customer focused, moving with speed, just putting ideas at work that are directly beneficial to customers. >> the irony of this is that he studied at sam walton, jeff bezos study sample, and now you are studying jeff bezos. >> we're trying to learn from someone, learn from competition, and on a global basis be able to be the very best as we try to bring it all together. to me, that is what is most exciting about being at walmart. i am confident that the things that we have done that bill this business still large -- built this business still largely apply in the future. there are other things that will make us more successful. >> but that is e-commerce? >> it is the marriage of both. if you look around the store, we edit assortments. we have a great team of merchants that take the category and really understands it, works with the suppliers to come with the best items.

that duration process or editing process will still apply online. will still apply at some point online. today, everybody is talking about access to tens of millions of items and how broad it is. definitely, in the future, customers will have access to more than they would have years ago. but the ability to be a merchant and show customers what they want next before they might even know they wanted, is still going to matter -- want it is still going to matter. we have that in our dna and i think that will help us. >> you are building for filament centers. -- for film and centers. they have a filmic centers. fillment centes, fufillment center.

apple has stores, there is talk of google having stores. we seere retail, will a combination of e-commerce and bricks and mortar? >> i think that is what the customer wants and therefore yes. it is that integration of how you put it together that results in the lowest prices and the broadest assortment and customer service that is above their expectations, that is the winning formula and it has always been the winning formula. how we do it will be different. ona customer, you may get your mobile phone and tell us you want to come by and pick something up at 5:00 and come through the drive-through next to the store. or in some cases, not at the store. we open the store, we just have one, in arkansas, that you cannot come in and shop. it is just a pickup point. you order on your mobile device or website and you schedule a time slot and tell us and you come through and pick it up. guess who loves it?

mom loves it. she may have a child in the car seat or other pressing issues to take care of. there will be times when she wants to come into the store, pick up her own tomato. she might want to look around and see what is new. there are other times where we will save her time. >> you up and candid in terms of interviews that i have read and seen. -- have been candid in terms of interviews i've read and seen her it.what worries you the most in terms of your own performance ? margin, terms of the challenges you have to meet? >> in some ways, it is pretty simple. we have to be great at the things we have always done. i were in stock at store level needs to be excellent all the time. associates have to be friendly and talk to customers and appreciate them being there. we are hiring data

scientists, hiring mathematicians. >> because you have so much data available now. you have to analyze it so it instructs u.s. to what the future will be. -- you as to what the future will be. >> the future will be different so one of our biggest challenges is how do we keep the things that we have been great and continue to get better at and then add on these new capabilities so we bring it all together and we are the ones? >> you spent a fairmont of time in san bernardino. what is there? >> talent, people. i am pleased with the team we have in california driving the initiatives. we are learning about how customers shop with mobile devices, building capabilities 20 able that, learning about how customers to give up pricing online. when you think about pricing in the store, it is not practical to change a price every day. customers want everyday low

price. online, prices move more frequently. and does that mean to us, how do we learn to build trust with customers what they know that they do not need to shop anywhere else? amazon hasid that been instructive in going from everyday pricing to dynamic pricing, that that was a clear case for you looked at what amazon was doing. deal of the day or bargain of the day. and said, this is something we are to look closely at. >> reality is that we study all others that are relevant in this country and others, trying to learn. ultimately, what we are trying to do is make sure that the cost or enables us to sell for less and that our customers believe that we do that. customers need to be able to believe in us for low prices, but the assortment, -- breadth of assortment, and friendliness of employees. >> what are you going to do in health care? >> we have done a lot in health

care and i do not think people know. we have a great offering for associates, flexible, the opening race point plan. it is fortified percent cheaper than the average retail employee 45%he united states -- cheaper than the average retail employee in the united states. the cover over when we lies in this country. -- we cover over one million lives in this country. we have felt cost pressure because we have more people sign up but i am proud of what we offer in terms of health care. what i hope is that the country, the medical profession, the government, and others, will work on increasing efficacy and make sure we're getting cost out. if you look at the u.s. health care system, it has room to improve. >> how would you improve it? >> in some cases, it needs to be run more like a business. your of doctors,

continue to invest in r&d and the next thing that needs to be created. but we need to find a way to get rid of bureaucracy and i hope that happens. >> does health care at traffic to your stores -- add traffic at your stores? employees happy customers will have a good experience. >> you would like everyone to earn at least minimum wage? >> higher than minimum wage. we have less than 6000 that make the federal minimum wage. >> out of how many/ >> 1.3 million. we will create changes were no walmart employee makes federal mineral wage, will be head of that with the starting wage. there will be states where the minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage and we will pay the state minimum wage but ideally what we are trying to create if this latter.

