Episode 3

Overview

The retailer's transformation from a cut-price upstart to market leader. After the death of its founder Jack Cohen in 1979, the company was in the middle of a high-risk transition and an outside takeover was a real danger. Ian MacLaurin, Jack Cohen's first management trainee, was chief executive at the time. His vision for the company was very different from Jack's pile-it-high, sell-it cheap approach. He set out to transform the company and compete with the number one retailer Sainsbury's - something that was achieved in 1995.