Burberry COO to step down
Burberry COO to step down
John Smith, chief operating office at Burberry, has made a decision to leave the business next year and pursue other interests, one of which is said to be a CEO position. After being a part of the business for seven years, Smith feels ready to embark on a new challenge now that the company’s strategy for the future is in place.
Smith started with Burberry as a non-executive director and later as COO and was involved primarily in driving the brand’s digital growth and beauty and travel businesses. However, his departute may raise concerns that further losses are expected at top level and it is yet to be decided whether Burberry are likely to replace Smith or spread his original role across the current team.
Burberry recently admitted that profits were likely to reach the bottom end of the predicted forecasts in the year to March 2017 after a sharp decline in China and a large investment in staff training and IT. After poor trading figures, Burberry face pressure to ensure its senior management team is filled with retail and digital experts and investors are said to be concerned that Christopher Bailey, CE and CCO, is finding it hard to cope with his joint role.
Bailey has acknowledged that the company needs more experts in order to improve performance and Smith’s departure was made apparent after Burberry’s strategy for curbing the slowdown in the luxury market was announced.
Burberry have wished Smith ‘all the best’ for the future.
Burberry COO to step down
