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The Rise and Fall of Marks and Spencer: . And How it Rose Again
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Product Description
Why did Marks and Spencer, once Britain’s most admired retailers and most successful business, collapse so precipitously, and how long will its recent recovery last for? All is revealed in a fully updated version of this detailed history of the rise and fall of one of Great Britain's most lucrative household names.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1161024 in Books
- Published on: 2007
- Original language: English
- Dimensions: .1 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 288 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Amazon.co.uk
Judi Bevan's The Rise & Fall of Marks & Spencer tells the storyof how the distinctively bright green figurehead of British retail got the blues. From humble beginnings, Marks & Spencer became the UK's leading department store, famous for its ready meals, woolly jumpers and no-frills underwear. However, the British chain suffered a dramatic reversal of fortune starting in the late 1990s, with tumbling profits, poor sales and a series of boardroom bust-ups. Judi Bevan's intelligent and thoughtful analysis of the Marks & Spencer story covers the financial rise and fall of the retailing icon, but it's the personalities and relationships that made Marks & Spencer different. This was the first British retailer to offer staff hot meals at lunchtime and to organise holiday trips abroad for its workers. Yet, M&S also ruled with a rod of iron: staff were expected to be punctual, efficient, polite and--most dangerously of all--to unquestioningly follow orders from above. It's this colonial-style rule that ultimately led Marks & Spencer into disaster and The Rise and Fall carefullydetails each step down the path. While the Gap and Next were making inroads on the British high street, M&S was still in a world ofchauffeur driven managers and carpeted executive offices.
It was evident to journalists visiting Baker Street duringthis time that much of the company still looked longingly backward. Visitors would be escorted along seemingly endless corridors, with their closed doors on either side, by a uniformed female minder who would transport them into the care of the white-gloved waiters on the seventh floor. The atmosphere reeked of imperial Britain.As the family interest in the company declined, a generation of middle managers fought and back-stabbed their way into the boardroom, not always in the best interests of the company. With more than 50 years of history to cover, it's not surprising that Judi Bevan's tale can occasionally become confusing, but this is morethan made up for by the level of detail: from the controversial cheap home loans offered to directors to the regimented positioning of oranges on the fruit aisles, this is as compelling as business gets. --SallyWhittle
Review
"'An amazing story of rivalry and board bust-ups' Evening Standard 'Fascinating portraits of the individuals involved' Peter Martin, Financial Times 'A case study that every organisation should read - from Coke to the BBC - with a market share so big it can only fall' Richard Northedge, Sunday Business 'Outstanding value' Martin Jacomb, The Spectator"
About the Author
Judi Bevan is a freelance business journalist who has worked at the Sunday Times and Telegraph amongst many other papers. Her previous books include Trolley Wars and The Insiders.
