J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (JCP), and the CEO Gaffe of the Week

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Giving J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP)’s board of directors the benefit of the doubt, I can understand that Ullman’s seven-year tenure as CEO of Penney’s allowed him to create good rapport with many of its vendors. He also understands what it’ll take to at least get some of its previous faithful back into its stores. But did the board not realize that Ullman’s previous strategy was at least halfway responsible for the need to bring in Ron Johnson to revitalize the Penney’s brand in the first place? I feel like I’m on crazy pills here, and stuck in a repeating time loop.

To top it off, Ullman was noted as saying in an interview shortly after his reappointment as CEO that he “did not yet have a plan” as to how to improve sales, according to Reuters (face-palm).

Unless something positive happens here very quickly, J.C. Penney may not make it through the year.

Do you have a CEO you’d like to nominate for this dubious honor? Shoot me an email and a one- or two-sentence description of why your choice deserves next week’s nomination, and you just may see your suggestion in the spotlight.

The article CEO Gaffe of the Week: J.C. Penney originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.

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