Over the last few days and weeks (and in truth, years) there has been a lot of criticism in respect of the New Zealand operations of Whitcoulls, Borders and Bennetts and the parent company REDGroup, in turn owned by private equity company Pacific Equity Partners (PEP), based in Melbourne, mostly justified. Most people, particularly suppliers, ex senior managers and industry commentators/observers have seen these problems coming as a result mainly of debt issues and poor management but as a distant 3rd and 4th additional pressures from various forms of alternative deliveries of DVD and books.
Many commentators have been scathing in respect of Whitcoulls stores, with some justification – the recent stock performance situation has been appalling!. As a former senior manager of the company for about 15 years in various capacities I would ask your audience to differentiate between the company and its staff.
My local store is Botany but I have visited the Manukau, Henderson and St Luke’s stores (and some others) a number of times over the last year or two and, along with many other stores there are staff that served under my jurisdiction (and no doubt many others) who, despite obviously having some awareness of the circumstances, have remained loyal and hardworking; the problems are not of their making and these people have been badly let down by REDGroup/PEP.
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