Ideology is the main competitive advantage of domestic companies in the world market, if it has been properly worded and put across to employees, claims Andrey Rogachev, founder of the legendary Pyaterochka supermarket chain
Pyaterochka, which entered the market in 1998, was the first domestic retail food chain to reach the billion-dollar mark in sales. In 2006, it merged with the Perekrestok supermarket chain, and it is now a member of the X5Retail Group. According to this year’s figures, the total turnover of the group was $3.485 billion, the largest share – $1.973 billion – being accounted for by Pyaterochka.
Andrey Rogachev’s list of credits includes other multibillion-dollar projects, including the Karusel hypermarket chain, founded in 2004, as well as the LEK and Makromir development companies, operating in St. Petersburg.
In consenting to an interview with Expert, Rogachev strictly defined the framework of the conversation: “Today, the main factor in a company’s competitiveness is its ideology. I would like to talk about this, and not about myself and my own achievements.”
Expert Magazine: What do you mean by the term “ideology”? It’s a rather vague notion.
Andrey Rogachev: To put it briefly and simply, an ideology is a system of principles and standards of conduct that a company and its employees use when they do business on the market. It is possible to choose a milder word, one often used in business literature: culture. But I prefer the term “ideology”; it suggests something more motivating and aggressive, which must be carried out.
EM: Why do you consider ideology to be the most important competitive quality today?
AR: Over the last hundred and fifty years, and especially in the last twenty ...