OPERATING

TRACK RECORD

HARVARD

CASE STUDY

Download the Harvard Case Study 

On how IVEST Consumer Partner members George Jones and Ken Armstrong turned around and transformed the Parisian Stores division during their tenure at Saks Department Store Group

EXCERPT

In 2005, George Jones had two jobs: he was head of Saks Inc.'s 41-store Parisian department store chain as well as President and CEO of the Saks Department Store Group (SDSG), an umbrella for seven chains with a total of 182 stores across the United States. In 2003 Jones had taken over direct management of the faltering Birmingham, Alabama-based Parisian, which operated moderate to upscale department stores in the southeastern United States. By mid-2005, he had succeeded in turning the business around. "Between Q2 2003 and Q2 2005, we registered eight successive growth quarters all the while reducing expenses. We had a dramatic impact on almost all of our stores and registered 20% to 40% sales growth in many of our stores. Turns were up nearly 20% and profitability improved over 90%." --George Jones

Subjects Covered

Growth strategy, Marketing, Profitability, Turnarounds