WalMart.com

Sam Walton had a simple idea of making the customer number 1; which has now turned into a billion dollar business. As the chain began to take off, Walton made major adjustments to manage the growth - again always seeming to foresee the future. As early as 1966, when he had 20 stores, he attended an IBM school in upstate New York. His goal: to hire the smartest guy in the class to come down to Bentonville, Ark., and computerize his operations. He realized that he could not grow at the pace he desired without computerizing merchandise controls. He was right, of course, and Wal-Mart went on to become the icon "of just-in-time inventory control and sophisticated logistics - the ultimate user of information as a competitive advantage" (Huey, Time 100, 1998). Today, Wal-Mart's computer database is second only to the Pentagon's in capacity, although he is rarely remembered for that accomplishment, Walton may have been the first true information-age CEO.

There is no argument offered that Sam Walton did not "clutter the landscape of the American countryside or that he didn't force a lot of people to change the way they made a living. But he merely hastened such changes" (Huey, Time100, 1998). The progress he represented was inevitable. His empowering management techniques were copied by businesses far beyond his own industry; his gathering of information technology to cut costs quickly journeyed upward into all types of companies; and his pioneering retailing concepts paved the way for a new breed of "category killer retailer - the Home Depots, Barnes & Nobles and Blockbusters of the world" (Huey, Time 100, 1998). This wave of low-overhead, low-inventory selling continues to accelerate. "The Internet, in fact, is its latest iteration. One can only wonder what a young cyber Sam would set out to accomplish if he were just getting started" (Huey, Time 100, 1998). Walmart.com was founded in January 2000 and is nestled in the heart of Silicon Valley where the technical support is strongest. (Walmart.com)