A Gap store. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
For the Gap's Donald Fisher, a key concept has always been "value." The company's definition of that word has changed over the years. When the Gap first opened in 1969, value meant a wide variety of blue jeans, particularly Levi's, in one store.
The General Electric Building, New York. Reproduced by permission of Corbis Corporation (Bellevue).
Jack Welch. Reproduced by permission of Archive Photos, Inc.
General Motors Corporation headquarters, Detroit, Michigan. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
Jack Smith. Reproduced by permission of Corbis Corporation (Bellevue).
When three brothers decided to get into the greeting card business more than ninety years ago, very few people exchanged cards. Today, greeting cards have become big business with Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Joyce C. Hall.
Harpo, Inc. is a privately held company owned by talk-show superstar Oprah Winfrey and her longtime lawyer, Jeff Jacobs.
Oprah Winfrey. Reproduced by permission of Archive Photos, Inc.
Hershey Foods Corporation headquarters, Hershey, Pennsylvania. Reproduced by permission of Corbis Corporation (Bellevue).
Milton Hershey. Reproduced by permission of Corbis Corporation.
Hewlett-Packard Company headquarters, Palo Alto, California. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
David Packard. Reproduced courtesy of the Library of Congress.
The subtitle of their 1999 book, Built From Scratch, tells their story in a nutshell: "How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew the Home Depot from Nothing to $30 billion." In this case, the "regular guys" are Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, longtime friends and founders of Home Depot, Inc. Since they started the company more than twenty years ago, the two men have weathered downturns in the economy, lawsuits, competition, and other adversities to become the world's largest chain of home improvement stores.
Bernie Marcus. Reproduced by permission of Liaison/Getty Images.
Arthur Blank. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
The Kellogg Company's South Plant, Battle Creek, Michigan. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
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Kmart Corporation headquarters, Troy, Michigan. Reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos.
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Levi Plaza Office Park, San Francisco, California. Reproduced by permission of Corbis Corporation (Bellevue).
The L.L. Bean, Inc., Retail Store, Freeport, Maine.
L.L. Bean is a name recognized around the world, but not everyone knows there was a real person behind it.
Lucent Technologies headquarters, Murray Hill, New Jersey. Reproduced by permission of Getty Images.