| Case
Study #3 |
| History |
| Founded in 1970, the client is a $300
million specialty retailer based in Philadelphia; the
company's products are men's and women's apparel and accessories,
as well as home furnishings and accessories. The corporate
culture is a fast paced, aggressive, and performance driven
one. |
| |
| Situation |
| After two decades of slow growth,
the corporation used capital gained from a 1993 IPO to
fund their expansion. Over the next two years, the corporation
went through three Directors of Construction & Development
in attempts to establish some unity in the new stores
and finish the projects within budget (something the company's
previous retail designer had been unable to do in ten
years). The company needed an individual who could accomplish
those goals, and be comfortable in blue collar and board
room environments. |
| |
| Solution |
| The final candidate would have a background
in retail building and construction (working on an aggressive
rollout), strong strategic and tactical planning experience,
and the ability to develop design sensitive and cost effective
projects from scratch. The assignment was made more difficult
considering that the position required relocation to Philadelphia
and paid below industry standards. One candidate Gaines
uncovered had graduated from Penn with a BA in economics
and an MBA in architecture, and recently spun off a department
of a major clothing chain (which included building the
department from scratch and designing flagship stores).
Skillful negotiating convinced the candidate to leave
behind a higher paying job in Columbus, Ohio and accept
this challenging position in Philadelphia. |
| |
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