Wal-Mart Weekly: What will Mike Duke do?

Duke's history

Duke's history with Wal-Mart sounds similar to former CEO Lee Scott's tenure, except for one thing: he's not a Wal-Mart lifer. He's spent time in many different companies before joining Wal-Mart, spending 23 years with Federated Department Stores and May Department Stores. Duke's Engineering background provided him with insight to run Wal-Mart's global logistics business, the same area that groomed Lee Scott for his position to become CEO for nearly a decade.

Duke's rise into the Vice Chairman position in 2005 solidified his position of heading the retailer's international business. Although Wal-Mart spectacularly failed in Germany -- closing all stores and exiting the country -- Duke's many successes beyond that put him in the driver's seat to someday lead the world's largest company by revenue. While Wal-Mart's foray into South Korea did not work out as planned either, the retailer's entrance into rapid growth countries like India and China in the last few years has increased Duke's stock as someone who can expand Wal-Mart's global footprint.

At the same time, Duke is taking over for a "changed" Wal-Mart that saw the retailer expand into energy conservation, sustainability and being green under Lee Scott. The retailer has been (and is) the retail champion of the energy-saving compact fluorescent lightbulb (CFL), and is looking into many ways to make its stores as energy-efficient as possible while challenging (and requiring) its suppliers to make the same sacrifices. Duke undoubtedly will continue this stance and hopefully will position Wal-Mart as being the single largest entity that can have a direct impact on the health of the planet.

Duke's immediate challenges

The U.S. and much of the world are stymied by a deep economic funk, seeing industry after industry falling apart since the end of last summer. Yet Wal-Mart has continued to find success. With bank accounts shriveling, savings amounts dropping, millions of jobs being lost and a general somber mood permeating the country, those customers have flocked to Wal-Mart to save every possible penny.

Other retailers have floundered and suffered severe setbacks in recent times. Not Wal-Mart. Still, the retailer can't rest on the laurels of the "Save Money. Live Better." slogan in the U.S. and think it will continue to show the growth that investors and the board demands. More must be done. Enter Mike Duke.

Duke will not only control an army of lieutenants that will continue expanding Wal-Mart's global footprint of store and sales growth, but he has the opportunity to be the leader of the company that can really change things for the better. As critics have pointed out, the low wages, discrimination suits and other criticisms of Wal-Mart still stand today. While the company has made great progress in becoming a socially-responsible retailer partner (in a macro way), the labor and bullying issues continue (in a micro way).

Will Duke address the criticisms left behind from Scott's tenure as he is trying to grow a retailer that's already bigger than anyone could possibly imagine? That's a tall order. But here's a question that may help: what would it take to have people wanting to work for Wal-Mart again?

Where Wal-Mart is now -- and where it's going

Wal-Mart's efforts in treating its employees better have just started. The effort to become the price-sensitive "partner" of the average American in providing the daily necessities at the lowest price has made progress and will continue of course. The retailer's recent focus on cutting energy use, reducing waste and making sure its vendors and suppliers follow the same guidelines will all make up Duke's legacy. The retailer still opposes employee unions across the globe and has even closed a shop that unionized itself.

Will the retailer's international expansion efforts be stymied by the same "driving the small guy out of business" mentality that has limited recent success here in the U.S.? Possibly. That's no longer Duke's chief focus now that he's in charge of the entire company, but his international team will still have plenty of work to do in that area. Wal-Mart sure could modernize the retail landscape for countless countries. But, in doing so, it could become the retail behemoth that many countries don't want. Here's the largest retail Catch-22 I've ever heard of.

As Mike Duke continues the processes initiated and championed by Lee Scott, he will also have to carve out a personality to define his ride atop the world's largest company. Scott, while chided by countless critics as not paying enough attention to many important issues, did install some very positive things for the retailer. It's now Duke's turn, and it will be interesting to see which direction he heads in starting now.

Join me right here this time next week for another edition of the Wal-Mart Weekly. Until then, stay safe.