Marks and Spencer (MKS) has a habit of wearing out its chief executives. The reason is not hard to see. The challenges of adapting an ingrained culture and good-in-parts strategies to constantly changing business environments must be immense.
Stuart Rose adopted the mantra to “protect the magic and modernise the rest” when he took on the role in May 2004. After fending off a takeover attempt, he restored profitability by focusing the business away from frumpy middle-aged clothes towards younger styles. This brought some success, and in 2007 he introduced a policy called Plan A (because there can be no Plan B), which aims to minimise the group’s contribution to climate change. The objective is for M&S to be net zero by 2040 through initiatives such as cutting waste and using sustainable supply chains. Some scoffed, but it soon proved how environmental altruism could generate profits. In March 2008, Rose took on chairing the group as well as being chief executive. After two years of tensions over governance, pay, strategy and succession, he said that he’d be going “a bit earlier” than planned, adding “I’ve done this job longer than the Second World War lasted.”
The controversy persisted when Marc Bolland was headhunted from Morrisons. His “golden hello” in May 2010 was potentially worth £15mn, only half of which was to buy out the bonuses and shares he’d had to sacrifice for jumping ship. He brought in a three-year strategy to revamp stores, abandoned plans to sell white goods such as televisions and scaled back stocks of branded goods. He followed through on Rose’s strategy of chasing younger customers by scrapping the clothing line for over-50s but, squeezed between cheap fast fashion at one end of the market and affordable luxury at the other, clothing sales remorselessly declined for three years and the group lost market share to rivals such as Next (NXT). Against this, food sales took market share and heavy investment in both the supply chain and the website improved online sales. By 2015, after five years in the role, he’d had enough. “I’ve done the heavy lifting that was needed,” he said, adding that he had “built the foundations” for the future.