-- is this ladder. you can see this in walmart. >> you can see in a only were the entry-level is but where you might be. you continue to say that. >> that is one of the things that attracted me to the company and the i know attracts many others. -- that i know attracts many others. you can spend some money on health care, you can spend some money on the starting wage, you can invest money when people get promoted so they did an increase, you can give people an increase when they get their evaluations. basede a profit-sharing on store performance, associates can earn a bonus, which is important. you want to have an incentive. the decisions we make our to invest in those different areas so that we create a meritocracy, an opportunity to do more. >> this is a place you believe there is a difference between the perception and the reality

of walmart? why does this perception exist? >> in the world, there is a debate over in equity. sometimes we get caught up in that -- retail does, in general. but we could not run a good business if we do not take care of people and have compensation plans that work. sometimes, people want to talk about the bad news and not the good news. it is hard to get a good story. you can walk around the store -- and i would encourage you to do that while you are here -- and talk to the associates, we opened the store a year ago, this is my third or fourth time here. >> what do you say to them when you come? >> how are things going. >> are you listening as much as you're talking? .> sure they are proud of their jobs, proud of the opportunity that walmart represents, and that is the best majority of the straight up truth. -- vast majority of the straight up truth. >> if there is a gap between

perception and reality, doesn't that suggest that you were doing a poor job of communicating the walmart is? >> -- who walmart is? >> it is important to understand why are it. when we started the company, there were two stakeholders. customers and associates. >> your employees and the people that come into your stores. >> beauty take care of associates, customers will be happier -- if you take care of associates, customers will be happy. but at some point we became big. and society started looking at the company and saying, we expect more from you. and so we had lots of stakeholders to think about, not just a couple. again, i will credit lee scott. up therted opening conversation, and you may remove or that when you spoke to him he said something like "we decided to listen to our critics and

instead of trying to dispute or argue or debate, we started listening and asking, what can we do to make this a better company?" we embraced environment of sustainability and started making it a better company and i think we got some credit for that for a reputation point of -- for a period of time from a reputation point of view. that at theknow skill that you operate you are a disruptive force. in a community. you offer jobs and a place for , but at they things same time you drive small businesses who cannot compete because of your pricing force which gives you the opportunity to do things. jeff bezos will admit, acknowledge, that amazon is a disruptive force. >> first of all, i am very proud

of our purpose. our purpose is to save people money so that they can live better. customers. we want you to shop at walmart and use your savings to help pay for your kids college education or make a house payment or buy a car if you can make the first payment, that is a meaningful purpose that i think at sign you to society. over time, what -- add value to society. over time, markets adjust, and competition is a good thing. merchants change a business to create their own future. i think that is good for society. >> what's talk about international. india had opposition to retailers coming in and competing with local retailers. where is walmart today and what is the future in india for walmart? >> india is an incredible country. i had been there quite a few times and i am enthusiastic about what india will become over time.

we had a joint venture in retail, it did not work out partially because of the rules that the government wants to have in place for political reasons. today, we have 20 cash and carry units that service mall businesses -- service small businesses and they are doing well. we have a strong team there, small but mighty, and we will be patient and build the cash and carries. at some point, india may open up, and that would be great. i think they need it, because they need a supply chain investment. too much produces going to waste. we supply chain is not intact and we can help. >> china? >> china is an amazing opportunity, we have a 400 stores and an e-commerce business based in shanghai. i have been going to china for 20 years and i think that our opportunity in china to build a retail business is unprecedented other than in the united states.

