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Apple's Search for New Retail Chief Extending Internationally

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Back in June, department store chain J.C. Penney announced that it had named Apple retail boss Ron Johnson as its next Chief Executive Officer, with Johnson set to take the new job as of November 1st. Johnson has played an instrumental role at Apple over the past decade, overseeing the company's entire retail store initiative since joining Apple from discount retailer Target in 2000.

apple_store_pudong_night.jpg



Apple's Pudong retail store in Shanghai, China​
As part of its efforts to find a replacement for Johnson, Apple has reportedly extended its reach internationally with the hiring of search firm Egon Zehnder to assist with the search, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Chief Executive Steve Jobs, who's now on medical leave, was extensively involved in the decision to use a search firm and chose Egon Zehnder mainly because he wants to consider executives who are based abroad, one person familiar with the situation said.

Apple's hiring of the global recruitment firm suggests that the company may be seeking an executive with international retail experience. That makes sense given that it has been focusing most of its recent retail expansion in international markets.
Click to expand...
Apple's emphasis on international retail stores over the past several years has seen the international component of the company's retail arm grow to nearly 30% of the over 325 total stores. Apple currently operates retail stores in ten countries beyond the United States, and is in the midst of a significant push to open 30 more stores before the end of September.

Apple's "Greater China" market of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong has been a major focus for the company over the last year or two, although Apple has been relatively slow to open new stores there as the company currently operates only four stores in the country, all of which rank among the busiest in the company's chain. Apple last year announced plans to open up to 25 new stores in China during the following 24 months, but the company has opened only three locations since that time as it has worked hard to identify the best locations and to make plans for larger and more iconic stores than originally anticipated.

Article Link: Apple's Search for New Retail Chief Extending Internationally
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/03/apples-search-for-new-retail-chief-extending-internationally/
devinher

devinher

macrumors member
Mar 5, 2010
46
12
Big shoes

Talk about a tough act to follow. He's probably nearly as difficult to replace as Ives. Good luck to them!
 
citi

citi

macrumors 65816
May 2, 2006
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This is going to read poorly, and I have no intention of offending anyone but...

It's hard to believe we can't find someone to run a company that started in America, IN AMERICA. :eek:

Can't we hire someone from the GAP? :)
 
W

weing

macrumors regular
Apr 20, 2007
164
0
Well it makes sense. Now the China is opened up to them. The USA is now "just another market" to Apple.
And fast becoming an unimportant one at that!
 
A

applefan289

macrumors 68000
Aug 20, 2010
1,705
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USA
I've been wondering what would happen to Apple if some of the top people leave (like Steve Jobs, or Jonathan Ive). But, given that the company has had a ton of time to grow and get their system down, I don't think it would change much if there were replacements.

I'm sure Apple's goal is to keep this thing going as long as possible. They would not make the mistake of having the company's products or goals change because of corporate replacements.
 
C

claus1225

macrumors member
May 25, 2009
97
2
they need a store in Taipei, Taiwan.

right in the 101 or sogo area.

those are the most prestigious and crowded district.

even a 3 year old in taiwan can tell you that.
 
L

Locodice

macrumors regular
Mar 6, 2011
231
0
Steve really dropped the ball here.

I could see a special edition of The Apprentice with Steve picking the winner.
 
RalfTheDog

RalfTheDog

macrumors 68020
Feb 23, 2010
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Why would anyone jump ship from Apple to manage JC Pennies? Skip out on the fastest growing company in the world with the most upside potential to run the retail aspect of a company that is cratering? There must be more to the story.
 
a4ex

a4ex

macrumors newbie
Jun 29, 2011
28
6
I hope they will decide eventually to open one in Greece. We had enough with this resellers-crap
 
L

LoganT

macrumors 68020
Jan 9, 2007
2,382
134
RalfTheDog said:
Why would anyone jump ship from Apple to manage JC Pennies? Skip out on the fastest growing company in the world with the most upside potential to run the retail aspect of a company that is cratering? There must be more to the story.
Click to expand...

