Sir Richard Greenbury was both chairman and chief executive of the British retailing giant Marks and Spencer from 1988 to 1999. During his tenure the company continued to excel, dominating the market for all food and clothing sales, until it reached its peak in 1997 and 1998; becoming the largest and most profitable retailer in the world, second only to Wal-Mart, as well as the ninth largest business in the United Kingdom. All of this was attributed to Greenbury’s successful leadership, during which he negotiated the immensely difficult retailing recession of the early nineties. Nevertheless, shortly after Sir Richard resigned from his post, the company plunged into crisis without a strong leader to unite the franchise. His critics assigned much of the blame to his autocratic approach to running the company; however, after he left it was evident, as Marks and Spencer floundered in the wake of corporate catastrophe, that no one could fill his shoes.
Born in Carlisle three years before the war, but educated at Ealing County Grammar School in London, the young Richard Greenbury claimed to be “The most caned boy in school” an achievement, which he admitted, taught him “The importance of discipline.” Despite an academic enthusiasm, at over six foot, Greenbury showed real promise on the games field; a passion that continues to this day in his avid support of Manchester United. However, after his mother contracted cancer, Sir Richard felt obliged to leave school with only six O-levels; opting to start earning at the age of sixteen and missing out on the university education he had longed for. By a twist of fate this would later give him the opportunity to become Marks and Spencer’s youngest director but now, before his seventeenth birthday, Greenbury took a far more modest job at Lilywhite’s. His spell at Lilywhite’s, however, was short lived. After being accepted as a management trainee at Marks and Spencer, who fortunately did not require A-levels, Greenbury started to show his true qualities working both diligently and decisively on shop floors. This trait was eventually recognised by one of Sir Richard’s heroes, Simon, Lord Marks. Taken under the wing of the founding father’s son, the chairman dubbed Greenbury “Big Fellah”, and soon moved him to head office as a trainee merchandiser and personal assistant to his son in law.
Nonetheless it was in men’s knitwear where Greenbury made his name in the early 1960’s. As noted by Simon Marks, ‘Rick’ as he soon became known, was a retailer through and through. Spotting the trend towards casual menswear Greenbury formed a strong friendship with Harry Djanogoly, who ran the knitwear company ‘Nottingham Manufacturing’, and transformed the then unknown aisle in every Marks and Spencer store into a profits powerhouse for the company. Over the coming years it became apparent that Sir Richard was a force to be reckoned with, despite allegations of an “Argumentative and over-competitive nature” those above him recognised his talent; “He was one of the best merchandisers I have ever met – brilliant, decisive, confident” a Marks and Spencer selector commented. Even after leaving the company one director recalled, “He was the best chief executive we ever had.”
However, after his recent marriage to first wife Siân Hughes in 1959, thoughts of running the company were somewhat out of reach. Though in 1972 that would all change, as Greenbury was made the youngest director in the company’s history, only twenty years after being welcomed by the business. Whilst successfully juggling work with his sport and family, now including four children, it was not long before, at the age of forty-one, Sir Richard was made a managing director. By 1978 he had worked in every area of the franchise including food, property and, of course, clothing. In 1984, shortly after becoming chairman, Derek Rayner decided it was time to outline his immediate successor, Rick, and by 1988, Greenbury rose to the occasion, successfully taking his place as chief executive, which was soon followed by chairman in 1991.
After Greenbury came to power, as both chairman and chief executive, profits and shares continued to rises unstoppably; with the introduction of out-of-town stores the £350 million investment soon paid huge dividends. Under Greenbury the unstoppable force of Marks and Spencer ploughed over its opposition like a steamroller. Despite later criticism, when the company smashed the £1 billion profit barrier in 1997, the City sang the praises of Sir Richard; and only in hindsight did journalists nit pick over small details. For every year that Greenbury was in charge, beginning in 1995, Marks and Spencer held more than twice the clothing market of any other high street name. For three of those years they even made more sales than that of all mail orders in Britain, staggering, considering it had near total control of the food market as well. By 1998 they had further topped their profits, and it was Greenbury who headed the most financially successful tenure in the company's illustrious history, as the Marks and Spencer brand reached the unbelievable value of £18 billion.
Nevertheless, in 1999 his career came to an all too public close. Greenbury, who would later describe the press as “hindsight commentators” with nothing to say but “a load of old tosh”, bore much of the criticism as he respectfully stood down. What ensued, but was by no means caused by Sir Richard, was the catastrophic collapse of all profits and sales after Greenbury’s departure. This was in spite of claims and allegations by various journalists, including Kate Rankine, who only proved in her childish grudge that, as Greenbury had commented, she was “a silly little girl”. For columnists and colleagues decided to blame Greenbury, whom they had pushed to retire, for the unceremonious collapse of the company above the heads of Luc Vandevelde and Peter Salsbury; as neither wanted to be viewed as the true cause of the Marks and Spencer meltdown. Looking chronologically we can see that Greenbury resigned in his capacity as chief executive before the disastrous profits downturn, and by 1999 had also departed as chairman. However, this does not mean that Sir Richard washed his hands clean of it, or does it? In the uncertain world of business Greenbury had managed to defy the odds and lead Marks and Spencer through its most profitable years, once he removes himself from any position of praise, surely he also removes himself from any position of criticism. Though this can be argued, to stay alive in business is often to keep yourself clean of exactly that, criticism or blame. Nevertheless, in the eyes of statistics rather than misguided journalistic opinion, Sir Richard most certainly did this by ensuring that his tenure was one of unmitigated success rather than the failure of Marks and Spencer’s future leaders. He left with his public reputation tarnished, but respect from business peers who he trusted was never higher.
Having served as a director with ICI, Zeneca, C&G, Game, British Gas, Lloyds TSB and most recently in his continuing work on the supervisory board at Philips; it is evident that despite criticism he still remains a force at large in the world of international business, and it is in this world that Sir Richard Greenbury is best known for the significant imprint he left on the world of retailing over the nineties. Though portrayed adversely by the press, due to his distaste of journalism, his career, statistically at least, was one of the most successful in the history of British business. Yet it was all too late when Greenbury realised that he had failed to prepare a successor capable of running the company in the manner which had seen the greatest store space, number of stores, number of employees, share of the market, international expansion, share prices and pre-tax and post-tax profits Marks and Spencer had ever known, all under his leadership.