About this episode
Walmart started in 1950 as a single small variety store in Arkansas and has grown into an incredibly large global retail company. Today the business generates well over $600 billion in revenue each year. To put that in perspective, if the company were its own country, it would have an economy larger than developed nations like Sweden and Belgium. The company employs over two million people worldwide to support this massive operation. Because of this enormous scale, Walmart focuses heavily on internal career growth. Both the current global chief executive officer and the head of United States operations began their careers working hourly jobs inside the stores.
To keep shelves stocked with incredibly popular items like bananas, which remain the top selling product worldwide, Walmart relies on highly advanced logistics. In the late 1980s, the company invested $24 million to build the largest private satellite network in the United States so they could track inventory at every location in real time. They also run a permanent emergency command center where meteorologists and logistics experts work around the clock. This dedicated team tracks severe weather and routes emergency supplies to high risk areas before a disaster strikes, a strategy that earned national praise during the response to Hurricane Katrina.
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