Fishman, Charles 1961–

(Charles N. Fishman)

PERSONAL:

Born April 5, 1961, in Miami, FL; married to a journalist. Education: Harvard University, B.A.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Philadelphia, PA. E-mail—cnfish@mindspring.com.

CAREER:

Journalist, writer. Previously worked at the Washington Post; Orlando Sentinel Sunday magazine, Orlando, FL, editor; News & Observer, Raleigh, NC, assistant managing editor; Fast Company magazine, senior writer, 1996—.

AWARDS, HONORS:

New York Press Club Award for best business magazine story for ‘The Wal-Mart You Don't Know,’ 2004; Gerald Loeb Award for distinguished business journalism, 2005.

WRITINGS:

The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works—and How It's Transforming the American Economy, Penguin Press (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including the Washington Post, Orlando Sentinel, and Fast Company; writing has been included in the Best Business Stories of the Year.

SIDELIGHTS:

Charles Fishman was born in 1961, in Miami, Florida. A well-respected writer and investigative journalist, he has written for a variety of publications, primarily magazines, including the Washington Post, where he was part of the team that investigated the Challenger space shuttle explosion; the Orlando Sentinel Sunday magazine, where he served as editor; News & Observer, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he was the assistant managing editor and handled features, culture, sports and business coverage; and Fast Company magazine, where he continues as senior writer. Fishman specializes in getting inside organizations where reporters previously failed to gain access, and then reporting from the inside out all of the news about that business or group. He was the first reporter to be allowed inside Tupperware's factory, and, over the last thirty years, was also the only reporter to enter the United States' sole bomb factory. Fishman has won a number of awards for his writing, including the New York Press Club Award, for best business magazine story, for ‘The Wal-Mart You Don't Know,’ in 2004, a story which he eventually expanded into a book; and the Gerald Loeb Award, for distinguished business journalism, which he won in 2005.

Fishman's book, The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works—and How It's Transforming the American Economy, is the result of another instance when he was determined to get inside of a company and see how it ticks. Initially performing research for an article for Fast Company magazine, Fishman set out to crack Wal-Mart, a corporate retailer that was started by one man, the late Sam Walton, who became rich on the steady growth of his company and the seemingly endless multiplication of his retail stores. The power and influence wielded by Wal-Mart is international, and many retail business models today are based on what businessmen have observed about the growth of Wal-Mart and the way it has altered basic competition in the marketplace. A reviewer for the SISO Web site called Fishman's book ‘ the definitive guide to understanding the world's most important company,’ and Fishman himself ‘a natural storyteller with a compelling speaking style.’ Fishman wrote his book working under the handicap that he was unable to get an insider's look at the corporate headquarters. His information is based primarily on numerous interviews that he conducted with former employees of the company. Though he tried to contact someone at the Wal-Mart home office, his calls went unanswered. However, after his completed book was released and in stores, he ultimately received an invitation to visit Bentonville, where the company is headquartered, and to see for himself just how the company is run. In an interview for Writingon the Wal Web site, Fishman explained: ‘The point of the invitation was, essentially, ‘It looks like you're going to be writing and talking about Wal-Mart a fair amount in the near future … we'd like you to come learn something about the company first-hand.'’ Fishman used what he learned from his visit to update his book for the paperback edition, including adding a new chapter to set the story straight.

Initial reviews acknowledge the difficulty Fishman faced in attempting to write this book without corporate cooperation. Overall, the book was well received, standing out among the many other books available on Wal-Mart because Fishman's writing garnered attention. Andrew Seth, in a review for Management Today, commented: ‘Fishman has great new material and presents it brilliantly, evoking the success and failure contributing to what he calls the ‘Wal-Mart Effect.’ The ‘effect’ is that Wal-Mart is so uniquely dominant in its home country that its presence influences the lives of all Americans, whether or not they shop there. It's a brave claim and a great read."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 1, 2006, David Siegfried, review of The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works—and How It's Transforming the American Economy, p. 12.

Book World, April 2, 2006, Yian Q. Mui, review of The Wal-Mart Effect, p. 10.

Business Review Weekly, March 1, 2007, Sandra Burke, review of The Wal-Mart Effect, p. 56.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, May, 2006, S.R. Kahn, review of The Wal-Mart Effect, p. 1642.

Daily News Record, January 30, 2006, ‘World of Walmart,’ p. 6.

Fast Company, January-February, 2006, Lucas Conley, review of The Wal-Mart Effect, p. 103.

Library Journal, February 15, 2006, Susan Hurst, review of The Wal-Mart Effect, p. 126.

London Review of Books, June 22, 2006, ‘The Price of Pickles,’ p. 3.

Management Today, May 5, 2006, Andrew Seth, ‘Books: It's a Bit Too Soon to Write off Wal-Mart,’ p. 32.

New Statesman, May 22, 2006, ‘The Bottom Line,’ p. 53.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 2006, review of The Wal-Mart Effect.

ONLINE

SISO,http://www.siso.org/ (November 7, 2007), review of The Wal-Mart Effect.

UCLA Anderson School of Management Web site,http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/ (November 7, 2007), author profile.

Wal-Mart Effect Book Web site,http://www.walmarteffectbook.com (November 7, 2007), author profile.

Writing on the Wal,http://thewritingonthewal.net/ (September 16, 2006), interview with Charles Fishman.