M&S Video

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Post-Marks continued

Downfall (internal). The firm, thinking it was immune to change, had lost sight of its key priorities.

"Acorns don't grow very well under an oak tree". This was used to describe the stifling authoritarian rule of Greenbury, who was both the owner and CEO of M&S. He would not share the power of the firm and since there was no founding family members to bring order to the proceedings, there was lots of in-fighting in the boardroom.

In fact, there was so much fighting, that no-one was paying any attention to the market.

Salisbury, the successor to Greenbury, (and from the inside) hired too many consultants, who made the situation even more complicated, while costing the company money and time.

Luc Vandevelde took over and was the first "outsider" to become CEO. He realised that the look of the store was very important and strove to improve customer responsiveness and employee morale, which had plummeted during the 1998 crisis

The company is still doing badly; they have "still not turned the corner, if there's one to turn"