The Hard Road to the Softer Side: Lessons from the Transformation of SEARS

商家名称	信用等级	购买信息	订购本书
		The Hard Road to the Softer Side: Lessons from the Transformation of SEARS
		The Hard Road to the Softer Side: Lessons from the Transformation of SEARS

基本信息·出版社：Crown Business
·页码：256 页
·出版日期：2001年10月
·ISBN：0812929608
·International Standard Book Number：0812929608
·条形码：9780812929607
·EAN：9780812929607
·版本：1st
·装帧：精装
·正文语种：英语

内容简介 For the better part of a century, Sears, Roebuck and Company touched the lives of almost everyone in America. A stunning tale of marketing and savvy, the company started selling watches and quickly became an essential source of goods for the American home. Sears brought the Christmas dreams of distant children to life; introduced the American homemaker to a collection of appliances that stripped much of the drudgery from daily living; and put solid, dependable tools in the hands of strong, eager men. At the same time, it forged a solid relationship with its customers, earning that most valuable business asset of them all: loyalty.

And then, when it could least afford to, Sears lost its way. It gradually forgot about its customers. It no longer understood (or cared) who its competitors were. It shifted its focus inward, to the interests and needs of its huge bureaucracy, all at the expense of the customers who found themselves in declining, dismal stores. The greatest retailer in world history had become a company with a great past, a disappointing present, and a dismal future.

The Hard Road to the Softer Side: Lessons from the Transformation of Sears is the story of how Sears recovered from this downfall, told by the visionary who built the team that forged the company’s rebirth. When Arthur Martinez took charge at Sears in 1992, he found a once-great company facing a loss of $4 billion, with a Soviet-style bureaucracy, little idea of its target customer, and an army of 300,000 disheartened employees. Many experts thought Sears was too far gone to save.

But save it Martinez did, putting Sears in the black by 1994 and sailing on through 1997. It wasn’t easy. Almost everything the company had become needed to change. Fifty thousand jobs disappeared. The Sears catalog, which had become so much a part of the company’s mythology, was put to rest. More than 100 stores were closed. But what rose from all of that turmoil was a new commitment to customers and a strategy that should have been apparent: in the American family, the mother is the chief financial officer.

With a boldness and determination backed by billions of dollars in renovations, Sears revived its connection to its customers and, at the same time, brought its own people back to life. The advertising sent the message, the sales staff opened its arms, and the customers came back. The new Sears was keeping its eye on the marketplace, its focus on the customer, and its interests firmly connected to the financial health of its shareholders. Then Sears hit the wall again with new aggressive competitors, a huge ethics problem, a war for talent, and a slowdown in sales.

The story of how Martinez and his team worked their way through not one but two crises is compelling and highly instructive, especially for anyone working in a company with an entrenched corporate culture or a long tradition that needs to be updated in order to stay competitive.
作者简介 Arthur C. Martinez was chairman and CEO of Sears, Roebuck and Company from 1995 to 2000 and chairman and CEO of its retail arm, Sears Merchandise Group from 1992 to 1995. Prior to Sears, he was vice chairman at Saks Fifth Avenue, where he worked in various senior positions for 12 years.

Charles Madigan is the Sunday perspective editor of the Chicago Tribune and a Tribune senior writer. He is also coauthor of the business bestseller Dangerous Company, and he collaborated on Lessons from the Heart of American Business by Gerald Greenwald, former chairman and CEO of United Airlines.
媒体推荐 ?Arthur Martinez provides us with a genuinely inspiring and challenging story of the great Sears turnaround of the 1990s. Learning this story will provide every manager and business leader with invaluable insights on how to build a stronger, more customer-centric business.?
?Adrian J. Slywotzky, vice president of Mercer Management Consulting and author of The Profit Zone and How Digital Is Your Business?

?Be warned. This is a story as gripping as a good novel, complete with easily absorbed wisdom and a hero. It?s also an authentic blueprint of how the best managers in the best businesses in our country get the job done.?
?Charlotte L. Beers, former chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather

?Honest and insightful, Arthur Martinez?s inside story of the Sears turnaround is an important read. He paints a picture of the challenges faced by the contemporary CEO: remaining true to a great brand?s core values, dealing with culture shock in a proud organization, addressing the implications of a changing consumer and fast-moving competition.?
?Paul R. Charron, chairman and CEO of Liz Claiborne, Inc.

