By George Anderson
The Topeka Capital-Journal provides a post mortem report on Fleming that says the wholesaler died because of its reliance on Kmart and suppliers' demand for upfront payment before goods were shipped.
The combination of these factors resulted in a cash flow crunch that left Fleming with too much debt, too little product and too few customers, according to sources cited by the paper.
"It was a tremendous cash-flow crunch," said Bryan Smith, controller and human resources director for Fleming's general merchandise division. "It really boils down to that. We were in good shape until everybody wanted their money up front."
Moderator's Comment: Why did Fleming fail? What can others learn from the Fleming experience?
Many will put the blame on Fleming's Kmart deal. We're of the mind, however, that the Kmart deal was made, at least in part, to try and hide/fix the problems that were inherent at the wholesaler long before the deal was announced. [George Anderson - Moderator]