John Lewis

[superfrank]

John Lewis sees December sales jump
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20889604

Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail analysts Conlumino, said the John Lewis results were outstanding: "A stellar set of figures from John Lewis kicks off the trading update season and sets an extremely high bar that most other retailers will struggle to match.

anyone else think it's interesting that a business run as a co-operative (with no private shareholders and where the staff have a genuine stake in the success of the firm) consistently outperforms its peers?

imho it has a lot do with the management being able to take a sound long-term view of the business, and not be answerable to the short-term demands of shareholders or private equity.

[Euler]

I've dealt with most of the major retailers in a former life and the thing that was really different about John Lewis was their ethics and service culture. That probably owes itself to the fact that employees feel a part of the business.

[superfrank]

they are surely a good model for other businesses to study. the problem is that many who run large businesses these days are only interested in the short-term (for their own financial benefit).

take Debenhams, bought by PE who did the usual trick of selling all the property and leasing it back (for a short-term profit/balance sheet boost) then refloated - share price plunges and the business is saddled with paying high rents for the rest of its days.

[andyfuller]

...the thing that was really different about John Lewis was their ethics and service culture. That probably owes itself to the fact that employees feel a part of the business.

They moved from 4th to 2nd place in the UK best brands in 2012:

http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2012/ ... ed-brands/