The Wal-Mart MBA

Business is about reality. But business school is about theory. At least, it is supposed to be about theory. Instead, I've come to realize that you can answer every question in business school the same way: "It depends."

What does it depend upon? What you are studying at the time. What is going on in business at that time. And most importantly, what case you are reading (or have read in the past in another class and are able to steal the teacher's learning points). A few companies are consistently cited as examples of stellar companies, but there is always the "It" company of the moment. For years, the "It" company was General Electric. Everyone loved GE and loved Jack Welch. Later in the 90s, I'm sure it was a tech company of some sort, an Intel or Microsoft. Now, that company is Wal-Mart.

I have learned about Wal-Mart's corporate strategy, marketing strategy, supply chain strategy and financial strategy. It seems that Wal-Mart can be an acceptable example for anything the professor throws at you. Operational efficiency. Culture. Management and motivation. Innovation. Marketing. Success. Even labor issues, bad politics, corporate malfeasance, environmental indifference and sociological implications. Like its superstores, Wal-Mart has it all.

Now, we still talk about other great companies: for example, Lincoln Electric, the subject of a recent case, has been around since the late 1800s and was originally the subject of a HBS Case in the 1920s. GE gets mentioned occasionally, much less than an American Express or Apple these days (and I'm sure the recent flap over Home Depot's Bob Nardelli's severance package--he was a Welch acolyte--doesn't help), but isn't there a better company out there to study than Wal-Mart?

For every strength elucidated by a professor, there's a counter argument. Wal-Mart represents both the Americanization and un-Americanization of America. It represents the good and the bad of big business. It does so much, but it doesn't do nearly enough. It's definitely the most divisive company I've discussed here at school -- so much so that entire class sections (like one week of marketing) have been hijacked by a specific, Maine-educated individual who must believe that it is his mission to inform us all that Wal-Mart is the enemy, no matter which battle we are fighting.

And you know what? I don't care. I'm paying for a Wal-Mart MBA right now, and I don't care one bit about Wal-Mart. I just hope there's not a smiley face on my diploma.