Edward Lampert shouldn't run Sears anymore
Is Sears Holdings being unfairly criticized for its performance in 2015 considering the market factors that negatively affected other retailers during the period? Is Edward Lampert the right person to make Kmart and Sears strong retailers again? My latest Retail Wire weigh-in.
Viewing Sears, and Lampert's decisions, through a traditional retail lens misses the point. He is an asset manager and is running the company (perhaps into the ground) from that perspective. I would argue that it actually is too late to change course — that is, to try to re-retail-ize Sears under the leadership of a "true merchant" (whatever that is these days). Sears' model has been irrevocably altered.
