How Next is avoiding becoming a ‘corporate blob’

Next may be smashing its short-term objectives as it raised its profit forecast for the third time this year, however, boss Lord Wolfson has his sights firmly set on the long term.
As the business continues to snap up ailing businesses, a big concern for the retail boss is how it avoids becoming a “corporate blob”, as Wolfson terms it.
“The biggest risk is that, in making multiple investments, we build an unwieldy retail conglomerate that lacks the focus and agility we have wor