There was a small group of us managers who did everything we could to effect changes, but ultimately they didn’t want to spend the money. Young managers don’t want to work for companies like that and all managers they’ve hired from outside the company in the last 4 years have quit already.
It was a private company run by a family. The VP was the only person at corporate from outside the family. He was very forward thinking, but eventually came to the realization that even he would not be able to change anything.
While I was there, two of the three top grossing stores lost at least 50% of their volume, with one store losing 70%. The competition started to aggressively price match, which was our company’s only market advantage, and it was devastating since they had the tools and systems to provide faster and more reliable service.
The owner, who only showed up to the office for quarterly meetings, kicked his brother, the President, out of the big office and is now there 4 days a week. With the slip in sales and the inability to hold on to managers, I think he’s feeling the heat.
/rant
Are you talking about these companies?