?The Hard Road to the Softer Side describes well what can happen when one combines the leader?s genuine concern for the customer with a dedicated team and great locations. Martinez transformed Sears from a laggard to a leader once again.?
?Walter Y. Elisha, former CEO of Springs Industries

?Arthur Martinez?s Sears saga makes a powerful point: meaningful and relevant brands and companies should never die. This is the most insightful, educative business case history I have ever read.?
?Peter A. Georgescu, chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam, Inc.

?As a retail leader, Arthur Martinez showed a passion for the business. He says he did not save Sears, that the company's employees did. But this book demonstrates the important contribution his passionate leadership made to the transformation. Others can learn much from his experience.?
?Allen Questrom, chairman and CEO of JCPenney -- Review
编辑推荐 “Arthur Martinez provides us with a genuinely inspiring and challenging story of the great Sears turnaround of the 1990s. Learning this story will provide every manager and business leader with invaluable insights on how to build a stronger, more customer-centric business.”
—Adrian J. Slywotzky, vice president of Mercer Management Consulting and author of The Profit Zone and How Digital Is Your Business?

“Be warned. This is a story as gripping as a good novel, complete with easily absorbed wisdom and a hero. It’s also an authentic blueprint of how the best managers in the best businesses in our country get the job done.”
—Charlotte L. Beers, former chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather

“Honest and insightful, Arthur Martinez’s inside story of the Sears turnaround is an important read. He paints a picture of the challenges faced by the contemporary CEO: remaining true to a great brand’s core values, dealing with culture shock in a proud organization, addressing the implications of a changing consumer and fast-moving competition.”
—Paul R. Charron, chairman and CEO of Liz Claiborne, Inc.

“The Hard Road to the Softer Side describes well what can happen when one combines the leader’s genuine concern for the customer with a dedicated team and great locations. Martinez transformed Sears from a laggard to a leader once again.”
—Walter Y. Elisha, former CEO of Springs Industries

“Arthur Martinez’s Sears saga makes a powerful point: meaningful and relevant brands and companies should never die. This is the most insightful, educative business case history I have ever read.”
—Peter A. Georgescu, chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam, Inc.

“As a retail leader, Arthur Martinez showed a passion for the business. He says he did not save Sears, that the company's employees did. But this book demonstrates the important contribution his passionate leadership made to the transformation. Others can learn much from his experience.”
—Allen Questrom, chairman and CEO of JCPenney

When Arthur C. Martinez moved from vice chairman of Saks Fifth Avenue to the top spot at Sears in 1992, his immediate duty was clear: use his outsider's perspective to remake a stodgy and floundering 19th-century retailer into one prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. The problems he uncovered ran deeply enough to require two complete transformations, sandwiched around corporate legal problems that led to millions in direct damages and an incalculable loss in consumer goodwill. The Hard Road to the Softer Side tells how Martinez went about this conversion during his eight- year reign, the book's title playing off the ad campaign central to his efforts to reposition the company from a dowdy purveyor of tools and appliances to a modern outlet for fashion and fun. The key was recognizing that Sears's primary customer had shifted over the years from the man of the family to the woman, and that everything from store design and brand selection to prices and marketing efforts had to reflect that reality. To effect these changes, he unflinchingly confronted a succession of sacred cows--the most notable of which, the venerable Sears catalog, was losing so much money he was reluctantly forced to kill it. He also closed dozens of unprofitable stores, shed longtime affiliates like Coldwell Banker and Allstate, oversaw a cautious entry into e-commerce, and even adopted some concepts used by aggressive competitors. The specifics won't apply to many companies unless they also do $40 billion-plus in annual sales, but the story of Sears has always been the story of American retailing, and the principles behind its 1990s resurgence (focus intently on the customer, keep a close eye on the competition, don't be afraid of change) are generally applicable to enterprises of other sizes and types as well. --Howard Rothman
专业书评 From Publishers Weekly

A couple of factors save this book from being just another stroll down CEO lane. First, the turnaround of Sears, Roebuck is far from complete. Although the company is in better shape than when Martinez, formerly vice-chairman at Saks Fifth Avenue, took over, it is still not on a par with either of its main competitors, Wal-Mart and Target. Thus it provides a snapshot of Martinez's participation in a continuing turnaround effort; he left the company last year after eight years as chairman and CEO. The second distinguishing factor is the interweaving of Sears's history. Martinez and Madigan, a senior writer at the Chicago Tribune, not only provide fascinating background information, but also explain why the company floundered. Martinez cites the three elements by which Sears "helped [its customers] leave": ignoring them, disregarding competitors and "[f]ocusing almost all of [its] energy on the construction of a magnificent, frustrating bureaucracy." Martinez offers predictable management lessons: "The Customer Is Everything"; "Your Employees Are Golden." But however obvious such tenets may be, Sears clearly lost sight of them. Despite flowery writing ("Everyone in that world had to understand that the customer is the sun at the center of our solar system"), the story of how Sears lost its way is engaging, even if readers aren't certain it will regain the right path. Part management guide, part cautionary tale and part historical recap, this book should dappeal to the ever-growing management and executive crowd.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

