Increase the quantity and quality of young people entering the retail field, reduce the time required for a new trainee to become an effective part of the management team, and reduce the turnover rate among management trainees.
Programs offered by the newly-defined Institute included retail career initiatives, executive lectures, retail executive panel discussions, seminars and workshops, classroom visits by retail professionals, scholarships and awards, symposia, and faculty research on retailing (funded in 1988 through a $500,000 endowment by the JCPenney Company).