The bankruptcy filing of 142-year old-Sears should give all business men and women pause. They need to reflect on the state of their businesses to ensure their organizations are not headed for the same unpleasant fate.
Even in failure, there are important lessons to be learned so as to avoid the same undesirable outcome.
Sears found itself under-capitalized, a paucity of ready cash, over-leveraged with massive unsustainable debt, and with limited appeal to a young, fickle, tech-savvy consumer.
Unable to adequately address these three strikes, they filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganization.
It remains to be seen if they will re-emerge as a leaner more profitable institution.