International Business

Arcadia, Wis. – When vertical furniture retailer Ashley Furniture found its homegrown retail management system no longer supported its rapid global growth, the company decided to investigate both regional and Tier 1 enterprise retail management systems. Determining it needed a multi-language, multi-currency solution that could support the unique financial requirements of each country where it did business, Ashley Furniture selected Microsoft Dynamics.

Guess? may be a global brand, but worldwide diversification wasn’t enough to help the company avoid a fourth quarter sales decline and weakness at North American retail locations.

Unlike other retailers, Guess? made no mention of horrible winter weather when it reported a decline in fourth quarter sales and profits that were especially evident in North America.

Canton, Mass. -- Dunkin' Donuts has signed an agreement with OLH Group to begin developing Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in the Brasilia and Goias regions of Brazil. The agreement calls for the development of 65 Dunkin' Donuts restaurants in the Brasilia and Goias areas during the next several years.

New York – Merger talks between J. Crew and Japanese retailer Fast Retailing Co. have reportedly ended, at least for the time being. According to the Wall Street Journal, Fast Retailing, owner of the Uniqlo chain, left the discussions not long after they were made public by the media in late February 2014.

Only 18 months into her job as Gap’s creative director and already Rebekka Bay is the focus of a cover story in the most recent issue of Bloomberg Businessweek about, “making Gap matter again.”
 

New York -- As part of minority eBay shareholder Carl Icahn’s ongoing battle to separate eBay from sister company PayPal, the activist investor on Wednesday urged fellow eBay shareholders in an open letter to sell 20% of its PayPal unit in an IPO.

The latest move, which Icahn said would prompt a stand-alone PayPal while preserving the synergies between the pair of companies, is softer than Icahn’s January announcement that he wanted a full spinoff of PayPal from eBay.  

Iconix Brand Group has made changes to its executive management team.

Seth Horowitz has been promoted to chief operating officer. Jeff Lupinacci has been hired as CFO, and Rodney Hutton has been hired as EVP of the men's division.

Warren Clamen has resigned as CFO to pursue other opportunities, according to the company.

New York -- Ralph Nicoletti, executive VP and CFO of healthcare services and insurance provider Cigna, will become the next executive VP and CFO of Tiffany & Co. His appointment to those offices will become effective on April 2, 2014.