Gerald Ratner: The Rise and Fall... and Rise Again

Gerald Ratner: The Rise and Fall... and Rise Again

by Gerald Ratner (Author)

Synopsis

In 1991 Gerald Ratner was booked to make what should have been an everyday speech at the Institute of Directors. Should have been. When the words total crap come out of his mouth in connection with a decanter and glasses set sold by his company, H. Samuel, it all turned out slightly different. The Rise and Fall...And Rise Again tells the full story, in Gerald Ratner's own words, of what lead him to that point at the IoD, the horror of what happened in the immediate aftermath, the fallout and the comeback. This is the fi rst time Gerald Ratner has given his side of the story. And what a story it is. You'll fi nd out: How he wiped GBP500m off the value of his own company virtually overnight All the details about the initial gaffe and how he compounded it by remarking that some of the earrings were cheaper than an M&S prawn sandwich but probably wouldn't last as long How doing a Ratner has entered into the vocabulary of British business The wilderness years sitting glued to the sofa in front of Countdown How he has bounced back, rediscovering his entrepreneurial spark by building up a health club business and, more recently, the immensely successful online jewellery retailer Geraldonline.com The story's not over yet...

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 260
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 19 Oct 2007

ISBN 10: 1841127868
ISBN 13: 9781841127866

Media Reviews
...[a] rollicking read (Financial Times, Monday 29th October 2007) contains lessons for us all (Management Today, November 2007) self-effacing, revealing and human. (Financial Times, Wednesday 26th November 2007) ...it is a compelling insight into retail history and the internal workings of a behemoth, international jewelry company. (Idex Magazine - International Diamond Exchange, January 2008) His jewellery might have been crap but his book isn't. This slim volume of memoirs is extremely readable... (The Independent, Extra, Thu 13th March) a case study of how retailing nous shaped a winning formula on both sides of the Atlantic. (The Oldie, April 2008)
Author Bio
Gerald Ratner is a British household name. He joined the family business in 1966 at the age of 15 and went on to build up the UK's most successful chain of jewellers of which he was Chairman and Chief Executive. In 1992, 18 months after his infamous speech to the conference at the Institute of Directors, he was sacked and in 1994 the Ratner name was eliminated from the company. For four years he worked on and off as a consultant, before starting up a health club in Henley and eventually selling it. In 2004, Ratner set up an online jewellery business, GeraldOnline, after market research on brand recognition found that Ratners was still the most recognised name in jewellery retailing. Gerald Ratner has come full-circle and is enjoying success second time around. He is a married father of four and now a fitness fanatic, cycling around 30 miles per day. Gerald worked with the author and journalist, Jo Monroe, on this book.