Case discussion Questions 1. What strategy was Avon pursuing until the mid- 2000s? What were the advantages of this strategy? What were the disadvantages? 2. What changes did Andrea Jung make in Avon’
For 6 years after Andrea Jung became CEO in 1999 of Avon Products, the beauty products company famous for its direct sales model, revenues grew in excess of 10% a year. Profits tripled, making Jung a Wall Street fa vorite. 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 los ing sales across the globe. A ban on direct sales had hurt its b usiness in China (the Chinese government had accused companies that used a direct sales mod -el 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 suc cess, stalled growth there. The dramat ic turn of events took investors by surprise. In May 2005, Jung had told investors that Avon would exceed Wall Street’s targets for the year. By September, she was rapidly backpedaling, and the stock fell 45%.With h er job on the line, Jung began to reevalu ate Avon’s global strategy. Until this point, the com pany had expanded primarily by replicating its U.S. strategy and organization in other countries. When it entered a nation, it gave country managers con side rable 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 a nd makeup products. However, many country managers also set up their own local manufacturing operations and supply chains, were responsible for lo cal marketing, and developed their own new products. In Jung’s words, “they were the king or queen of ev er y 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, mak ing accountability and communication problematic. There was also a distinct lack of data -driven analysis of new -product opportunities, with country manag ers often making decisions based on their intuition or gut feeling. Jung’s turnaround strategy involved several ele ments. To help transform Avon, she hired seasoned managers from well -known global consumer products companies such as P&G and Unilever. S he flattened the organization to improve communication, perfo rmance visibility, and accountability, reducing the num ber of management layers to just eight and laying off 30% of managers. Manufacturing was consolidated in a number of regional centers, a nd supply chains were rationalized, eliminating duplication and reduc ing costs by more than $1 billion a year. Rigorous return -on -investment criteria were introduced to eval uate product profitability. As a consequence, 25% of Avon’s products were disco ntinued. New -product de cisions were centralized at Avon’s headquarters. Jung also invested in centralized product development. The goal was to develop and introduce blockbuster new products that could be positioned as global brands. And Jung pushed the company to emphasize its value proposition in every national market, which could be characterized as high quality at a low price.
By 2007, this strategy was starting to yield divi dends. The company’s performance improved and growth resumed. It didn’t hurt that Jung, a Chines e-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 repre sentatives talked about working for Avon. “I can’t get laid off, I can’t get fired,” one said. Phones started to ring of the hook, and Avon was quickly able to expand its global sales force.
She also instituted an aggressive pricing strategy, and packaging was rede -signed for a more elegant look at no additional cost. The idea was to emp hasize the “value for money” the Avon products represented. Media stars 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 sput tered 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 pos sible violation of the Forei gn Corrupt Practices Act when it was 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 201 4 Ca se discussion Questions 1. What strategy was Avon pursuing until the mid -2000s? 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 terms of the framework introduced in this chapter, wha t strategy was Avon pursuing by the late 2000s?
4. Do you think that Avon’s problems in 2010 and 2011 were a result of the changes in its strategy, or were there other reasons for this?
Sources: A. Chang, “Avon’s Ultimate Makeover Artist,” Market -Watch, December 3, 2009; N. Byrnes, “Avon: More Than Cosmet -ic Change,” Businessweek, March 3, 2007, pp. 62 –63; J. Hodson, “Avon 4Q Profit Jumps on Higher Overseas Sales,” The Wall Street Journal (online), February 4, 2010; M. Boyle, “Avon Surges After Saying Th at Andrea Jung Will Step Down as CEO,” Bloomberg Businessweek, December 15, 2011.
