Applying "objectivist principles," he multiplied managerial staff 30-fold while keeping budgets the same, and had them "compete."
Divisions of the companies stopped cooperating. (Wondering why you haven't seen a Sears circular or catalog in years? Nobody wanted to put up money that would help other divisions.) Instead of trying to draw in customers - with customer service, with sales, with exciting products - they began undercutting other divisions.
For example, take the Kenmore brand. They're best known for kitchen appliances. Recently, they began expanding into... HDTV!
Now, Sears had absolutely no need for new HDTVs. They had plenty of suppliers. But in so doing, they broke agreements with Whirlpool - and Whirlpool's upmarket subsidiaries: KitchenAid, Maytag, Amana...
Whirlpool sells on Amazon now. You can't even get parts for two-year-old Kenmore TVs anymore.
So, the guy who thought it was a good idea to be less convenient to customers, have their fingers in fewer pies than their competitors, encourage high velocity staff churn when their brand is based on expertise, chase the bottom dollar market when their brand is placed on High Street, and to encourage his managers to duplicate effort among dozens of different managerial units to scramble for pieces of the same shrinking pie...
Yeah, he's now the SOLE owner.
Good luck, Sears.
Shanya (Over at BlueSky)