Its been a very, very tough year for him. Hes been realistic enough to set the main criteria on which he will be judged himself and not let others do it for him. But the key one is positive sales figures year on year, and on the basis of what we know, the company is still losing ground. Hes not promising a turnaround, hes not been that ambitious. But hes only got one year left and its not a long time. The spring ranges are in the stores and hes committed to them and even to this years autumn ranges. Nor is there anyone on the board you could describe as a retail merchant it used to have only merchants and the words corporate and strategy were never mentioned in the same sentence. Now the board is packed full of them and they debate internally too much and dont act decisively. One of its main problems is an inability to move quickly. After three years of turmoil, wed have liked to have seen them further down the road. They are going in the right direction, but slowly. Vandevelde has come into the toughest retail climate ever seen in the UK. If he succeeds, he will become a godlike figure in retail history. But rumour suggests that an upturn isnt going to happen just yet.
Rob Yeung, senior consultant, Kiddy & Partners
Hes certainly facing a significant challenge. Marks & Spencer is very close to the hearts of the British public no company is under closer scrutiny than M&S. Its a very hierarchical place, there isnt much latitude or autonomy. Everything is controlled from the centre and theres little scope for local stores to tailor offerings to the local market largely as a result of the plummeting share price. It robs the managers of the chance to satisfy customers. When the stores are busy the managers are to be found in their offices doing the admin, and theres a belief among them that they should be out on the shop floor. Theres also the risk that the people with retail knowledge are below board level and theres no flow of information between the two. The only answer is to communicate, communicate, and when you think youve got nothing left to say, to communicate some more. A good leader needs vision to be able to inspire people to achieve that vision and to be able to galvanise the workforce and get a sense of momentum. And an organisation like M&S needs to know how to manage its consultants. Theyre keen to rush out initiatives and the transfer of learning back to employees is sometimes lost.
Richard Finn, consultant and director, Penna Crane Davies
A key issue for leaders is ensuring that everyone has the same vision something absolutely transparent for everyone to grab hold of. You have to look at someone like Percy Barnevik at ABB he once told a journalist that the secret of his success was his overheads. This confused the writer. So Barnevik reached down and pulled out some slides. These, he said, I put them on the overhead projector everywhere I go. So everyone sees the same vision. Or take the story of the cleaner at NASA. What do you do? he was asked. I put men on the moon, he replied. As an M&S customer I dont think that vision is there. And change doesnt happen unless you empower people. If the centre is saying lets go, too often theres a constipation layer that slows things down...