Case Study: Brooks Brothers on the Cutting Edge

In 1989 the bon vivant Gene and his more retiring younger brother, Bob, enlisted a Japanese partner, retailer Isetan Co., and blew millions of Isetan’s funds on a push to build a nationwide presence. But the Pressmans’ snob appeal didn’t work. Worse, they spent like drunken tailors: The Madison Avenue Store was aesthetically magnificent but, because of out-of-control construction costs, economically stupid. Trusting to their own creative genius to keep success rolling, the third Pressman generation never bothered to computerize and track where all the bucks were going. . .