RadioShack Corporation
Address:
300 RadioShack Circle
Fort Worth, TX 76102-1964
Telephone:
817 415-3011
Internet Homepage:
http://www.radioshack.com
Year Founded:
1919
Total Stores:
5672
Total Annual Sales:
$4,257,800,000
Senior Executives:
Joseph C. Magnacca-Chief Executive Officer
Dorvin D. Lively-Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer
RadioShack has long been the object of harsh criticism by industry prognosticators often accompanied by predictions of fairly imminent demise. Recent quarterly financial performances have only served to sharpen the criticism and energize the doomsayers.
For years many have questioned whether the company management really had a concrete understanding of its mission or even if it had an idea of what its mission should be. This came to light after the company embarked on its now infamous marketing campaign to coin itself, ‘The Shack’. When the campaign was announced, many scoffed at the term as an expensive and clumsy means of updating a long out of date company name which was reflected in the company’s branding.
At that time management claimed the new name reflected a more modern corporate image. However when the height of the campaign wound down, management made it clear that the publicity the new name and campaign had garnered were well worth the effort. ‘The Shack’ was largely forgotten though corporate still uses it as an occasional moniker.
During the past two-plus decades, CEOs seemed to come and go with predictably disappointing frequency. One was dismissed when it became public that he had lied on his resume. At first corporate tried to sugar coat the mess, but as facts emerged management found itself in a position where it had to cut its losses. Another CEO was a Kmart alum and left with a similar lack of success as many have recently from Kmart.
Just over two months ago Joseph Magnacca was hired away from Walgreens after he had been given an impressive promotion for leading Walgreens into its next generation of store concepts. It appears that Mr. Magnacca has a naturally strong sense of retailing and the RadioShack board sees in him someone who can create a retailing platform that can reestablish the company with a customer base which has been confused by its actions for more than a generation.
After more than two months, simultaneous executive hirings were announced which it is anticipated will lead RadioShack into its next generation of merchandising. RadioShack named Jennifer Warren as its new Senior VP and CMO, and Michael DeFazio was announced as its new Senior VP of Store Concepts. Two months is a fair amount of time to learn a retailing system and choose key executives who can adeptly build for the future.
Many are still skeptical of RadioShack’s future, even its ability to survive. However Mr. Magnacca may well break the mold of recent RadioShack CEOs who seemed out of place in the edgy world of consumer electronics retailing.
