Article Report
In her article, “Ron Johnson Acknowledges J.C. Penney Isn’t Apple”, Diane Brady narrates the complex situation that Johnson, former Senior V.P. of Retail Operations at Apple, Inc. faces since he got appointed as the new CEO of J.C. Penney. Johnson is well known for his retail marketing strategies, creator of the Apple Stores which is listed today as the “highest performing stores in retail history” (Chazin, 2013). But with over a year in his new position, Johnson has not been able to mirror his previous retail success at the J.C. Penney Stores; instead stock prices have steadily dropped.
Back in 2011, the board made the urgent decision to turnaround management by appointing a new CEO to salvage J.C. Penney from the road of bankruptcy. Is a well known fact, that having a management turnaround is not a quick fix, instead is a “slow, complex and extremely difficult” process (Jones & George, 2011). Johnson put into practice in J.C. Penney the same vision and strategy that he used at Apple, he thought that by “cookie-cutting” what he did in Apple, it will guarantee him the same success. In addition, he radically changed J.C. Penney’s pricing strategy to a Wal-Mart type of low-pricing approach, by eliminating the used of coupons and sales events that were normally advertised through the year. His strategies so far have failed, his transformation of the store to a more relax , family friendly, and high touch experience, and the change to everyday low prices did not go well for J.C. Penney’s loyal customers. The customers were outraged when the yearly sales and coupons were taken away.
The new CEO made the mistake of implementing radical new changes without initially taking the time to correctly research the type of customers J.C. Penney caters to. His new strategy and lack of planning, failed him to being responsive to customer needs. Instead, his idea was the opposite, to reform the customers shopping experience and that was not well-received. Today,
Back in 2011, the board made the urgent decision to turnaround management by appointing a new CEO to salvage J.C. Penney from the road of bankruptcy. Is a well known fact, that having a management turnaround is not a quick fix, instead is a “slow, complex and extremely difficult” process (Jones & George, 2011). Johnson put into practice in J.C. Penney the same vision and strategy that he used at Apple, he thought that by “cookie-cutting” what he did in Apple, it will guarantee him the same success. In addition, he radically changed J.C. Penney’s pricing strategy to a Wal-Mart type of low-pricing approach, by eliminating the used of coupons and sales events that were normally advertised through the year. His strategies so far have failed, his transformation of the store to a more relax , family friendly, and high touch experience, and the change to everyday low prices did not go well for J.C. Penney’s loyal customers. The customers were outraged when the yearly sales and coupons were taken away.
The new CEO made the mistake of implementing radical new changes without initially taking the time to correctly research the type of customers J.C. Penney caters to. His new strategy and lack of planning, failed him to being responsive to customer needs. Instead, his idea was the opposite, to reform the customers shopping experience and that was not well-received. Today,