New York — Lee Scott will retire as CEO of Wal-Mart on February 1, and what a legacy he leaves.  Sales up 2.4 times, on a $167 billion dollar company.  Inventory days down 23% to 34. Receivable days as close to zero as you can get, and payables never higher than a manageable 39 days.

This is a North River Management Grade A company if there ever was one.  Wal-Mart’s endless stream of innovations aimed at dematerializing unneeded inventories and eliminating interstitial supply chain costs has born great fruit:  Scott recently told the press of the current economic crisis, “this is our time.”  You got that right, Lee.

Read on at North River Course Corrections.