While Johnson will only be named president, he is expected to become CEO at JC Penney in the next few months.
Click to expand...

Source

So yes, there is more to the story.
 
whooleytoo

whooleytoo

macrumors 604
Aug 2, 2002
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Cork, Ireland.
citi said:
This is going to read poorly, and I have no intention of offending anyone but...

It's hard to believe we can't find someone to run a company that started in America, IN AMERICA. :eek:

Can't we hire someone from the GAP? :)
Click to expand...

Apple already have a huge (and hugely successful) retail operation in the US, there's far more expansion and growth potential internationally, which is why it might sense to look outside the US for its new retail chief.
 
Abyssgh0st

Abyssgh0st

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Jan 12, 2009
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RalfTheDog said:
Why would anyone jump ship from Apple to manage JC Pennies? Skip out on the fastest growing company in the world with the most upside potential to run the retail aspect of a company that is cratering? There must be more to the story.
Click to expand...

CEO > VP, from both a money standpoint and obviously a corporate ladder standpoint. Johnson running the show may be a lot better to him than designing retail environments.
 
Glideslope

Glideslope

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Dec 7, 2007
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mkrishnan said:
J.C. Penney is quite the challenge. Once upon a time, it was a storied American brand, but it fell so far. I would think, if one were in his line of work, it'd be a really interesting challenge to see if it could be turned into something meaningful again.
Click to expand...

Used to be simply "Penney's. Noted that while looking through my Mint Dec 63 Life Magazine last weekend at a Retro Gathering.

Where did J.C. arrive from? :apple:
 
wackymacky

wackymacky

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Sep 20, 2007
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

citi said:
This is going to read poorly, and I have no intention of offending anyone but...

It's hard to believe we can't find someone to run a company that started in America, IN AMERICA. :eek:

Can't we hire someone from the GAP? :)
Click to expand...

Even though I am not Americain I understand your sentiment. However from the shareholders perspective it is about the bottom line.

Where is the new upper-middle classes now? Not in the Western world. (The American dream is fading)

China and India and such is where the money is, and where the global future is got to be with 50 years. It's a hard fact of life us Westerners will need to come to accept.
 
AppleScruff1

AppleScruff1

macrumors G4
Feb 10, 2011
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citi said:
This is going to read poorly, and I have no intention of offending anyone but...

It's hard to believe we can't find someone to run a company that started in America, IN AMERICA. :eek:


Can't we hire someone from the GAP? :)
Click to expand...

Agreed,

weing said:
Well it makes sense. Now the China is opened up to them. The USA is now "just another market" to Apple.
And fast becoming an unimportant one at that!
Click to expand...

If the USA is not important to them, let them move their headquarters overseas too. Goodbye and good riddance to a bunch of arrogant prima donnas.

Maybe they can hire a Foxconn slave for the position?
 
rdowns

rdowns

macrumors Penryn
Jul 11, 2003
27,397
12,521
citi said:
This is going to read poorly, and I have no intention of offending anyone but...

It's hard to believe we can't find someone to run a company that started in America, IN AMERICA. :eek:

Can't we hire someone from the GAP? :)
Click to expand...


Apple would be remiss if they didn't look outside the US. What's wrong with hiring someone who can help them in their international expansion?
 
*LTD*

*LTD*

macrumors G4
Feb 5, 2009
10,703
1
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RalfTheDog said:
Why would anyone jump ship from Apple to manage JC Pennies? Skip out on the fastest growing company in the world with the most upside potential to run the retail aspect of a company that is cratering? There must be more to the story.
Click to expand...

JC Penny needed a CEO.

Apple already has a CEO (and the Retail guy was not in line for that position, safe to say.)

Limited growth prospects at Apple vs. running a major corporation.

Draw your own conclusions.
 
S

slinky199

macrumors regular
Jul 21, 2011
115
0
mkrishnan said:
J.C. Penney is quite the challenge. Once upon a time, it was a storied American brand, but it fell so far. I would think, if one were in his line of work, it'd be a really interesting challenge to see if it could be turned into something meaningful again.
Click to expand...

Sounds like Apple.
 
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