Editorial comment.

AuthorPrickett, Ruth

Ho, ho, ho--it's Christmas again and boom time for retailers. Toy shops, of course, are top of the pile, rivalled only by turkey farms. Hamleys, London's world-famous toy store, expects to make nearly half of its annual sales over Christmas (page 16). This year the directors will be scrutinising the store's Regent Street entrance particularly intently, because this is the first peak season since they purchased the firm in a management buy-out. And directors of other retailers should probably be doing the same--if the queue to Santa's grotto doesn't stretch easily down half a mile of sibling-garrotting kits and Harry Potter voodoo dolls, they may find their shares selling rather more rapidly than their leftovers in the January sales.

After all, CEOs currently have more than indigestion to concern them. The shareholders are restless and, while the economy is improving, overcapacity and strong competition mean that it may take a long time for the pressure to ease (page 20). At the same time, governments around the world show no sign of relaxing the pressure on reporting standards. Caught in a pincer movement between shareholders and regulations, senior managers should be seriously considering how they can boost their chances of a happy new year.

They should also bear in mind that stores may benefit more from publicity about their fat turkeys than about their fat executive wallets (page 6). Although some people complain that shareholders' perceptions of fat eats are inaccurate and unhelpful, the onus is on firms to manage their reputation and publicity in a way that emphasises the value their managers are adding to the business, rather than the reward they are...

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