eople were amused. After all, at the time Kmart had five times as many stores as Wal-Mart. However, Walton knew that internal and external problems were plaguing Kmart. The company was over leveraged and lacked focus. Kmart was a retailer in distress. Walton could see that, and he knew it was time to seize the moment and go for the jugular. In the sluggish, high-interest-rate economy of the early '80s, Kmart faltered and Wal-Mart ate its proverbial lunch. Employee Satisfaction Sam is notorious for calling his employees, "as did J. C. Penney, 'associates'" instead of clerks or workers. This may not seem like a large difference, however, it instills a feeling in each employee that he/she is responsible for the operations of the firm. Sam had never thought of using it at Wal-Mart until during a visit to England when he saw a storefront window. "It was the Lewis Company, J. M. Lewis Partnership. They had a partnership with all of their associates listed up on the sign. For some reason, that whole idea really excited me: a partnership with all our associates." His openness to talk and listen to anyone of his employees made them feel that they were an integral part of the company. He would later on use his company's satellite system to communicate live to all of the stores at once to relay messages, which he thought, were vitally important. Although this practice is not copied from any company, the very concept of being close to all associates is being copied from his early mentor, J. C. Penney. Sam believes in opening the lines of communication, so they do not only flow from top to bottom, but from bottom to top. Mr. Penney also displayed this idea by spending as much time as possible in his stores. One author said, "Walton does a remarkable job of instilling near religious fervor in his people." Sam borrowed this idea from Mr. Penney, the president of J. C. Penney, while Sam worked for him. "Then, of course, the icing on the cake was when J...
