Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Robert E. Wood (American Business Executive)

Robert Elkington Wood (1879–1969) was an American Army officer and business executive. A pioneer in modern retailing, he built Sears, Roebuck, and Company into the world’s largest merchandising corporation.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Wood graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1900. After retiring from the U.S. Army as a brigadier general, Wood entered the retail business as a general manager at the mail-order firm Montgomery Ward and Company in 1919.

Wood unsuccessfully tried to persuade his company to build retail stores to capitalize on the growing significance of the automobile. In 1924 he joined Sears, Roebuck, and Co to implement his vision. Becoming president in 1928 and chairman of the board in 1939, he concentrated on building chain stores in urban areas and still maintained the catalog-driven rural business. Under his oversight, Sears was the uncontested retail leader before Wood retired in 1954. Wood also developed the Allstate Insurance Company as a subsidiary.

Wood was also a leader in the Old Right American Conservatism movement from the 1920s through the 1960s and a key financial backer of the America First Committee, in which capacity he opposed America’s entry into World War II.

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Robert E. Wood

Business is like war in one respect. If its grand strategy is correct, any number of tactical errors can be made and yet the enterprise proves successful.
Robert E. Wood
Topics: Business

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