and i think it is really important. >> but why is that, other than the size of the population? >> that is the primary reason. just a lot of people that need access to goods that are safe. safety is a huge issue in china. and they also need a value. >> there is a fellow there named jack ma, that i am sure you know. >> we met once. >> he has huge ambitions for alibaba. he is in the e-commerce business as well. how do you see the challenge from them? he wants to be here as you want to be in china. >> i think, again, competition is good. >> bring it on? doalibaba or amazon, we will our best to learn from them and not be stuck. at's talk about change for second. what has always changed a lot, all the way back to sam --

walmart has always changed a lot, all the way back to sam. we still have to be fast. inside the company it still feels a small -- still feels small, but whether it is alibaba or amazon, one of the things that they teach us is that speed is really important. i think that is important for us to be able to move the speed without losing the we are. .- who we are we have core values that matter to us as associates that will stand the test of time but almost anything else should be open to change. >> define what you mean by speed. that there is a new capability that we figure out the customers want on the mobile device. how long does it take to get that done? let's say that this and cap, there is a merchandise and cap that has movies. if one of it is not selling, we have to flip it out. we cannot become bureaucratic or slow.

>> if that was central to the success -- that in scale -- what is central to the success -- and scale -- what is central to the success of walmart in the future? >> beyond the cultural stuff, which matters, along with speed, risk-taking. we started with one store. we were entrepreneurs. now we are older. 52 years old. it is every bit as important to me under material in our approach. -- to be entrepreneurial in our approach. not everything is going to work. i was talking to sheryl sandberg and we have been to facebook trying to learn from them about speed and culture and think about how that applies to walmart. that ifas a splitting they want to create something new, they might assign two or three teams to deliver it. when the first team fails, they

celebrate. a take, say thank you for figuring out that that does not work. that.e to be like with to be able to celebrity some failures and be able to recover. >> what failures can you celebrate? >> items that did not sell, tools that were not adopted for customers. we have to invent some things. >> what are the biggest bets that walmart has made? countries like japan? was that a mistake? .> japan was a mistake we exited germany, south korea. >> japan is a success? [applause] it is the third biggest market in the world and our team is in a great job growing sales and improving profitability. >> what is the impact of the recession? >> customers became more value conscious and that was in our favor. >> what happened in germany? knew were early and we all

what we knew so we tried to take too much of walmart u.s. and install it in germany. .nd there were issues the stores that we bought were not the best stores. we did not do a great job of assessing the situation and running it afterwards. what is good is that we learn from it, made a decision to exit , moved onto the next thing. international business has turned out to be great. >> what are the lessons of mexico and the investigation? >> i am really pleased with the way that we typically respond to a challenge and this one is no exception. the work that we have done over few years to improve compliance has been good for the company. >> is this a risk that goes with the landscape? >> no. for us, it starts with talent. we needed expertise. i am talking about 12 or 13 dimensions, not just permits but

everything from food safety to how we handle data, data security. what we have done is add the subject matter expertise, number one talent, improve process, improve system. as we all feel really good to where we are at from a compliance point of view and that we have made some much progress. it is a journey and we have work to do, but i think we have responded appropriately. >> and wages in those countries? >> similar story. we want to have a situation where we are paying above market to create the talent we want and create an opportunity to become managers. in the u.s., 76% of the management came from our hourly ranks. being a walmart store manager is a great job, highly compensated. iran the world in every country, we want those pencils to apply -- around the world and in every country we want those principles to apply. to onlyoes a modern ceo

take his company into the future as you are doing by looking at the competition and learning and analyzing the data, but also by saying we want to play an important role within the society that we live in, whether -- is domestic or foreign, the question is, how do you do that, and how much of a sense of your own response ability of a leader is that -- responsibility as a leader is that? >> growing up within the company and knowing how our board feels about it, how the management team feels about it, causes me to feel empowered to have a long-term view. it causes us of the leadership -- aso know that we have a leadership team to know that we have the support to do what is right. we have a great management team, the team is really strong. one person does not do it, it is

a team that leaves this company. and we are supported to think about things like environmental sustainability and reset three big goals a while back. to eliminate waste. the waste of generated by stores is being recaptured and we have eliminated it. was it a goal to be supplied by renewable energy and we have made great progress in this country and mexico and others in being able to do that. we have the largest on-site solar in the country because of how we use the rooftops, in the neighborhood of 20% renewable already. we decided to engage in the supply chain enter about not only the products and do things like trying to eliminate packaging when we can overtake water out -- or take water out so that freak is less, it also to get involved as the years is less, buteight also to get involved.

