Chapter 14: Expanding the Circles Summary and Analysis

Sam notes that many executives at Wal-Mart snicker at the idea that many consider him to be on the cutting edge of technology. Although Wal-Mart might have extremely advanced technological advances, Sam has pretty much fought all of the advances because he wants them to justify the addition before he has to invest in it. Although many people have contributed to the advances in technology at Wal-Mart, David Glass gets the lion's share of gratitude from Sam. He believes that thanks to the superior distribution system implemented, they were able to acquire the Big K stores and seamlessly integrate the stores into the current system. He believes now that their distribution system is the envy of the industry.

The average time lapse between when stores request additional merchandise and when they receive it is roughly...