“There are no cash registers in the home office.”
It’s a mantra at Walmart and a reminder that every dollar earned comes from its nearly 11,000 stores worldwide. Everything done at its corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, is an expense.
For decades that expense was minimal — the retailer’s main office was a spartan distribution center with wood-paneled offices and few windows. Most of the white-collar employees here were focused on merchandising and logistics.
But that thinking has changed as the company has had to figure out how to…