Excerpts from Innovator's Dilemma

Sears Roebuck

• Sears Roebuck -- retailer in the US and rest of the world
• 1880s thru early 1990s
• Started off as Catalog of Watches and Jewelry
• IPO in 1906. By 19060s it was the largest retailer in the world.
• Started off selling single product category
• The retail sector was overpriced. Sears started selling anything and everything. You could order from comfort of your home (like we do from Amazon).
• Pioneered several innovations critical to retailing -- supply chain management, store brands, catalog retailing, and credit card sales.
• As of 2016 its main competitors were: Walmart, Target, Kohl's, J.C. Penny, Macy's, Home Depot, Lowe's, Best Buy, and Amazon.
• 1984 together with IBM created Prodigy - a pre-Web online web portal. Built on a private network; was distinct from Internet.
• Simplified structure in 1992; discontinued catalog in 1993, sold Prodigy in 1996; 1999 back to retailing roots.
• Filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on 15th Oct 2018.
• 46 Unprofitable stores were to be closed by Nov 2018.
• It will begin closing additional 142 stores end of year
• It missed the advent of discount retailing / mass merchandiser (e.g. Aldi, Lidl, BigW, KMart, Target, Costco, Daiso, Matalan (Bradley stoke), Home Bargains (Bradley stoke),  -- offer wide assortments of goods with focus on price rather than on service) and home centers (Large hardware store selling tools, building materials, and other household items )
• Sears allowed arrogance to blind itself to the changes taking place in American marketplace
• Couldn't compete with Catalog Stores ( e.g. Argos UK)

Other Leadership failures

• IBM dominated the Mainframe market but missed by many years the emergence of mini computers.
• Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC)
• Xerox long dominated the Plan-paper Photocopiers business and yet missed the huge growth and profit opportunity for small talbletop photocopiers
• 
  
• 
  

In both DEC and Sears' case, the decisions that led to their decline were made at the time they were widely regarded as being astutely managed firms; and being among the best companies in the world.