27. What is wrong with JCPenney?

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/03/jcpenney_ron_johnson_came_from_apple_to_reinvent_j_c_penney_and_ended_up.html?wpisrc=most_viral

              Matthew Yglesias is the author of the article "A Truly Depressing Visit to JCPenney." In his article, Yglesias talks about how JCPenney (department store) CEO Ron Johnson tried to reinvent his stores but instead it backfired and now is destroying it. JCPenney reportedly had a major loss of about $427 million and other store sales fell by about 32 percent which marked a huge decrease in profits. JCPenney had hired Apple's retail operationer Ron Johnson to try to save the company. The new CEO brought new "Appleistic" ideas such as the "no discount policy" where products would not go through any discounts but instead convince the consumers that the product's price would remain constant. JCPenney was pretty much the same after Johnson - the bad aspects of the department store continued unchanged: disorganization, inconvenient Wifi connection, products clustered in wrong places, stores  too big, etc. The bigger problem was that Ron Johnson now banned discount coupons and discount sales and stuck to the everyday price policy. Ron Johnson also was responsible for making JCPenney much more like Target, since he had worked there before. The author includes the reasons for JCPenney's decline; of course the new CEO was responsible for part of the failure, but the truth is that other rivals such as Amazon, Macy's, and Wal-Mark also increased competition.
               The author Matthew Yglesias uses several rhetorical devices in his writing. The main point of the article is that the department store JCPenney, which once was very successful, was now experiencing a downfall not only in sales but also in reputation. The author's main purpose seems to be informative. The author interestingly uses personal pronouns to create a friendly, informal relationship with the reader. The article's main structure is based on the cause and effect frame- the author presents the cause which is apparently the hiring of Ron Johnson as the CEO of JCPenney and the effect was the decline in sales and reputation. The author states that Ron Johnson was a very successful worker in the company Apple but he had failed to make the same economic and marketing policies work in JCPenney. The author backs up his arguments first by presenting statistical information about JCPenney ($427 million loss, 32% decline in sales) and the author also tries to increase credibility by recounting one of his own personal experiences going to a JCPenney store. The author criticizes the store for its disorganization and lack of a true consumer-satisfaction experience. The author also criticizes Ron Johnson for his new aggressive policies of suddenly stopping sales and discount coupons and points the new CEO as one of the main reasons the once successful JCPenney was going through such a failure. Yglesias also contradicts his arguments by stating that Johnson had also done good things such as making the store look and feel more like Target and changing the audience when it came to advertisement. The author also lists a number of rival companies which were partly responsible for the store's downfall: Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Macy's. The author also includes more statistical information that Macy's had a 3.9 percent increase in sales EVEN without changing any new policies. The author's short, interrupting sentences create a very ironic and critical tone to his writing.