President of the Management Board / CEO, LPP SA (parent), House (LPP SA)
Wywiad z Markiem Piechockim, prezesem firmy odzieżowej LPP
Kluczowy temat rozmowy z Tomaszem Konikiem, wiceprezesem Zarządu Deloitte w Polsce stanowi obszar miejsca pracy, w tym ...
About Marek Piechocki
Marek Piechocki, CEO of LPP, has discussed the company’s growth and management philosophy in several interviews. In 2022, he estimated that LPP’s revenue would reach 14 billion złoty that year, with further growth expected, and noted that the company’s expansion creates career development opportunities for employees. He also stated that LPP had been using cardboard packaging for two years, contrasting this with a Swedish competitor that still uses plastic. Piechocki described himself as “a slave to my best managers,” saying their happiness and satisfaction are his primary concern, and emphasized that responsibility is delegated to low levels within the organization, with small teams making decisions about collections and local markets. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Piechocki said LPP would not pay a dividend that year in order to preserve liquidity, and that the biggest challenge was managing employees to retain as many jobs as possible. He also commented on the difficulty of maintaining a private life, stating that he avoids showing his face in media so he can “live normally” and travel by train without being recognized. Piechocki explained that he and his family have transferred ownership of the company to a foundation called Semper Festiwal, with the goal of keeping the business together as a Polish family firm. He said the foundation’s beneficiaries were surprised to learn they would receive something, and that the company donates several million złoty annually to charitable causes, primarily in the Pomerania region.
Transcript (22 segments)
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Narrator0:00
This is the Odpowiedzialny Biznes podcast, the beloved part of OdpowiedzialnyBiznes.pl. We work for sustainable development, inspire business that changes the world, and connect people who change business. All of this is available now on our website.
We are all operating in extreme conditions. However, this situation has also brought out a lot of good. We see numerous examples of social solidarity, individual civic engagement, and business organizations. We want to share these examples, which is the idea behind the Responsible Business Forum campaign: 'Business Reacts Responsibly' and 'Audio Reacts Responsibly.'
But that is only one side of the coin. The other side is widespread uncertainty and fears about our health and our future, our loved ones, the fate of organizations, entrepreneurs, and us as employees. Like never before, we need wise leaders and responsible leadership. That is why we are starting a series of interviews with presidents and CEOs of companies that cooperate daily with the Responsible Business Forum.
How do they operate today in a crisis situation? How do they manage their companies? These are very important and necessary voices, because the test of corporate social responsibility and sustainable development has just begun.
Hello and welcome. We invite you to listen to a conversation with the president of LPP SA, Marek Piechocki, who was the first to accept our invitation to share how his company functions today.
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Interviewer1:55
Good day, Mr. President. Thank you very much for the conversation. Let's start with how your company functions today. What is the biggest challenge for you personally, both for LPP and hundreds of other companies in the retail and services sector, who essentially went from day to day?
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Marek Piechocki2:20
We faced the situation where our employees stopped meeting customers and lost direct contact with them. This happened on March 13th. All retail outlets and all restaurants were closed, not just in Poland but in most countries. Unfortunately, this means we have been deprived of revenue, while at the same time we must continue to meet our obligations to employees and suppliers who produced our collections. The biggest challenge today is managing people in this context, to preserve as many jobs as possible.
We are aware that non-functioning outlets generate costs on various sides, including the employee side. We now have an act that helps us to some extent, and we will look very closely at how to apply it in individual retail stores. That is probably our biggest challenge — to protect as many jobs as possible, not just for development but for the future.
These next few months, especially at the beginning, there is a great awareness that we are all fighting to protect health and life. At the same time, we are aware that the entire world, not just Poland, after we overcome this pandemic, will be in a major recession. It seems likely that in terms of retail sales, it will be the largest in history — much bigger than the one in 2008-2009, which was proclaimed the biggest recession since the Great Depression of 1929.
Governments are trying to support economies in various ways through stimulation and investing large sums of money. It is very important in this mandatory situation to protect as many jobs as possible. We formed the Polish Employers' Union of Trade and Services to talk with lawmakers about how the regulations introduced on March 13th affect our industry and sector. That is why we are uniting.
