Assignment task: Answer the question as related to below scenario
Question 1: To what extent did Federica Marchionni bring the right expertise to her position as CEO of Lands' End?
Question 2: Identify at least one mistake in organizational politics made by Marchionni.
Leadership Case Problem A
The Lands' End Fashionista Fades from Glory
Federica Marchionni was appointed as CEO of Lands' End, the catalog retailer that feature durable and basic-fashion clothing, in Febru-ary 2015. She had previously been the president of the high-fashion company Dolce & Gabanna USA and was a senior vice president of Ferrari before that. Her hiring was a heavy departure for the Wisconsin maker of practical clothing. Lands' End was trying to enhance its brand and appeal to the fashion-conscious consumer. The company had been acquired by Sears in 2002 be-fore becoming an independent company again twelve years later. After nineteen months on the job, Marchionni was forced out as chief executive. During her brief tenure, she tried to bring about major changes at Lands' End that angered employees and turned away shoppers. Marchionni pushed to inject high style into the maker of outdoor-typ and casual clothes by adding slimmer fits, stiletto heels, and a fresh line of active wear. She revamped the cat-alog, hired celebrity photographers, and paid for input from a Vogue stylist. The focus on high fashion did not appear to be a good fit for Lands' End. The company had found a niche in high-waist jeans and practical outerwear and specialized in cold-weather cloth-ing. With sales declining during a difficult period for most retailers, the board at Lands' End had to try something different. But featuring many slim-fit styles and SoHo pop-up stores seemed des-tined to displease the brand's core demographic group. Marchionni had reduced catalog expendi-tures to invest in the pop-up stores.
Company insiders said that Marchionni spent only about one week per month at the company headquarters in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. She spent the rest of her working days at an office in the garment district of New York City. When Marchionni was hired, the board wrote into her contract that she could remain in New York. As losses were increasing, the company board thought that Marchionni was trying to make too many changes too quickly. One of the changes she proposed was to make Lands' End less de-pendent on weather by focusing on clothing that can be worn year-round. The company had been deriving a big chunk of its revenue from coats and bathing suits. Marchionni made one mistake that cast doubt on her ability to empathize with the typical
Lands' End customer. In a new catalog, she tried to illustrate the idea of Lands' End being an American icon by interviewing another American icon, Gloria Steinem, who was known for her strong liberal views, including a pro-abortion-rights agenda. A swift negative reaction surfaced to the interview from many of the company's conservative customers. Many customers and Catholic schools, a large number of which had purchased school uniforms from Lands' End, said they would boycott the company because of Steinem's active pro-choice position. (The inter-view in the catalog did not mention abortion.) Not all opinions of Marchionni's performance were negative. Steven Marotta, a retailing analyst, applauded her efforts and described her as "an effective brand manager and operator." He also noted that Marchionni's progress was stymied by the worst consumer-goods market in eight years. Marchionni also believed that she made a positive contribution to Lands' End, saying: "I am honored to have led this extraordinary com-pany and proud to have succeeded in providing a vision to expand its position in the industry with a multi-dimensional strategy. However, the board of directors and I have agreed it is time for others to bring Lands' End into the future." A couple of years after her departure from Lands" End, Marchionni became the CEO of Chinese luxury e-tailer Secoo. Soon thereafter she was appointed as the CEO of Global Fash-ion Agenda. The goal of Global Fashion is to accelerate the industry's transition toward more sustainable models. Upon joining the organiza-tion, Marchionni said, "Joining Global Fashion Agenda is an incredible opportunity to help ac-celerate the sustainability agenda in the fashion industry globally."