Why Sam Walton's Company wins!

This latest merger is a bad idea. It seems as though K-Mart and Sears just don't want to learn.

They are still living in the pre-Sam Walton era. Wal-Mart wins, not because its huge, it wins because it is a company that delivers value to its customers through an unbelievably efficient inventory control model. Wal-Mart's value chain is literally unmatched. It buys only from suppliers that give it exactly what it wants, it delivers the stuff to the stores at exactly the right time, and clears it in exactly the right order. Because of this it has managed to kick start the business world's longest lasting productivity cycle. (a la Ken Wong)

Wal-Mart is big because it is good. Not the other way around.

On the other hand, K-Mart is just a poorly run company who by all measures should have gone bankrupt by now.

Even if all of this wasn't true and size was a good tactical advantage, being third doesn't count. The size triangle (BCG I think) shows that you get an advantage by being either first or second.

So you read it here first: this K-Mart/Sears deal is just a lot of hoopla that will do nothing to help the shareholders of these companies.