mixed material bibliography Boston Harvard Business School Publications July - August 2015

p. 33 - 36 When the author became involved with Tommy Hilfiger, as a partner in the company that had the license to sell Hilfiger products in Europe, the brand was one of fashion’s hottest. Overall sales had more than doubled from 1997 to 2000. But that came at a price, the author writes. The brand was too hot, too hyped, and grew too fast. Hilfiger products began to sell at a discount in the United States—and the company’s designers started creating stuff that felt like discount clothing. Soon U.S. sales were falling every year. Meanwhile, the European division had chosen not to sell the lower-quality versions, had created its own design center and supply chain, and was increasing sales by roughly 50% a year. Gehring proposed a strategy for turning the company around—and the board countered that he should find a buyer. So he did. As the winning bidder, Apax Partners, a European private equity firm, allowed Gehring to do a dramatic restructuring and scale back the U.S. business in the short term, laying the groundwork for the brand’s turnaround in less than four years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] <br> 00178012 Perpustakaan - Sekolah Tinggi Manajemen PPM Pusat Informasi Manajemen 45583 2015-07-10 00:00:00 2015-07-10 00:00:00 machine generated