Management at J.C. Penney Company, Inc Research Paper

Management at J.C. Penney Company, Inc - Research Paper Example The company deals in conventional merchandise such as beds and beddings, home appliances and furniture, women and men’s clothing and baby layette, handbags and accessories, gifts, jewelry and watches (Carsky, 1994). JCPenney also leases its premises for departments such as portrait studios, optical centers, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Sephora, salons and jewelry repair. The fact that JCPenney has been around for more than a century definitely means that the organization has undergone several changes in its styles and approaches to management, as shall be seen in the ensuing discourse. One of the key changes that accompanied JCPenney’s management style has been the overlooking of its security of tenure which it has always extended to its management executives. Over time, JCPenney has always accorded its shareholders, employees and its directors a guarantee of uninterrupted period of at least two years. However, this trend was broken once after the appointment of Ron Johnson as the chief executive officer (CEO). Johnson had served Apple Store and was replacing Mike Ullman who is reputed for having run down JCPenney for seven uninterrupted years. However, when JCPenney saw that two years after Johnson’s absorption, the company was seriously plummeting in profits, sales and stock price, Johnson was dismissed (Slywotzky and Weissel, 2002). JCPenney has also reviewed its strategies to ward off the risks that it is facing and to lessen operational costs. For the first in its history, JCPenney intends to close 33 of its stores in 2014 and thereby joining McDonald’s Macy’s, Barnes & Noble and Family Dollar league. With the cost of operation having been attenuated, it is expected that the company will be able to use its plough back profits to reinvigorate itself. From a personal standpoint, JCPenney was not properly managed, though there is room for improvement. The proneness of JCPenney to mismanagement is illustrated by how fast the company has replaced