The demise of Sears has left many puzzling. I spent a lot of my past seeing Sears as this untouchable department store that was a blueprint for the industry’s success. However, the liquidation of Sears has not come out of the blue. Upon investigation of what went wrong it is easy to see why Sears has fallen to such depths.

Sears has been a company whose brand exposure has not kept up with the competition. While companies like Macy’s, The Bay and Target have sponsored events and ran many ads, Sears has remained relatively quiet. Some of the marketing Sears has endured has been negative, from having a reported pension plan deficit of $267 Million to them closing over 50% of their stores since 2010 (Peterson, 2017). Furthermore, Sears’ demise has been inevitable for multiple years. As referenced in Michael Hua’s blog, Sears has not focused on adapting to the changing consumer taste, but rather focus on cutting costs and being cheaper than the other department stores. Sears made the terrible decision to focus on its competitors rather than its customers. It did not have an effective Value proposition, and the results of this are a 2013 study by Lutz, which indicated that 86% of Sears customers were unhappy with their service.

Moreover, Sears has had an incredible lack of innovation and intrapreneurial advances within it’s administration structure. Sears has maintained the same business model for decades, with little creativity regarding its operations. Their efforts have not brought in new customers, and the brand has clearly relied on its name and reputation to keep up sales. Eventually, however, their loss of their competitive advantage and their lack of novelty regarding their business plan resulted in them reporting a loss since 2010. Some of the potential lack of inside growth can stem from the toxic nature of the Sears workplace. Upper managers are often grilled by the CEO, who has been described to have “45-minute rants” whenever a manger can’t answer a question about any minute detail (Peterson, 2017). Such toxicity in the workplace has made many managers implement plans that are rushed and hectic, and that inevitably backfire. Sears’ leadership’s rigidity has limited the amount of creativity and intrapreneurial work that can revive the company going forward.

Sears is a hallmark brand of Canadian consumerism, yet in today’s age, their inevitable fate is bankruptcy. From a negative workplace environment that stifled intrapreneurial developments, to ineffective marketing compared to their competitors, Sears has made mistakes that will lead to it’s end. Sears Canada is a company whose business model should be a framework on what not to do in today’s business world.

Word Count: 438

References:
Peterson, H. (2017, January 08). Inside Sears death spiral: How an iconic American brand has been driven to the edge of bankruptcy. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1
Hua, M. (2017, October 11). Former Biggest Retailer to Ruins; What Happened? Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://blogs.ubc.ca/michaelhuablogs/2017/10/11/former-biggest-retailer-to-ruins-what-happened/

Photograph:
Peterson, H. (2017, January 08). Inside Sears death spiral: How an iconic American brand has been driven to the edge of bankruptcy. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/sears-failing-stores-closing-edward-lampert-bankruptcy-chances-2017-1

Equifax is a company that was relatively low-key until a few weeks ago. That all changed when a security breach was reported that jeopardized the finances of 145.5 million Americans (BBC, 2017). However, their woes seem to continue to grow, as there were reports of new malware being attached to the company’s help page. This new breach has brought up questions regarding the values, finances, and future of Equifax.
Equifax has a straightforward value proposition. Their job is to keep credit information safe for their millions of customers. They are not a small company that was subject to a small hack. This is a multinational, multi million-dollar company that did not perform its due diligence regarding security and put their consumers at risk. Their lack of oversight opened to door for identity theft, fraud, fake tax returns and more. Their complacency regarding security showed their customers that they don’t value as much, and they do not adhere to their core principals.

Equifax’s breach has affected their financial performance. After the original breach, stock prices fell around 30% (NYSE, 2017). Such a drop in their valuation is another slap in the face for their customers, some of who could have invested in Equifax. Moreover, a terrible performance has surely placed loads of pressure onto the company’s brass. The obligation to return the company to high levels of profits results in the company cutting corners and making more mistakes, as they did with their help page. Equifax should be used as a poster child to information companies about the negative impacts of not taking security seriously. Through heinous mistakes, Equifax has gifted their competition with new customers and new opportunities to gain market share.
The future of a company after a huge blunder is often uncertain. There will surely be leadership changes, as seen with Samsung and Uber after their PR debacle. Their stock price was hit with the initial drop, and their credibility rating has fallen below 200 (WSJ, 2017). The share price has been rising steadily over the last month, pointing towards a rebuild of the company’s stock levels. That rebuild has faced some obstacles after the latest malware reports. Consumers no longer place the same trust in the company that they had before. This loss of trust consequentially affects Equifax in the long run, as competitors can now snatch up customers.

Equifax put the lives of 150 million Americans at risk. By allowing the initial breach, as well as the malware link on their help page, Equifax has forced itself onto a rough path. There are doubts if Equifax will reach the levels that it was once at, and only time will tell how they mold as a company.

Word Count: 445

References:
Equifax removes webpage after malware issue. (2017, October 12). Retrieved October 14, 2017, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-41601871
Equifax’s Credibility Rating Falls Below 200. (2017, October 13). Retrieved October 14, 2017, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/equifaxs-credibility-rating-falls-below-200-1507909546
Photos:
http://www.mytotalretail.com/webinar/4-ways-to-improve-consumer-trust-online-again/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/winniesun/2017/10/02/what-you-should-do-now-after-the-equifax-security-leak/#1e487f952123