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