Investopedia: Can An Apple Cure What Ails J.C. Penney?

Most workers go their entire career with only a vague sense of how much a company values their work. Ron Johnson isn't most workers, though, as investors boosted the value of J.C. Penney (NYSE:JCP) shares by more than $1 billion on word that he had agreed to leave Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) and join this established mall-based retailer as its soon-to-be CEO. 


J.C. Penney Recruits a Proven Winner
While at Apple, Ron Johnson held the title of Senior Vice President of Retail, but what he really did was oversee the opening of more than 300 Apple stores that now produce upwards of $10 billion in sales. Almost every analyst now views the Apple store concept as a key part of its sales strategy, a major brand reinforcement, and a savvy move by a company always thinking a few steps ahead. (For more, see CEO Savvy And Stock's Success Go Hand In Hand.)

Of course, it wasn't always like this - at the time of the launch, it was seen as ridiculous, a sign of Steve Jobs' hubris and a mistake that would quickly be pounced upon by the likes of Best Buy (NYSE:BBY), Circuit City and Dell (Nasdaq:DELL). While it is easy to dismiss the success of Apple's retail outlets as just being dragged in the wake of super-popular iPods, iPhones, and iPods, that misses the mark. Plenty of companies failed in their attempts to build stores around hot products and Apple has leveraged its store base into a force multiplier for its brand and its business. (For related reading, check out Best Buy Has A Number Of Profit Levers To Pull)



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