Strategic Management. Levis Case Analysis

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, language: English, abstract: In 1995, womens jeans were a $2 billion fashion category in the US and growing fast. Levi- Strauss was the market leader, but its traditional dominant position was under heavy attack. Standard Levis womens jeans, sold in 51 size combinations (waist and inseam), had been the industry leading product for decades, but "fashion" was now taking over the category. Market research showed that only 24 percent of women were "fully satisfied" with their purchase of standard jeans at about $50 per pair. "Fashion" in jeans meant more styles, more colors, and better fit. All of these combined to create a level of product line complexity that was a nightmare for manufacturing-oriented, "push based" companies like Strauss. By 1995, Strauss operated 19 Original Levis retail stores across the country (2,000 to 3,000 square foot mall stores) to put them in closer touch with the ultimate customers. However, this channel was a very small part of their overall $6 Billion sales, which were still primarily to distributors and/or independent retailers. Shows Levis financial footprint. Strauss was as aggressive as most apparel manufacturers and retailers in investing in process improvements and information technology to improve manufacturing and delivery cycle times and "pull-based" responsiveness to actual buying patterns. However, the overall supply chain from product design to retail sales was still complex, expensive and slow. In spite of substantial improvements in recent years, (including extensive use of "EDI", there was still an eight-month lag, on average, between ordering cotton fabric and selling the final pair of jeans. The industry average lag was still well over twelve months in 1995. The financial footprint for one pair of womens jeans sold through the normal wholesale channel compared to one pair sold through an Original Levis