JM2C...The average Fortune 500 CEO tenure is about five years. A CEO’s personal compensation and longevity lives and dies by stock performance. If a CEO knows he/she is only there for five yrs. or less, he/she’s looking for max profitability in a short time. Since we’re not making anymore Baby Boomers and efforts to expand the brand to Gen X and Y produced tepid results, the surest way to achieve profit is to cut costs. The long-term result of this negatively impacts the company down the road, but by then, the CEO has received his/her performance bonuses and moved on. In order for senior mgmt to survive, I expect to see more quiet outsourcing and a reduction in labor costs.
If mgmt. hadn’t been asleep at the wheel 20 yrs. ago, HD could have positioned itself to better deal with their current situation. Maybe hiring a soup and protein bar executive would help? No wait, they already tried that...