The Wal-Mart story includes information related to the romantic perspective of leadership, in which the leader determines organizational success. Sam Walton had a vision about American retailing and gambled much of his scarce resources to create the original Wal-Mart stores. For the external control perspective, Wal-Mart simply satisfied a latent demand of consumers for a wide assortment of goods at the lowest possible prices.
The Ford website includes information on the members of the board of directors, and related text on the importance of these leaders for representing Ford’s perspective to outside interests. For the external control perspective, Ford offers a number of explanations for its organizational success. For example, a description of its success in flexible, global production of drive trains attributes success to cost savings from Ford’s ability to exploit different labor market conditions. And Ford’s sustainability report emphasizes its responsiveness to various stakeholders and social responsibility.