Only six weeks ago I discussed Marks and Spencer being knocked off the top retail spot by supermarket giant Asda. At the time we were sympathizing with Sir Stuart Rose’s tough job of having to keep the company positive over that last 18 months of his reign. With a nation fearing the worst for the once UK high-street leader, all eyes have certainly been on Rose. However, with this week’s news…I think he has struck lucky, as the attention has been diverted.
“Marks & Spencer has confirmed it is appointing Morrisons’ boss Marc Bolland as its new chief executive” were the exact words of breaking news champions Sky News on Wednesday 18th November. Without doubt this took the nation by surprise because for some weeks now we have been focusing on Sir Stuart Rose’s survival plan over the Christmas period. One may argue that this announcement was a strategic way of “taking the heat off” of M&S. The breaking news report shares the words of their City editor Mark Kleinman who reflects that the selection of Marc Bolland could see M&S reaching its top spot on the retail scale again. This opinion is further agreed by ‘The Guardian’ reporter Zoe Wood who prides the Dutchman who is apparently a “crowd pleaser”, especially due to his successful running of Morrisons, which is expected to top rival Sainsbury’s profit by £200 million by the end of the year. I would argue that Zoe Wood remains too surfaced in her opinion, in other words she basis Bolland’s success on the basis of Morrisons rather than digging deeper to consider the individual characteristics of M&S, which he may not be successful with. This is the general approach of the rest of this article, which even goes to the extent to say that new CEO Marc Bolland will be welcomed with a “Golden Hello”. The reporter is too optimistic about Bolland rather than weighing up each side. At this point I am determined to find an article that outlines just how tough Bolland’s job will be.
Is Marc Bolland right for the job?
Jenny Davey for ‘The Times’ does exactly this and even includes in her title- ‘Will he be able to work his magic?’ This article outlines the suspected aims of Marc Bolland, once he takes over from Rose, in relation to the current issues faced by M&S. In particular, Davey suggests that the global market driven man will try desperately to take the UK retailer further abroad outside of the EU. On the contrary the author cleverly comments on the company’s previous experiences abroad, in particular the failure of their Taiwan shop, which closed in July 2008 after only 14 months of trade. Unfortunately, Davey takes this route a little too far by referring to international failures as far back as 1974 when their launch in Canada failed. This is a little unrealistic when it is obvious to the reader that M&S has implemented new strategies since then and that new CEO Marc Bolland will not be expected to recover mistakes which happened as long ago as 1974. In the reporter’s defense, she does end the article by concluding that if Bolland does “work his magic” and puts his successful marketing tools into practice he could have the potential of doubling M&S turnover from £9 billion to £20 billion.
Straight from the “horse’s mouth”
After reading the opinion of these various business reporters I couldn’t help but wonder what M&S had to say, and more excitingly, what Marc Bolland had to say! In a press release issued by M&S last Wednesday; Sir Stuart Rose positively addresses his audience by highlighting how valuable Bolland’s consumer marketing experience will be for M&S. He ends his speach by saying just how much he looks forward to working with Bolland during the hand-over period in 2010. Although a straightforward source, it must be highlighted that it is only expected for M&S to express positive thoughts in their press release, therefore not that reliable.
The most talked about man on the high street- Marc Bolland
Reporters were most probably scratching their way to capture the words and opinions of Marc Bolland once M&S broke the news on Wednesday. James Thompson of ‘The Independent’ was quick to share the reaction of Bolland, who stated, “This is simply an opportunity that passed by that I could not miss. I am totally committed to the business to the last moment”. In my opinion these are the words of a brave man whose start at M&S could be rocked by the current instability of the UK retail giant. Unfortunately, reporter Thompson fails to give opinion and so this article remains merely a summary of Bolland’s words. I can just respond that the press can only give opinion on the basis of his current job at Morrisons and they are probably waiting for him to start at M&S before critically reviewing his work.
Articles read:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/nov/22/bolland-marks-spencer-problems
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/investors/press_releases/company/ChiefExecutive
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article6926847.ece
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