個案總覽

Augustin Rey, the president of Emilia, a century-old clothing retailer in Spain, is determined to revamp the company's merchandising strategy and redesign some of its dowdiest stores. He also wants to do away with discounts, circulars, and special sales, and win customers over with a strategy he calls hablar claro--"straight talk." That means the same low prices every day. At first, Emilia's financial results were outstanding. But they've since started to slip: Customer traffic is down significantly, and same-store revenue has dropped. Rey's board of directors is pressuring him to go back to the old ways. This case is based on real events at J.C. Penney and includes commentaries from Shari Rudolph, of Gabriel Brothers, and Yashodhara Shroff, of the Indian retail chain ffolio.