Sears Changes Again and Again
1. Synopsis
Sears, the well known department store chain has experienced change more often than ever in the recent times. The company went through the change in order to strengthen its traditional business and divest other retail segments. But each and every time the change program proved to be ineffective looking at it from long term perspective.
2. Issues
The major issues of the case are:
• Was it a good idea to appoint someone who is not from the company itself to the post of CEO?
• After Martinez became the CEO he decided to target the “middle-American mom”. Was it a good strategy to only target a particular segment of the customer?
• When the first strategy failed was it wise on the part of new CEO to bring up a strategy to focus more on the hard-good retail products only?
• Was the company aware about the intense competition prevailing in the market? Did the company give due consideration to its competitors while formulating the strategies?
3. Facts and Analysis
It is a well known fact that change is inevitable for any organization. But saying that is as also important to know about the major causes that have brought about the need for the changes to be made. In the absence about the knowledge of the causes the change program that takes place cannot be effective enough. In this case also we can see that Sears has undergone various changes from time and again. But I think that no any effort has been made on the part of the management to find about the major reasons that has been contributing to the fact that the company has not been doing good lately. From the case it is clear that Sears needed to implement the change program because it was losing billions of dollars due to decrease in the amount of sales. This was the trigger that initiated the change. When the new CEO was appointed he made about various changes in the organization. These changes were the focus areas. But the problem here was
Sears, the well known department store chain has experienced change more often than ever in the recent times. The company went through the change in order to strengthen its traditional business and divest other retail segments. But each and every time the change program proved to be ineffective looking at it from long term perspective.
2. Issues
The major issues of the case are:
• Was it a good idea to appoint someone who is not from the company itself to the post of CEO?
• After Martinez became the CEO he decided to target the “middle-American mom”. Was it a good strategy to only target a particular segment of the customer?
• When the first strategy failed was it wise on the part of new CEO to bring up a strategy to focus more on the hard-good retail products only?
• Was the company aware about the intense competition prevailing in the market? Did the company give due consideration to its competitors while formulating the strategies?
3. Facts and Analysis
It is a well known fact that change is inevitable for any organization. But saying that is as also important to know about the major causes that have brought about the need for the changes to be made. In the absence about the knowledge of the causes the change program that takes place cannot be effective enough. In this case also we can see that Sears has undergone various changes from time and again. But I think that no any effort has been made on the part of the management to find about the major reasons that has been contributing to the fact that the company has not been doing good lately. From the case it is clear that Sears needed to implement the change program because it was losing billions of dollars due to decrease in the amount of sales. This was the trigger that initiated the change. When the new CEO was appointed he made about various changes in the organization. These changes were the focus areas. But the problem here was