J.C. Penney has never been as “interesting” as it is right now.

To analysts and onlookers the retailer is a fascinating case study in momentous loss. In less than 18 months the stagnating retailer hired and fired a superstar CEO, lost billions in revenue, lost stock value, lost customer loyalty, and subsequently thousands of employees lost their jobs.  The once vague but familiar retailer has been reduced to a punchline, a “what-not-to-do” lesson in turnaround strategies, and a metaphor reflecting  the political and economic tug of war that is constraining the middle class.

The only good that can be salvaged from public failures are the lessons. It’s prudent that we value, respect, and dissect the great and mighty when they fall because culturally (personally) we are too ashamed to discuss our own humble follies openly with one another.
This down and dirty analysis looks at what went wrong in a quippy BlackDog Case Study.