>>Clive Beddall, Editor-at-large, william reed PUBLISHING, weighs up the merits of wisdom versus youth
So what does it say about the business customs of UK Grocery plc that the two most talked about top dogs in the supermarket sector enjoy an age difference that spans three decades?
On the one hand, Sir Ken Morrison, much respected elder statesman of food retailing who, at 72, is challenging ageist prejudices that so often feature in the combative world of wider business.
And, on the other, there is one of the brightest brains of British grocery youth, Justin King, a former M&S head of food. At 42, he has recently filled the Sainsbury chief executive’s chair yet has, according to the more cynical City pundits, the hardest task in retail grocery as he sets out to restore the multiple’s fortunes.
So, as the two go head to head in high street combat this summer, many are licking their lips in anticipation of a juicy age versus youth confrontation.
Conventional corporate wisdom in many corners of business has decreed that older directors are incapable of delivering vital new technology or responding effectively, and swiftly, to constantly altering markets.
There have been exceptions but “going for youth” has become the policy across wide stretches of the industry, albeit occasionally promoted by a hidden agenda that younger executives are cheaper than their elders.
So to say, in today’s fiercely competitive market, that Sir Ken Morrison is unique is an understatement. Even with a controlling shareholding, to still be running a major supermarket chain at an age when most grocery executives’ involvement is a guest seat at the IGD Ball makes him special.
Yet, as Morrison sets out to digest Safeway, there have been critical questions from City folk. Like whether Sir Ken will have the energy and guile to profitably carry Morrisons’ “essentially northern” image into the well heeled, more glittering ghettoes of Tunbridge Wells and Weybridge.
In fact, folk ‘up north’, who know the man, have no such doubts. They believe that the charisma that has already carried him out of his native Yorkshire shows no signs of diminishing. The wisdom that created Morrisons’ specialist blend of quality and competitiveness, they insist, is still being served up in huge dollops on a daily basis. And, anyway, even the “rich Toffs in the south love cheap groceries with a ‘fresh’ image thrown in,” so how can Sir Ken fail? But
what, in the face of such credentials, of Sir Ken’s much younger opponent?
For the traditional promoters of youthful boardrooms, King has all the necessary requirements for the job.
A career that has seen him acquire the sharper points of food retailing while fighting the Wal-Mart/Asda cause, not to mention a spell heading the upmarket Marks and Speencer food operation, has given him a retailing CV most 42-year-olds would die for.
Yet you can’t help thinking that Justin’s task is harder than Sir Ken’s. Sainsbury’s well-documented loss of market leadership in 1995 has been followed by millions spent on revamping stores, computer systems and distribution depots. And investors are still concerned that the multiple is being squeezed between the likes of Tesco and upmarket groups like Waitrose.
However, insiders say that King is already proving to be a determined guy and, after just a few weeks in the job, he is said to be showing a commitment and thoroughness befitting a man of much greater years.
It is in the high street that most observers are watching for the first signs of the battle between youth and decades of experience.
Sir Ken has gone for publicising ‘Enjoy the Change’ price cuts in Safeway stores.
Meanwhile, announcing a 2.9% fall in underlying profits this week, King pointed out that Sainsbury had already made some price cuts. But, he added, it is the first step in a much longer journey. If he puts his own, personal stance on this strategy, there could be a surprise for his older opponent.
So what does it say about the business customs of UK Grocery plc that the two most talked about top dogs in the supermarket sector enjoy an age difference that spans three decades?
On the one hand, Sir Ken Morrison, much respected elder statesman of food retailing who, at 72, is challenging ageist prejudices that so often feature in the combative world of wider business.
And, on the other, there is one of the brightest brains of British grocery youth, Justin King, a former M&S head of food. At 42, he has recently filled the Sainsbury chief executive’s chair yet has, according to the more cynical City pundits, the hardest task in retail grocery as he sets out to restore the multiple’s fortunes.
So, as the two go head to head in high street combat this summer, many are licking their lips in anticipation of a juicy age versus youth confrontation.
Conventional corporate wisdom in many corners of business has decreed that older directors are incapable of delivering vital new technology or responding effectively, and swiftly, to constantly altering markets.
There have been exceptions but “going for youth” has become the policy across wide stretches of the industry, albeit occasionally promoted by a hidden agenda that younger executives are cheaper than their elders.
So to say, in today’s fiercely competitive market, that Sir Ken Morrison is unique is an understatement. Even with a controlling shareholding, to still be running a major supermarket chain at an age when most grocery executives’ involvement is a guest seat at the IGD Ball makes him special.
Yet, as Morrison sets out to digest Safeway, there have been critical questions from City folk. Like whether Sir Ken will have the energy and guile to profitably carry Morrisons’ “essentially northern” image into the well heeled, more glittering ghettoes of Tunbridge Wells and Weybridge.
In fact, folk ‘up north’, who know the man, have no such doubts. They believe that the charisma that has already carried him out of his native Yorkshire shows no signs of diminishing. The wisdom that created Morrisons’ specialist blend of quality and competitiveness, they insist, is still being served up in huge dollops on a daily basis. And, anyway, even the “rich Toffs in the south love cheap groceries with a ‘fresh’ image thrown in,” so how can Sir Ken fail? But
what, in the face of such credentials, of Sir Ken’s much younger opponent?
For the traditional promoters of youthful boardrooms, King has all the necessary requirements for the job.
A career that has seen him acquire the sharper points of food retailing while fighting the Wal-Mart/Asda cause, not to mention a spell heading the upmarket Marks and Speencer food operation, has given him a retailing CV most 42-year-olds would die for.
Yet you can’t help thinking that Justin’s task is harder than Sir Ken’s. Sainsbury’s well-documented loss of market leadership in 1995 has been followed by millions spent on revamping stores, computer systems and distribution depots. And investors are still concerned that the multiple is being squeezed between the likes of Tesco and upmarket groups like Waitrose.
However, insiders say that King is already proving to be a determined guy and, after just a few weeks in the job, he is said to be showing a commitment and thoroughness befitting a man of much greater years.
It is in the high street that most observers are watching for the first signs of the battle between youth and decades of experience.
Sir Ken has gone for publicising ‘Enjoy the Change’ price cuts in Safeway stores.
Meanwhile, announcing a 2.9% fall in underlying profits this week, King pointed out that Sainsbury had already made some price cuts. But, he added, it is the first step in a much longer journey. If he puts his own, personal stance on this strategy, there could be a surprise for his older opponent.
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