CASE / RETAIL CHAIN · CIO
Retail chain CIO search: define what the CIO must achieve before scaling
Scaling fast, the company needed a CIO who could connect loyalty, operations and supply-chain information. The initial search focused on peers or international brands; we shifted the emphasis to experience closer to the real complexity.
- Sector: chain retail
- Role: CIO
- Focus: role definition
Background and role
As the company scaled, membership, store operations and supply-chain systems needed to be connected. The CIO's task was not simply to deliver systems, but to build data and process coordination while the business kept changing.
The initial difficulty
- The initial search weighted peer companies or international brand background
- What the company needed was experience in driving business digitisation, not a particular brand history
- The Job Portrait was not aligned with the business task, so candidates looked fitting but were hard to verify
Our judgement and work
We mapped the information links that needed to be connected, then focused evaluation on three questions: had they digitised operations under different franchise models, could they secure and mobilise resources under constraints, and could they build cross-department collaboration?
Interview questions were rebuilt around scope of responsibility, decision rights and outcomes.
Progress
Our records show a candidate with that background joining. The engagement illustrates working backwards from the organisational task: define the business problem, then decide what background to look for.
Information boundaries
This case is anonymised from YUNLUE's brand file. Client identity and figures not yet verified against a common definition are not disclosed.