In the longer term, we are talking about a recession and preparing for it. The plans involve the fact that in a recession, it is widely said that you need to protect cash as much as possible rather than thinking about recovery. What this specifically means is that for us it is already obvious — as CEO and also representing our shareholders — that we will not pay a dividend this year, because we want to protect that money to maintain liquidity. Our plans for the next year focus on doing as much as possible to protect the company from the consequences of a major slowdown and to protect those 200,000 jobs in the sector.
As for how it will look in detail, I think none of us knows. We are preparing for the worst because, as I said, we have never had a situation like this. The economy has never experienced such a situation — all restaurants closed, all airlines practically non-functional, all shops closed. For the first time in history, all of Europe is closed, the United States is closed. We are preparing for the slowdown and doing everything to minimize it.
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Interviewer7:36
How is your company engaging in helping fight the coronavirus? I understand you were involved early on, before many others, through your operations in China.
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Marek Piechocki7:49
I believe the best approach is for everyone to focus on what they do best, and then the help is more effective. Because we have been working in China for 30 years, we have great knowledge and awareness of what to do and where. In late January and early February, when the coronavirus wasn't yet on people's minds here, we helped our consumers, office employees, and Chinese partners by sending 500,000 masks. Now over a million are returning from China. In the next few days, by April 5th to 10th, the first 300,000 will arrive, along with several dozen thousand we have already distributed. Another 700,000 is on its way and will arrive around April 20th.
This is a very large transport of masks, and they will appear in Polish hospitals. We want to distribute them to as many hospitals as possible to support them in some way. On the other hand, the Polish Employers' Union has mobilized and we are starting production in Poland of both masks and coveralls. I think this is a great force. Yesterday the Industrial Development Agency returned to us and together we are establishing our production capacity to start production later this week. In parallel, we are helping the Prime Minister's Office in procuring equipment from China — coveralls, masks, various types of equipment.
We are doing a lot, but I look at this with great confidence — not just us, but the 150 companies in the union because we represent a large part of Polish entrepreneurs. Companies like Reserved, Cropp, House, and others such as Ochnik, Tatuum, Monnari — we have many seamstresses and we will also be producing in Poland, whether coveralls, masks, or gowns that hospitals need so much right now. I am happy that it is not only us, but that many Poles have become involved in this effort.
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Interviewer10:28
This situation is unprecedented, and we are filled with fears on various levels. But is there something today that gives you joy — something positive that has emerged?
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Marek Piechocki10:43
Yes, a nice element is that many initiatives have appeared aimed at helping, that we want to help each other, that we have started to be solidary and partner together, all of us beyond political, cultural, and geographical divisions. We have also learned to work remotely using various media that allow us to see a person on a computer screen who is 500 or 1,000 kilometers away and calmly conduct various projects.
The best thing is that there is a lot of social mobilization — not just us as a company, but it can be said that this is something that brings joy because many companies, many enterprises, and independent individuals, whether helping by doing someone's shopping or delivering something — it is an overall social mobilization. What also gladdens me is the social awareness of the threat, which is very high. At least here on the coast, as I observe, everyone is restraining from going out on the streets, everyone is staying at home, working remotely. I find that very encouraging.
I think that we as entrepreneurs in the trade and services sector have also managed to unite in these difficult moments, despite competing in shopping malls for the best locations and competing on merchandise. Suddenly, within seven days, we were able to unite. We have the Polish Employers' Union with over 150 companies that directly employ 200,000 people, and if you include suppliers, it amounts to roughly one million people. These are the positive elements that sometimes make you think it is great that we have such active people helping others.
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Interviewer13:22
Thank you very much for the conversation and for agreeing so quickly to share your perspective. Many thanks.
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Narrator13:35
This is the Odpowiedzialny Biznes podcast, the beloved part of OdpowiedzialnyBiznes.pl. We work for sustainable development, inspire business that changes the world, and connect people who change business. All of this is available now on our website. We invite you.