Back in October, J.C. Penney Co. hired Michael Francis away from Target Corp. with great fanfare, saying he had the "vision and courage" to turn around the department store chain. On Monday, Mr. Francis was out, the highest-level casualty of Chief Executive Ron Johnson's sputtering effort to wean customers off an endless stream of discounts.

As president, Mr. Francis was responsible for marketing and for getting Penney's product lines together—a pivotal merchandising job as Mr. Johnson sought to lure customers in with better...