“Arthur Martinez provides us with a genuinely inspiring and challenging story of the great Sears turnaround of the 1990s. Learning this story will provide every manager and business leader with invaluable insights on how to build a stronger, more customer-centric business.”
—Adrian J. Slywotzky, vice president of Mercer Management Consulting and author of The Profit Zone and How Digital Is Your Business?

“Be warned. This is a story as gripping as a good novel, complete with easily absorbed wisdom and a hero. It’s also an authentic blueprint of how the best managers in the best businesses in our country get the job done.”
—Charlotte L. Beers, former chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather

“Honest and insightful, Arthur Martinez’s inside story of the Sears turnaround is an important read. He paints a picture of the challenges faced by the contemporary CEO: remaining true to a great brand’s core values, dealing with culture shock in a proud organization, addressing the implications of a changing consumer and fast-moving competition.”
—Paul R. Charron, chairman and CEO of Liz Claiborne, Inc.

“The Hard Road to the Softer Side describes well what can happen when one combines the leader’s genuine concern for the customer with a dedicated team and great locations. Martinez transformed Sears from a laggard to a leader once again.”
—Walter Y. Elisha, former CEO of Springs Industries

“Arthur Martinez’s Sears saga makes a powerful point: meaningful and relevant brands and companies should never die. This is the most insightful, educative business case history I have ever read.”
—Peter A. Georgescu, chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam, Inc.

“As a retail leader, Arthur Martinez showed a passion for the business. He says he did not save Sears, that the company's employees did. But this book demonstrates the important contribution his passionate leadership made to the transformation. Others can learn much from his experience.”
—Allen Questrom, chairman and CEO of JCPenney

From Booklist

Martinez was the chairman and CEO of Sears from 1992 to 2000. In 1992 the company lost $3.9 billion. By 1994 its earnings were in the black, with a profit of $1 billion. By 1998 Sears again was in financial trouble, and again Martinez revived the company. In this very readable book, Martinez (with coauthor Madigan) tells how he did it, stressing the importance of the customers and employees. Know your enemy, he advises, and know the history that created your company. And in a competitive, changing marketplace, time is not your friend, he warns. Business leaders and managers will find his words absorbing; workers on the bottom rung of the ladder will get a glimpse of the machinations at the top; and all readers of business books will find much to ruminate over. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


文摘 Chapter 1

Sears' History:
The Bad and the Brilliant

In the life of every individual and in the life of every corporation there is a defining moment. The thinking, the abstraction of planning, melts away, the fog lifts, the air clarifies, and under a bright sun and fresh sky, what must be done takes on a stunning, undeniable shape. It is rare that an event of that nature would happen in the life of a corporation and in the life of an individual at the same time.

My moment, and Sears' moment, too, came on a company jet with a handful of Sears executives heading home from a trip to Mexico to review the company's business there. It was early December 1992. I had been on the Sears team for only three months. I had been brought in to revive the Sears retail business, its merchandising group, and potentially to run the whole company. (I'll tell you later about the unusual journey that carried me to Sears, a trip that led some to conclude I had lost my mind.)

My first weeks on the job had been real eye-openers.

I dove deep into this treasure of a company and found layer upon layer of trouble, a hemorrhaging of red ink, indecision about what to do, and an almost palpable anxiety.

My most formidable adversary, and ultimately my strongest ally, would be culture, a century of culture and the mammoth bureaucracy it had created. Bureaucracy was so deeply developed and planted at Sears that it seemed for all the world as though the place had been designed by one of those obsessive Soviet functionaries at mid-century. At the same time, a lot of it took on the earmarks of the classic Potemkin village, with fresh paint and flowers on the outside masking an operation that was close to collapse. The enemy, I knew from the outset, was us. The challenge would be to find what was solid, dependable, even brilliant inside of this company and use it to create an entirely new Sears.

That had been my message and my mantra
……