goliaths.

Marquard designed Wal-Mart's first-ever strategic planning process and ran it for three-and-a-half years. He has advised more than a hundred companies in 25 industries, including McDonald's, Walt Disney World, Meijer, Citibank, CompUSA, Denny's, Tyson Foods, the Brick Industry Association, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In his newest book, the former Fortune 200 leader and current "thinking partner" packs information from some of the world's most influential and forward-thinking companies.

In this interview for TheHighCalling.org, Marquard answers some of the big questions about Wal-Mart and the faith behind his work.

Bill, thank you for talking with us today. Question one is to comment on the obvious: this is not the first book about Wal-Mart.

No, that's right—and the books out there about Wal-Mart tend to come in one of four categories. The first is economic analysis: "Wal-Mart is big, and it's a problem." Another is the insider account: "Here's what we did at Wal-Mart, copy us and find success." Third is self-help: "Follow this laundry list of ideas, and you can probably hold on." Fourth is the activist treatise: "Defeat the evil empire at all costs."

You're saying Wal-Smart is none of the above?

The Wal-Smart antagonist is not Wal-Mart but the economy it helped create. Wal-Smart is also prescriptive: "Now that we're in this economy, what do we do about it?" Basically, this is a guide for leaders and managers in any business, any industry, and any country wanting to make smart choices to profit in this new economy. Wal-Mart is the case study, and Wal-Smart is the answer key.

I also think the world needs exciting business books, and Wal-Smart delivers because it spurs thinking. It gives 12 specific choices to think about, then pushes past the front doors of real companies and talks to real executives who made smart choices in this economy as competitors, suppliers, employers, and community members.

Wal-Mart's enemies think Wal-Mart is about institutionalized greed. How do you handle those arrows?

Wal-Mart is about the American dream. It's a story of one individual with a vision of bringing low-priced retail to semi-rural areas across the country. It's also about putting greater and greater buying power in the hands of middle- and lower-income America. Clearly that dream has been tarnished by a lot of what you read. It doesn't take away, however, that the Wal-Mart story is the American dream.

So when did Wal-Mart become the enemy?

Wal-Mart became the enemy when David became Goliath. America's love of the underdog tends to translate to disdain when someone or something outgrows its underdog status. Go back through recent U.S. business history: IBM in the '70s, AT&T in the '80s, and Microsoft in the '90s were David's that became Goliath's. Wal-Mart continues that trend for the twenty-first century.

So Wal-Mart became the enemy when it got large?

Yes.

It's not Wal-Mart's fault. It's our fault for turning on David when he became Goliath?

That said, to whom much is given, much is expected. I do believe that Wal-Mart fell asleep at the switch on social and environmental responsibility and other responsibilities to support its employees. I'm not making excuses. They've admitted and are trying to rectify mistakes. At the end of the day, however, when a free-market company has over 1.3 million employees who choose to work there, and that same company has significantly reduced the cost of living in many areas of the country, it's satisfied a useful purpose.

What about the criticism that Wal-Mart kills local individuality?

On one hand, you've got mom-and-pop stores boarding up when Wal-Mart moves in. On the other hand, as a competitor, this is the importance of differentiating from an industry giant—a me-too strategy is going to lose, and smaller stores are forced to genuinely individualize. There are huge opportunities for locally relevant merchandising and services to maintain and grow. Think about the mergers in the banking industry over the last decade, which created major national mega-banks. A new wave of local banks sprung up because people are still interested in the local banker and local service and local flavor.

What do you think this Wal-Mart retail world tells us about our times and what we value?

Today's retail world is basically the fulfillment of Alvin Toffler's prophecy of ten years ago when he coined the term the "demassification of society." Toffler rejects mass labels—democrat vs. republican, urban vs. rural, white collar vs. blue—for consumers' individual tastes. Today consumers link with like-minded people for a specific purpose, he says, and disband when the purpose is fulfilled. Marketers would never classify Mike Ditka and an exconvict in one group, yet they both belong to a Harley Davidson motorcycle club. Today's retail world reflects the demassficiation of consumers facing a plethora of choices for when to buy upscale private goods at Trader Joe's, private label goods at the supermarket, off-price name brands at TJ Max, or the Armani Trunk Show at Neiman Marcus. As consumers, we each create our own store, our own shopping, our own experience, by picking and choosing the retailers offering what we uniquely need.