Chief executive of Wal-Mart Lee Scott is returning to what he calls “the details”. Recently, that meant sitting down to sample pies at the unassuming corporate headquarters of the world’s largest retailer in Bentonville, Arkansas.

“We go out to the competition and we buy pumpkin pies,” he says. “And then we set them in the office next door, and we sit down and we taste pumpkin pies. And we talk about why this one’s different from that one, and what goes into it.”