Broken Business Models: Sears & Kmart

The NY Post’s article and others seem surprised that Sears Holdings may not be able to continue as a going concern. Clearly sale of its Craftsman brand was a signal that Sears was in serious financial straits.

The acquisition of Sears and Kmart was completed ten years ago. But twenty years ago, before e-commerce became a major competitor, it was painfully obvious that Sears and Kmart were in serious trouble. Vendors selling to both companies at that time were questioning whether they could survive against Wal-Mart.

Could it be accurate that Wal-Mart’s physical distribution and information technology systems are so efficient that Wal-Mart receives cash for its products prior to having to pay its vendors for the purchases? All? Some? If true, tough to compete against.

Sears’ and Kmart’s business models were unmistakably broken starting in the 1990s. It is virtually impossible to repair a business model once it is broken. At minimum it would have required major capital investments in information technology and restructuring of their physical distribution operation with its high overhead and slow inventory replenishment. Would there have been a positive return on investment?

Mr. Edward Lampert was certainly considered a successful investor when he acquired Sears and Kmart. Possibly he was optimistic that he could repair both companies. Perhaps taking over as chief executive officer was a mistake as he apparently had never worked as CEO of a large retail company.

To be qualified to be CEO of a retail, manufacturing or service company – particularly one as large as Sears and Kmart - one needs to have started their career in the bowels of a company – at the bottom. Mr. JackWelch is an example of a successful CEO who started at the bottom.

Working ones way up from the bowels gives experience with all the functions (departments) of a business. How do these functions work together. Why is cross-functional communication so critically important - while simple in concept it is difficult to practice. How to submerge oneself into the lower organization levels to find out the priority problems and solutions without being a distraction. CEOs who started at the bottom are more calmly self-confident and make better decisions when they get to the top position.

Regardless of any mistakes that have been made Sears and Kmart seem to fit the axiom: “not every business can be turned around” – particularly if their business model is broken.

Second Best Company to Work For

Fortune Magazine’s 2017 “100 Best Companies to Work For” rated Wegmans Food Markets as the second best company to work for.

As Inc. Magazine’s article reports, Wegmans does not pay the highest wages compared to many of the other companies on Fortune’s list. However, it does have some attractive perks for tuition reimbursement and health care insurance but, in comparison to others on the best to work for list, it falls well short.

Why the high rating? Its culture and its management style receive high grades. This is true even though Wegmans has strict rules for its employees such as: the precise number of minutes for a break and the speed at which cashiers check out customers’ purchases.

Marriott International is number 33 on Fortune’s Best to Work For list. I became aware of Marriott’s rating when I was Chief Executive Officer of a distressed company in Austin Texas. The company I was managing had high hourly employee turnover. We paid minimum wage. Marriott also paid minimum wage to its hourly employees but had virtually zero turnover. I met with the hotel manager. Spent time learning how it was accomplished.

Marriott has similar reasons for being on Fortune’s list. Its culture and its management style. Heavy on employee recognition. Its support of employees and their families when they have a medical or personal issue. At the same time, Marriott also has strict performance measurements for it employees.

One minor example. A Marriott hourly laundry employee’s mother died. The hotel gave him paid time off to take care of the funeral arrangements. The hotel manager attended the funeral. The employee deeply appreciated it. He was moved to tears because the manager attended the funeral. He had thought he was a nobody at Marriott, fungible. He never forgot this gesture. He stayed with Marriott and was eventually promoted to a supervisory position.

It is not difficult to have a Wegmans’ and Marriott’s culture. It is not expensive. It pays off with higher than average profit margins and return on total capital.

Wegmans is a privately owned company. Some estimates put its operating profit margin at above 7% - higher than its largest competitors and Whole Foods.

The Netflix Culture & Mistake

Netflix’s culture was described in a recent edition of the Business Insider. It makes an interesting read. At more than one hundred pages, it is quite long and detailed – but worthwhile.

While it is described as a statement of its company culture, it is more of a guide and blueprint for its employees on how the company operates or, perhaps more accurately what is expected of its employees.

Netflix’s culture document has three principal themes – Performance, Freedom, Responsibility - and expands into seven specific requirements which are listed below:

Values are what we value.

High Performance.

Freedom & Responsibility.

Context, not Control.

Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled.

Pay Top of Market.

Promotions & Development.

 The several factors frequently emphasized:

“Performance” is the most important variable leading to success – it is cited repeatedly throughout the statement. It will overcome context and control failures, responsibility issues and success with hiring and promotions.

An indication of Performance’s importance are two warnings to employees: “Accomplish amazing amounts of important work.” “Adequate performance gets a generous severance package.”

“Think strategically.” “Focus on strategy & goals.”

“Minimize written rules.”

“Communication.” “Frequent department meetings.” “Honest, candid, non-political communication.” “Challenge prevailing assumptions.” “Courage to say what you think.” “Quick to admit mistakes.”

“Open internally about strategy and results.” (i.e., the company makes sure all employees are thoroughly familiar with its strategy and results)

“Judgment.” Largely refers to how decisions are made: Identify root causes, not symptoms. Think strategically, not tactically. Make good decisions regardless of uncertainties – i.e., do your homework.

“No toleration for brilliant jerks” Smart but difficult to work for managers are not retained.

In the first few pages they surprisingly go out of their way to harpoon Enron’s value statement that was displayed in Enron’s lobby: Integrity, Communication, Respect, Excellence.

It is unusual for a company’s culture to be a written document. Although one of the world’s most successful companies – Wal-Mart – publishes a statement of culture.

By comparison, in my fifteen years at Emerson Electric Co. there was none and one was never discussed. We all understood the culture and the company’s values. It was exactly the same as Netflix’s emphasis throughout its culture statement: “Performance” and “Strategic Focus”.

Netflix acknowledges that they know they are not perfect but continue to work toward achieving their goals by stating in the culture document: “We are getting better” “We keep improving our culture as we grow. We get better at seeking excellence.” This certainly gives credibility to the constructive perspective that supports Netflix’s statement of culture are.

However, Netflix does make mistakes. One major error was this year’s decision to separate its DVD service from its Internet streaming service. Three weeks after the spin off decision was announced, Netflix reversed itself and decided to not spin off its DVD service. It decided to keep both services under one name and one Web site.

The positives:

● The quick realization of a mistake with the reversal decision being made just three weeks after it was announced. (It took Coca Cola three months to reverse its New Coke decision.)

● A candid admission that a mistake was made and that hubris was a factor.

● The 60% price increase. It may make the mistake fade quickly, if it sticks, as it will have a significantly favorable impact on profitability.

The negatives:

● Contrary to its culture statement on Judgment, thorough homework for this decision was not completed.

● The admission that hubris played a big role.

● Can the company recover? Will competition capitalize on the error? Will customers accept the 60% price increase? Will Netflix record Net Losses in 2012?

Click on this link for Netflix's culture document.