拉里约翰斯顿的阿尔伯顿：新鲜的挑选

当一名行政招聘人员在2000年底首先叫拉里约翰斯顿，关于杂货链Albertson的顶级工作，他的回答很简单：他从未听说过它。然而，有趣的是，约翰斯顿，那么53和GE家电的负责人，做了一些调查。He found that Albertson's, founded in Idaho in 1939, had $37 billion in revenues and some 2,500 stores spread over 36 states. But it needed an overhaul.

“一旦我要做我的作业，我看到了一个非常有吸引力的机会来转向一家公司并成为市场领导者，”约翰斯顿说。“这是一个很棒的空间 - 我们认为我们可以在1号。”

更容易说出。没有一家公司在杂货链中有超过11％的市场份额。事实上，前五大的共同占杂货店总市场的40％。看到机会采取他在杰克韦尔奇管理学院学习的技能，并将他们在一个尚未真正整合的行业中使用，约翰斯顿接受了帖子并浪费了一点时间建立他的议程。

When he arrived in April 2001, Johnston immediately began cutting costs. He reduced operating divisions from 19 to 11, closed underperforming stores and began selling nonstrategic assets -- 80 of the company's Osco Drug outlets in New England, for example. Albertson's exited markets where it wasn't No. 1 or a strong No. 2, such as Houston, Memphis, Nashville and San Antonio. Johnston also sold off surplus real estate.

新首席执行官已淘汰了20％的行政和基础设施开销，他预计将在2003年第二季度累积地筹集公司5亿美元。

With a market capitalization of $11 billion, Albertson's recently traded at about $28, down from $31 when Johnston took over 18 months ago.

The stock was as high as $67 in 1998, but then Albertson's merged with American Stores Co. The "marriage of equals" in 1999 melded together a patchwork of supermarket chains, including Albertson's, Jewel and Acme Markets, as well as drugstore chains Sav-on and Osco. The friction among the companies and their executives greatly increased costs.

1972年，Johnston出生于纽约康宁，在佛罗里达州斯特兰斯斯顿大学赢得了商务行政学士学位，于1972年赢得了斯特兰斯顿大学的工商管理局。在他的29年的GE职业生涯中，他超越了家电部门的推销员的能力。该单位的老板，沿途作为欧洲医疗系统的负责人。

Earnings for Albertson's fiscal year ended January 2002 were $501 million on revenues of $37.9 billion. Although sharply lower than the $765 million the company earned on $1.2 billion less in revenue the year before Johnston took over, Albertson's is back on track. For the first quarter of fiscal 2002 (ended May 2), the company reported a net loss of $81 million, but without restructuring costs the company would have netted $233 million, compared with $186 million during the same period of 2001.

净利润率大约是2.5％，约翰斯顿说他“看不到任何结构原因，为什么不能得到3％。”约翰斯顿最近讨论了他的计划亚博赞助欧冠Staff Writer Rich Blake.

亚博赞助欧冠机构投资者：人们仍然需要吃。Albertson是否有利于飞往“安全避风港”股票的航班？

Johnston:杂货股从这个概念中受益，并不将继续受益，这是一个秘密。但随着公司在美国的所有情况下，它不仅仅是人们必须吃的想法。杂货业务很容易理解：有很多现金，会计不是那么复杂。我们公司的运行如此吱吱作响，被认为是Corny。现在玉米性是酷的。

这些天是首席执行官是什么样的？

我们有城镇厅会议。我总是得到的第一个问题是，“先生约翰斯顿，我们会没事吗？我告诉他们他们对这家公司来说非常自豪，而且运行的方式。Albertson是由一个来自博伊西，爱达荷州的人建造的，并且今日会计和管理被认为是保守的。没有资产负债表伙伴关系，没有合成租赁。即使是养老基金捐款也全部以现金制成。

你从enron corp.崩溃中拍摄了什么教训？

After the Enron collapse we knew there would be extra scrutiny across corporate America. We took the company through an exhaustive physical -- and what we see is an ethical company with a strong balance sheet.

How will Albertson's benefit from your GE experience?

在GE Medical Systems，我们画了一张医院的照片。然后我们告诉我们的团队，“让我们进入医院的每个房间，让我们发现我们可能能够销售的其他内容。我们现在正在全国各地的商店进行类似的练习，看看我们如何更有效地利用进入它们的流量。这就是我们计划成长的方式。

甚至2％的边缘？

In a business where you keep only 2 cents for every dollar you bring in, obviously you have to be enormously productive. We get 1.4 billion shopping trips a year in our stores, so it's important we increasingly look for ways to take advantage and leverage each trip. This means we are coming up with more ideas -- florists; gas; we now have arrangements with Starbucks; we just brought in Krispy Kreme doughnuts. We are exploring more ways to grab more of the consumer dollar.

Can a grocer be a growth company?

Remember we're also in the drugstore business. We're the only major grocer that owns a major drugstore chain. Actually, we own two: Sav-on and Osco. Drugstores are high growth. The demographics link up with the aging of America, so it's compelling as a growth proposition. Right now we think our dual branding combination project with grocery and drugstores rolled into one is the No. 1 proprietary competitive advantage we have versus the rest of the industry. That's the combination store we plan to roll out across the U.S.

到目前为止，双重品牌如何工作？

非常好。在芝加哥，我们拥有珠宝食品和欧福的完善。多年来，两家商店彼此相邻，有独立的入口和共同的墙壁。有一天，经理决定击倒墙壁，从那时起，店内的动态改变了。它成为购物者的独特地方。跳跃的平均票 - 药房客户买了更多的食物。今天在芝加哥市场，我们是1。

What do you bring to the table as an outsider?

I was able to address some of the sacred cows. For example, the old Albertson's didn't believe in customer loyalty cards where preferred customers are eligible for discounts. Albertson's belief was that everyone gets the same deal, but as more companies evolved toward doing this, we saw that perhaps it was a tradition that wasn't serving us.

管理层如何回应有人对杂货业务带来公司的一无所知？

彼得林奇,我们的总统,我为这个竞争s job. It was either him or me, and they chose me. The board felt the time was right for fresh eyes from outside. But one of the most important moves I made early on was convincing Peter to stay. This is someone who knows the industry, knows the company inside and out. I knew without him I had little chance of succeeding. We had it out, and I told him straight up, 'I'm the coach and you are the quarterback.' I don't even see myself as the boss -- I walk around and ask a lot of stupid questions. I put him on the board, so in a real sense I report to him.

你从杰克韦尔深吸取的最大课程是什么？

The secret at GE is people. The company is all about having the best possible group of people. I am very focused on building a strong leadership team.

Do you see Albertson's becoming a global company?

现在我们专注于在加利福尼亚州和其他战略市场的扩展，但佛罗里达州是一个，但我已经表示，我们的愿景是世界上最大的食物和毒品链。我们在旅程中，这是目的地。