The most important thing was to improve the management. Luc Vandevelde, a talented Belgian manager, was recruited as Executive Chairman in 2001 with a £650,000 salary, plus a £650,000 performance-related bonus and a £2.2million "golden hello" made up of M&S shares to persuade him to take on this very challenging job. At first he promised to produce signs of recovery within two years, but then admitted that it would take longer.
He took time to get to know the company and decided to focus on the UK market and its core business of clothes. He employed new designers such as George Davis from Asda. They launched new product lines to reflect the original M&S values of quality, value and innovation as well as the modern requirements for fashion.
He also made some dramatic changes. He dismissed three senior directors, although this meant paying them enormous "golden handshakes", and made big changes to the management team and the company culture. He began to close down the unprofitable overseas businesses and the unprofitable clothes catalogue. He sold unnecessary property and planned to move the head office out of London in order to cut costs.
By the end of 2002 his strategy seemed to be working and Marks and Spencer was showing signs of recovery. Customers were coming back.