Digital eMac Digital was spun out from McDonald s Corporation as a separate company with its own capital structure, board of directors and management team. The company wanted to have the speed and flexibility of a dot-com while benefiting from McDonald s industry experience, customer base, brand and marketing resources, according to senior VP of Business Development Keith Pascal. We are in a unique position, said Pascal, who joined the unit in January 2000 from the food service industry. We are much less focused on an IPO than we are on long-term value that will augment earnings. Our investors are interested in a long-term strategy and not interested in exiting the stock.
Online exchanges are tricky and can create potential conflicts.
When asked if eMac Digital would sell to Burger King, Pascal said it was possible, theoretically, but that the market was large enough that they didn t have to think about that -for now. The online unit is an integral part of their overall sales and marketing strategy, said Steven Dennis, VP of Channel Development and Integration. Dennis indicated that the online unit has been instrumental in driving traffic to its offline stores, noting that people frequently conduct research on the web before they visit the showroom. It didn t make sense for us to consider our Internet unit as a stand-alone business. Clearly clicks and bricks is a winning strategy for our customers and Sears, said Dennis Honan, VP and general manager of Sears Online.