Coach's operational feedback and command/control mechanisms are excellent, signaling ôclose managementö (Boorstin). Executives listen to internal company feedback as well as soliciting feedback from customers. Furthermore, CoachÆs top executives do not just chart periodic overall sales; they chart sales ôfor every store and every type of merchandise every dayö (Boorstin). During the holiday, they get up to three updates per day (Boorstin). This close tracking enabled the executives to dramatically increase production of the Ergo bag within only a few days when they saw that it was ôblowing out of stores in Japan,ö which is where Coach introduces its most ôfashion-forwardö designs (Boorstin). In addition, CoachÆs CEO, COO, and CFO review each business unit every month instead of every quarter, and revise their annual estimates accordingly (Boorstin). Lehman Brothers analyst Bob Drbul says of Coach, ôTheir execution and business planning is in the league of a Wal-Mart or a Targetö (Boorstin).
The command/control mechanisms that Coach has in place work very well. When Coach opened its Medley plant, according to Ivan Borgos, secretary-treasurer of the New York-based International Leather Goods, Plastics, Novelty and Service Workers Union, ôthey did a hell of a job,ö bringing in new machines and good air conditioning, as well as excellent uniforms and safety/security (Adlerstein). Borgos commented that he had never had to take them to arbitration, pointing out that this was unusual in New York (Adlerstein). When Coach closed its Medley plant, the workers had already known about the closing for a long time and were very satisfied with their severance packages, which provided better compensation than their contract demanded (Adlerstein).
Coach is the kind of company that handles expansion into new territory well. One reason for this is that it spends significant time finding out what customers like and incor...