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Case Study

L'Oréal: The beauty of supply chain digitalization

By Ralf W. Seifert and Richard Markoff

16 pages

December 2021

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Reference: IMD-7-2296

L’Oréal, the world leader in beauty products, began to rethink its vision for the industry. The world was on the cusp of a digital future full of possibilities. For a company known for its consumer-pleasing beauty products and owner of some the world’s most iconic brands, this meant thinking about innovation in a different way. It would no longer mean only providing the best products but also continuously adapting the industry to market needs. Through a combination of goal setting, training and communication, the digital transformation began, first with efforts in marketing, sales and consumer outreach, but supply chain quickly moved to a prominent role in helping address questions about how digitalization would affect the company’s products and consumer expectations. Starting with a vision of the CEO, Jean-Paul Agon, the company found itself on a journey to challenge its culture, its approach and even what its value proposition was. Along the way, the supply chain became a force for bringing together the different functions of a large, complex organization to identify and implement new business models in the digital age that cut to the heart of the company’s operations.

Learning Objective

Illustrate an effective, successful digital transformation and link this to Industry 4.0/supply chain digitalization capabilities by focusing on L’Oréal’s success
Examine the challenges of supply chain digitalization, the role of senior leadership in agenda setting, global digital governance, linking the supply chain digital strategy to the company-wide digital strategy, planning for scale from pilot to deployment, and the external/internal development choice

Keywords

Supply Chain, Digital Transformation, Digitalization, Industry 4.0, Business to Consumer, Consumer Goods, Digital

Settings

World/global, France
L'Oréal, Consumer Goods, Consumer Goods, Cosmetics and Perfumes
2010-2020

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

Related material

Teaching note, Video

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Reference IMD-7-2455

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