d demanded that all purchase decisions and other elements of daily operations be decided by him. Some of the senior management approached Sayah and asked him to "un-retire" but Sayah decided that he would let his son "learn the ropes." He did talk to his son about the decision, and was disappointed to learn how the man thought. But Sayah had no options. Bara was his eldest, and his other children were daughters, so he had no one to replace Bara with. Besides, his culture forbid denying the son his inheritance.
In late 1996, Sayah had a heart attack, and was unable to watch the business even at a distance. With this new-found freedom, Bara continued making changes to the operation. Instead of the high margin refurbished equipment, he began carrying lines of electronic equipment, including computers.
This was a disastrous move. By the end of 1997, each store which had typically grossed $3.4 million per year, bringing seven to eight percent of that to the bottom line after taxes, was grossing less than $1 million per store. Instead of debilitating Sayah even further, this performance gave him strength and caused him to take action.
On March 3, 1998, Sayah walked back into the main office and told his eldest son, Bara, that he was coming back.
When Sayah took back control of the company, he faced these problems.
1. No management infrastructure -- Bara had replaced the Chief Accountant, the Marketing Director and the Sales Manager with hand-picked cronies, all of whom walked out with Bara.
2. Of the nineteen stores, seven were failing almost beyond repair.
3. There was no employee morale whatsoever.
4. Most of the reliable store managers that had helped make the company so successful had left, and the stores were managed by people he did not know.
Sayah had in front of him these options.
A. He could close the seven failing stores, and try to make the remaining stores healthy again.
...