Woolworths Holdings
TL;DR
The Canadian holding company that solved the growth limit problem by refusing to integrate anything.
Premium retailer operating Woolworths food, fashion, and home stores in South Africa and David Jones, Country Road Group in Australia.
Woolworths Holdings Appears in 2 Chapters
Founded 1995, pursues aggressive branching with zero pruning: 25-30 acquisitions/year (800+ total), strict discipline (30%+ EBITDA), fractal architecture with 15-20 person HQ managing 25,000+ employees.
Read about branching strategy →Decentralized into 6 independent operating groups to overcome coordination limits, allowing the organization to scale without the structural overhead that constrains traditional companies.
Read about growth limits →