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Is the Dutch discounter Action mirroring the success of the world's largest company by revenue Walmart?

April, 2015

The world's largest company by revenue is a discounterand has more than 2 million employees.

Sam Walton and Walmart, some statistics:

Sam Walton (1918 – 1992) is among the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. Walton began as a franchisee in Bentonville, Arkansas in 1945.When the lease for the location expired, Walton couldn't reach an agreement for renewal, so he opened a new franchise in Bentonville, Arkansas, naming it"Walton's Five and Dime”. *) This store is now serving as the Walmart Visitor Center.In 1962 Walton opened his first Walmart Discount City store in Rogers, Arkansas. Within its first five years, the company expanded to 24 stores across Arkansas.

*) Five-and-dime also called five-and-ten-cent store,a store offering a wide assortment of inexpensive items, formerly costing five or ten cents,for personal and household use.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of discount department stores and warehouse stores. Headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas, the company was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated on October 31, 1969. It has over 11,000 stores in 27 countries, under a total 71 banners .

Walmart is the largest grocery retailer in the U.S. Walmart surpassed Royal Dutch Shell in 2014 as the world's largest company by revenue, $ 476 billion vs $ 459 billion. The numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6 on the list are like Shell also in the petroleum industry.

Walmart is the 10th largest public (= listed) corporation measured in market value $ 276 billion, Apple Inc. is at the top with a market value of $ 647 billion.

Walmart is the largest private employer in the world with 2,1 million employees! Only two public (= state) employers are larger: the United States Department of Defense with 3,2 million employees and the Peoples Liberation Army of China with 2,3 million employees.

Walmart is a family-owned business, as the company is controlled by the Walton family, who own over 50 percent of Walmart through their holding company, Walton Enterprises.

Walton family members are among the 1,826 billionaires in the world. Christy Walton and Jim Walton rank number 7 and 8, they own more than $ 40 billion each. At the top of the billionaires list is Bill Gates with $ 79 billion.

Profile of Action

Action is a fast growing international non-food discounter with more than 500 shops in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany , France and with more than 20.000 employees.

Action was founded by Gerard Deen and Rob Wagemaker, later joined by Gerard’s brother Boris Deen in Enkhuizen in 1993.

End of 1994 there were 8 retail shops, and end of 2002 Action has grown to 94 retail shops. The first retail shop in Belgium was opened in 2005, and the first retail shop in Germany in 2009.

In 2011 Action was acquired by venture capitalist 3i Group plc, London. The three founders of Action received half a billion euro’s.

The strategy of 3i is to keep the business model unchanged and to speed up the growth by expanding the number of retail shops. In 2012 the 300th retail shop was opened, in 2013 the 400th, in 2014 the 500th.

In the Dutch press it is suggested that the incumbent retail stores HEMA, Blokker, Etos, Kruidvat and Zeeman are seriously hurt by the competition of Action. Action is an example of an entrepreneurial firm. On their website they emphasize their “getting things done” mentality.

Sources: Action, Dutch Press, Forbes, Fortune, Walmart, Wikipedia (2015)Tags: entrepreneurship, retail, discount, venture capital, Sam Walton, Walmart, Action, 3i

© Dick Manuel, April 2015