Word: genesco
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Like a child torn by a parental custody fight, Genesco, the sprawling retail and apparel concern, rocked back and forth for years in a war for control between two strong-willed personalities: W. Maxey Jarman and his son Franklin. In the end both lost. Four years ago, Franklin, now 45, ousted his father as company head and set about stripping Genesco of unprofitable businesses that Maxey had acquired in an unsuccessful attempt to expand sales to $2 billion a year. (They are about half that now.) Then, last week, Franklin himself was bounced in a coup organized over...
...Henri Bendel, Bonwit Teller) business. Jarman, a numbers man who carries an elaborate pocket calculator, lopped off several divisions, including San Remo men's suits and I. Miller women's shoes, and slashed 10,000 employees from the payroll. The surgery alienated the heads of many of Genesco's 78 operating divisions, who resented Jarman's lack of merchandising expertise. Some grumbled that Jarman "ran a fashion business as though it were a bank...
Flying Divots. He forced through the company's board a reorganization plan that named him Genesco's first chief executive officer. A year later, Maxey Jarman retired from the board; although he visited the Genesco headquarters almost daily to chat with friends, he and his son hardly spoke. Meanwhile, Frank shut down 177 marginal Kress stores, sold such subsidiaries as San Remo men's suits and I. Miller women's shoes, slashed more than 10,000 employees from the payroll and installed a new management team. "There were a lot of people around here who didn...
Jarman keeps minutely detailed figures that allow him to know instantly what sales have been at the Bonwit Teller cosmetics counter or which of Genesco's 85 subsidiaries can best make use of a new infusion of capital. Genesco is also embarking on a store-opening program for its profitable Johnston and Murphy and Jarman shoes...
Franklin Jarman remains unsatisfied: he is anxious to resume dividend payments. But one Genesco stockholder who seems pleased by developments is none other than Maxey Jarman. Not long ago, he sent his son a copy of a book on airplanes, inscribed with a kind personal note. In return, Frank Jarman sent him a copy of Futurologist Herman Kahn's optimistic book The Next 200 Years. Says Franklin Jarman: "Time heals everything." Profits help...