There must be dancing in the streets of Shirebrook today, after Sports Direct announced trend-bucking profits of ?200m - results that will see 2,000 employees cash in on the firm's employee bonus share scheme to the tune of a whopping ?90m, garnering an average payout of ?40,000.

The workforce at the retailer has obviously been motivated to pull together to meet the firm's challenging trading targets. And it's now implementing a new bonus scheme that will run through to 2015. Compare and contrast the Sports Direct results with those at struggling rival JJB.

While the activities of a ?1.6bn turnover retailer have little in common with the vast majority of print businesses, there is learning to be gained here. Particularly when so many print firms are engaged in a process of reinvention, and need everyone on board for the journey.

Just as with the case of the employee buy-in and commitment that fuels success at John Lewis, it seems to me that companies that are able to implement meaningful reward schemes (ones that extend beyond the main board and senior management) have a better chance of achieving sustained success - even in a sector where any sort of profit at all can be viewed as a triumph.