Monday, May 7, 2012

Stegosaurus Sears

Stegosaurus Image

Click to enlarge.

Stegosaurus

The function of the plates has been much debated. Initially thought of as some form of armor, they appear to have been too fragile and ill-placed for defensive purposes, leaving the animal's sides unprotected.

...

Their large size suggests that the plates may have served to increase the apparent height of the animal, in order either to intimidate enemies or to impress other members of the same species, in some form of sexual display, although both male and female specimens seemed to have had them.

Call me a contrarian if you will, but is it possible that there is some link between the orientation of these dinosaur plates and 21st century Sears performance?


Click to enlarge.

It's just a theory mind you, just a theory.

The endocast showed that the brain was indeed very small, maybe the smallest among the dinosaurs.

No-brainer investment?

One hypothesized feeding behavior strategy considers them to be low-level browsers, eating low-growing fruit of various non-flowering plants, as well as foliage.

Low-hanging fruit?

Surely this can't be a coincidence.

March 15, 2006
Sears Holdings Chairman's Letter

In 2005, we combined the Sears and Kmart Supply Chain, IT, Finance, Legal, and Human Resources functions. This past fall, we combined our Marketing functions under Maureen McGuire, and our Merchandising functions under Dan Laughlin and Peter Whitsett. Last month, we combined the Kmart and Sears store operations under Bruce Johnson. Karen Austin, EVP and Chief Information Officer, and her IT team have made better-than-expected progress in moving forward on our IT roadmap, which is designed to bring the Sears Holdings businesses onto one platform and to ensure that we invest where necessary to further our goal of increasing profits. We are working to improve our customer relationships and the customer experience across Sears Holdings.

In short, the merger process is largely complete. We have faced this challenge and now are focused on running the business better each and every day. We will not have to deal with the distractions of moving, resizing the organization, or setting a new direction. At the same time, we will not have the same ability to harvest the low-hanging fruit that the merger presented to us. We are firmly anchored in the tasks of testing, adapting, and executing.


Source Data:
Yahoo: Sears Holdings Corporation
St. Louis Fed: CPI

6 comments:

Jazzbumpa said...

I think I understand.

Cheers!
JzB

I'm Not POTUS said...

You actually solved the riddle in your post.

Low-hanging fruit?

They were used as combs/fruit pickers on the fawna to drop the food they ate to the ground.

Put one of these in the carboninzed forrest in China and see if I am correct.

Just like modern economics the crazier your idea of how things were done, the more likely the impossible can be accomplished.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Jazzbumpa,

Just when you least expect it, up pops Nessie!

Stagflationary Mark said...

I'm Not POTUS,

"Just like modern economics the crazier your idea of how things were done, the more likely the impossible can be accomplished."

That's an awesome quote!

I'm tempted to crank out a few bumper stickers based on it.

American Prosperity: Almost Doin' the Impossible Since 2000!

Scott said...

It takes a long time to run a company into the ground; particularly one the size of Sears and Kmart combined. Shopper habits are hard to break.

Eventually this beast will be liquidated, but I'd guess another ten years at least.

Both strategies of this company are losers; physical retail and commercial RE.

Stagflationary Mark said...

Scott,

It takes a long time to run a company into the ground...

The 1990s weren't kind to companies running in the ground. Times change. Go figure.

June 12, 1994
To wipe away the memory: Mining museums may close as 'ultimate privatisation' takes hold

'They're not content with getting rid of us,' said one Yorkshire miner forced out of the industry when his pit closed six months ago, 'they want to wipe away even the memory of what it was like down the pit.'