Craig and S. Shady,

It's interesting (to S. Shady) that you mention Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, and Sam Walton....

I don't know too much about Larry Ellison, but what I've read is that nowadays, he's trying to model himself on Gates (even though Gates is his arch-competitor). Essentially, Larry Ellison is trying (with Oracle) to gain an effective monopoly in databases, the way Microsoft has an effective monopoly in operating systems. His reasoning is because database software is important to much of the power of the internet.... If he can corner the market in databases, he feels he can make incredible profits.

However, I still think that Gates's history is not really reproducible, because there's a lot of luck there, particularly when you look at the deal he did with IBM. It's that deal which gave him the effective monopoly in operating systems, and he managed to leverage that into his various other gains....

But, moving on....

Sam Walton is an interesting case. I've never walked into a Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart made it big in small cities and towns, whereas others (like K-Mart) were focusing on the big cities.

I wouldn't say Sam Walton was aiming to "do in" all his competitors. His competitors were the small Mom and Pop stores (not K-Mart, since K-Mart was in the big cities, not the small cities and towns).

But, rather, I think Walton essentially has tried to give the consumers the best deal possible. What you're interpreting as "doing in his competitors," I interpret as giving the consumers a better deal. People shopped at Wal-Mart because they could buy things there cheaper than anywhere else.

Because Wal-Mart is a mass retail outlet, it could sell things more cheaply than the small Mom and Pop stores. But as far as I'm aware, he never did anything to "attack" these stores. He just gave consumers a better deal.

So I would say he "won over" the consumers, rather than "did in" his competition.... As Don Alm said, it's a matter of a different focus....

It's one thing to talk from theory, but another to talk from experience.... I pay a LOT of attention to what people like Jim Straw, Don Alm, and Gordon Alexander say, because they've "walked the walk" -- they've DONE it. They've already proven that they know what they're talking about....

Anyhow, it's okay to disagree in opinion.... Let's remember not to take disagreement of opinion personally.... :)

- Dien