The Rise and Decline of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Hardcover – January 1, 1986

"The Rise and Decline of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company" by William L. Walsh is a reasonably well-written, highly detailed account of this mindboggling tale of managerial ineptness. A literal cornucopia of misdirected leadership DNA, "The Rise and Decline" outlines in great detail how a good idea can go bad; how home-grown, school-of-hard-knocks, promote-from-within managers can miss the proficiency mark; and how a failure of successor management can doom even the mightiest enterprise (c. 1950, A&P was the largest retailer in the world and second only to General Motors in sales volume). This head-in-the-sand narrative of business bungling should serve as a wake up call, and is must reading for those who think that it could never happen to them. While even a casual acquaintance with the Wall Street Journal would disclose that these inane corporate practices occur over and over again, almost as if such featherheaded outcomes resulted from a genetic senior-manager defect. One need only review the "Fortune 500" list from 1980 to see how many made it to 2014 for proof of this malignant corporate pathology. On the brighter side, being forewarned is being forearmed, and though there are many more "Decline" stories than "Phoenix" stories, there are enough companies that have persisted for a century or more to show the way. An invaluable antidote for boardroom or CEO hubris.

This is a great read if you like history and bringing back times when I was a kid

This book although published years ago is applicable to the business climate of today. It is an interesting and easy to read book and creates a climate where a fundamental business lesson is learned. It is sad to see American icons like A & P become irrelevant just as it was sad to see the five and dime store, Woolworth's fold. And who can forget Montgomery Wards. The author, as part of A & P during its heyday and its decline does an excellent job. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company would make a great "case study" for a college class and this book would be a great resource.

Fantastic book about how the first Real American Supermarket Chain was founded, the stiff competition that came and how bad management and greed in today's marketplace caused the Company to fail.

Best book ever.

This is an excellent read for anyone interested in business. The mistakes and lessons learned in this book can be applied to a variety of business situations. Its amazing to read how A&P was doing so well during the height of the Great Depression, it equally as amazing to see how their business has steadily declined since then. After reading this, I wondered about Wal-Mart and their future.