Posted on December 22, 2009 - by Jay

On Bad Management

Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography

Basically, bad management doesn’t have the shareholders in mind. Or if the bad management is the majority shareholder, they don’t have other shareholders’ interest in mind. Their policy is about “Screw You and I Get My Bonus” or “I Win, You Lose”.

On bad management, CK Tang’s recent saga definitely comes to mind. It’s a long story that probably deserves a book trilogy starting with the great CK Tang himself, who built a solid business based on virtues like good customer service, treating employees well etc. His business approach was a very traditional, fundamental approach that sadly had lost its touch in today’s Singapore.

The poor management began shortly after his death some 10 years ago perhaps. Over the past 10-15 years, CK Tang had been able to deliver annual sales of S$160-220mn sadly without very significant growth. Singapore’s GDP has probably doubled in that span of time.

The story for profits is even worse. Net income was negative for the most part with some years losing as much as S$40-50mn. The company did not pay dividend for the most part of the past 10 years and kept throwing money into wasteful ventures, like new CK Tang outlets in KL, Vivocity etc.

If the story had ended here, we are not in a position to scold management too much. Well, admittedly, the world has changed. Department store was a good concept in the 80s and early 90s. High quality lifestyle products all under one roof and brands fight for space in the stores. But the retail scene had since evolved, with brands like LV, Nike, Jimmy Choo having their own stores. And shopping at dept stores wasn’t trendy anymore. People preferred shopping malls, specialty stores and newer stuff. Read more…

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