we care about whether people are getting paid overtime, we inspect factories and partner with associations to make sure things are becoming sustainable over time. i do not know if we are going fast enough, but i can really see the scale of the company being applied for good. it is one of the reasons i love working for walmart. >> when you look at growth the mystically, is it mostly urban -- domestically, is it mostly urban? >> i would start with e-commerce. the physical locations that we need, where we put them in how many we have, what size they are, that all to be rethought -- can it be rethought going forward because of what is going on with mobile. >> you are involved in litigation with a well-known american entertainer who was injured in a collision. and do you say to his fans

people who have rallied to his side as of the tragedy that befell him -- because of the tragedy that befell him? all, say tofirst of the mcnair family how sorry we are about their loss. enter tracy morgan and everyone involved, we feel very bad about what happened and i tried to say we want to take responsibly for it and do what is right. that is what we are trying to do and i hope to have that resolved. >> yoga will be resolved without going to trial? -- you hope it will be resolved without going to trial? >> can i say one more thing? our truck drivers to a great job. we have a private fleet. while this incident is tragic, we take them seriously, and if our truck drivers were standing around it would want you to know that they care a lot. this impacted all of us. >> was he just too tired? >> i can't talk about the

individual circumstance. i just want you to know that our people care about it. >> because colleagues kerala colleagues and because you cannot -- care about colleagues and because you care about doing the right thing. looking at the future, back to product mix, i mentioned health care, i was thinking about not just health care plans also the kind of products -- but also the kind of products. about not only selling gasoline, call and collect and all of that, but you are offering health care to people outside of walmart. you are offering banking to people outside of walmart, to your customers. correct? >> we partner with someone else. we are not actually a bank in this country but we offer financial services. >> are there other areas will be surprised that walmart can go we will beere surprised that walmart can go

there because it has the resources to provide a better product? >> if we think we can add value and our customers want it, we will try to provide that service to them. there are basically three service areas in this country that we are focused on. one is financial services, another would be health and wellness. our pharmacy offering, our optical offering, and third, entertainment. digital entertainment. .e own a company called vudo those are the three areas. beyond your own teaching, what you learn from your customers and competitors, where else do you go to make sure that you are a fully informed and enlightened ceo? >> what you read matters, and i try to pay attention to what i am taking in in that way. other ceos have been help.

>> including walmart ceos? >> might you can still involved in helping very much. -- mike is still involved in helping very much. the scott, he is a mentor. but i have reached out to other ceos. when steve ran pepsico, i called him and asked for advice. american express, i called recently to ask them about a couple of things. >> what do you ask them? >> leading change is the topic. >> it is the broad question rather than specific is this problems. >> right. we probably know the retail business as well as anyone, but from a leadership point of view, i am learning a lot. your your age and experience, what are the qualities and experiences that you think are important for you to take this company into a period of transformation?

it is of the internet, because the fact that countries around the world -- because of the internet, because the fact that countries around the world have an emerging middle class with the demand for the products that you sell? think, in my role, and with the leadership team that i work with, we need to have a vision. where are we trying to go and why are we trying to get their? -- there? >i think our vision has evolved and is becoming clearer. >> tommy what that is. -- tell me it what that is. >> there are things about walmart the need to be repeated because we have some inherently strong qualities. the way that i discredit within the company is that our purpose will stand the test of time -- described it within the company is that our purpose will stand the test of time. serving thee

customer, striving for excellence, and doing it with integrity. that will stand the test of time. i thought about that a lot, especially the international business to last for years. most all of our cultural behaviors as a company hang under one of those four core values. for our people, they need to know what is constant. if they are going to lead us to change, help anchor us on what it is that stays the same. the list of things that stays the same as relatively short. purpose, values. to vision a going forward is use the capabilities that are possible today, digital and physical, to exceed customer expectations in a way that no one else can. that is what someone would do. -- sam walton would do. that is what he did before. he changed all the time. there was not a moment where he and the leaders looked at the stores and said, we are perfect. we are done. that never happened and that is not happening now. >> thank you.

>> thank you. i appreciate the time. ♪

>> i mark halperin. >> i'm john heilemann. and with all the respect, i would not have voted for last season's winner either. >> in our washington lineup tonight -- jeb bush's running question and sony executive's lack of discretion. but first something in a congressional package -- what makes this trillion dollar spending bill different from all other trillion dollar spending