MGT3170-71-72 Participation re-sit exercise

Read the case below and answer the question at the end (maximum 500 words).

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Avon in 2012

 

For six years after Andrea Jung became CEO of Avon Products in 1999, the beauty products company famous for its direct sales model, revenues grew in excess 10% a year. Profits tripled, making Jung a Wall Street favourite. Then, in 2005, the success story started to turn ugly. Avon, which derives as much as 70% of its revenues from international markets, mostly in developing nations, suddenly began losing sales across the globe. A ban on direct sales had hurt its business in China (the Chinese government had accused companies that used a direct sales model of engaging in pyramid schemes and of creating “cults”). To compound matters, economic weakness in Eastern Europe, Russia and Mexico, all drivers of Avon’s success, stalled growth there. The dramatic turn of events took investors by surprise. In May 2005 Jung had told investors Avon would exceed Wall Street’s targets for the year. By September, she was rapidly backpedalling, and the stock fell 45%.

 

With her job on the line, Jung began to re-evaluate Avon’s global strategy. Until this point, the company had expanded primarily by replicating its US strategy and organisation in other countries. When it entered a nation, it gave country managers considerable autonomy. All used the Avon brand name and adopted the direct sales model that has been the company’s hallmark. The result was an army of 5 million Avon representatives around the world, all independent contractors, who sold the company’s skin care and makeup products. However, many country managers also set up their own local manufacturing operations and supply chains, were responsible for local marketing, and developed their own new products, In Jung’s words, “they were king or queen of every decision.” The result was a lack of consistency in marketing strategy from nation to nation, extensive duplication of manufacturing operations and supply chains, and a profusion of new products, many of which were not profitable. In Mexico, for example, the roster of products for sale had ballooned to 13,000. The company had 15 layers of management, making accountability and communication problematic. There was also a distinct lack o data-driven analysis of new-product opportunities, with country managers often making decisions based on their intuition or gut feeling.

 

Jung’s turnaround strategy involved several elements. To help Avon transform, she hired seasoned managers from well-known global consumer product companies such as P&G and Unilever. She flattened the organisation to improve communication, performance visibility, and accountability, reducing the number of management layers to just eight and laying off 30% of managers. Manufacturing was consolidated in a number of regional centres, and supply chains were rationalised, eliminating duplication and reducing costs by more than $1 billion a year. Rigorous return-on-investment criteria were introduced to evaluate product profitability. As a consequence, 25% of Avon’s products were discontinued. New-product decisions were centralised at Avon’s headquarters. Jung also invested in centralised product development. The goal was to develop and introduce block-buster new products that could be positioned as global brands. And Jung pushed the company to emphasise its value proposition in every national market, which could be characterised as high quality at a low price.

 

Bu 2007 this strategy was starting to yield dividends. The company’s performance improved and growth resumed. It didn’t hurt that Jung, a Chinese-American who speaks Mandarin, was instrumental in persuading Chinese authorities to rescind the ban on direct sales, allowing Avon to recruit 400,000 new representatives in China. Then in 2008 and 2009 the global financial crisis hit. Jung’s reaction: This was an opportunity for Avon to expand its business. In 2009, Avon ran ads around the world aimed at recruiting sales representatives. In the ads, female sales representatives talked about working for Avon. “I can’t get laid off, I can’t get fired,” is what one said. Phones started to ring off the hook, and Avon was quickly able to expand its global sales force. She instituted an aggressive pricing strategy and packaging was redesigned for a more elegant look at no additional cost.  The idea was to emphasise the “value for money” the Avon products represented. Media starts were used in ads to help market the company’s products, and Avon pushed its representatives to use online social networking sites as a medium for representatives to market themselves.

 

The result of all this was initially good: In the difficult years of 2008 and 2009, Avon gained global market share and its financial performance improved. However, the company started to stumble again in 2010 and 2011. The reasons were complex. In many of Avon’s important emerging markets the company found itself increasingly on the defensive against rivals such as P&G that were building a strong retail presence there. Meanwhile, sales in developed markets sputtered in the face of persistently slow economic growth. To complicate matters, there were reports of numerous operational mistakes – problems with implementing information systems, for example – that were costly for the company. Avon also came under fire for a possible violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when it revealed that some executives in China had been paying bribes to local government officials. Under pressure from investors, in December 2011, Andrea Jung relinquished her CEO role, although she will stay on as Chairman until at least 2014.

 

* * * * *

 

1   What strategy was Avon pursuing until mid-2005?

 

What were the advantages of this strategy? What were the disadvantages?

 

2   What changes did Andrea Jung make in Avon’s strategy after 2005?

 

What were the benefits of these changes? Can you see any drawbacks?

 

3   In your opinion, to what extent were Avon’s problems in 2010-2011 the result of its chosen strategy? Are there alternative explanations for Avon’s troubles?

 

 

 

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