Topic: a case study.

for kids, and small shops around the perimeter. Johnson further planned to implement a simplification of the company's pricing strategy including a reduction in the number of times prices were marked down. Johnson knew that transforming J.C. Penney's 1100 department stores nationwide would take considerable time and effort, and that changes at J.C. Penney would also involve job cuts, including nearly 1,000 employees at its head-quarters, and the closing of one of its three call centers. J.C. Penney fired Ron Johnson after just 17 months, following a disastrous decline in business directly attributable to the failure of the new business plan. Ex-CEO Mike Ullman then rejoined the company and was charged with stabilizing the retail chain, which was in a free fall after racking up almost a billion dollars in losses in 2012 as revenue plunged nearly 25%. At that point, it was not clear if Ullman would con-tinue with Johnson's plans to remake the legacy department store chain; however, it appeared that Ullman planned to return J.C. Penney to its roots while developing a point of differentiation and competitive advantage in the present day market, rather than simply implementing Johnson's vision. J.C. Penney very quickly learned that it needed to listen to its customers and drive desired changes, rather than implement a drastic overhaul.

Mr. Ullman, 66, brought almost eight years of senior executive leadership to the organization, along with specific company and industry knowledge, as well as a sensitiv-ity to the "voice of the customer" and an altruistic intent to "fix" the company: Given that Ullman decided on the spot to take the job, and to do so with no employment agreement for only $1 million in salary a year, we believe his interest is purely in fixing J.C. Penney and leaving a legacy that ends on a high note. His experience and the respect he has in the department store industry is already apparent, as the company has secured a loan from Goldman Sachs and vendors have continued to support the team despite dif-ficult financial results (Swinand, 2013).

At the same time, J.C. Penney learned a hard lesson about the risks associated with workforce reductions - that seasoned store veterans with tribal knowledge of the company and its operations, and the industry as a whole, offered a unique competitive advantage, thus letting them go was a huge risk. This realization was duly noted in its 2012 10-k explanation of its reductions to shareholders: These reductions, combined with our voluntary early retirement plan initiated in 2011 and voluntary departures of employees have resulted in a substantial amount of turnover of officers and line managers with specific knowledge relating to us, our operations and our industry that could be difficult to replace. We now operate with significantly fewer individuals who have assumed additional duties and responsibilities and we could have additional workforce reductions in the future . . . These workforce changes may negatively impact communication, morale, management cohesiveness and effective decision-making, which could have an adverse impact on our operating efficiency cursor (J.C. Penney Company, 2013).

Question1: Based on the information above make an Executive Summary?