Elizabeth Arden: Executing Global Supply Chain Re-engineering

In mid-2008, the senior vice-president of Global Supply Chain at Elizabeth Arden in New York City was troubled with the challenges that lay before him. He had been hired to make sweeping changes to the company’s management of its supply chain, and he had already made a significant impact in forecasting, inventory control and service performance. His next move would require a radical consolidation of suppliers, make dramatic changes to inventory management, have a far-reaching impact on product development and require major lead time reductions. Given such a disruptive move, would current suppliers be able to meet expectations? Could the company’s current employees keep up with the pace of change expected? How many would have to be let go, and what would this do the morale of the workforce? Were significant results to shareholders really achievable? How much money would be saved, where would the savings come from and when would they be realized? The senior vice-president was determined to execute the re-engineering in a manner that would best address all these concerns.

This case is designed for use in a strategy, global operations management, supply chain or change management course to help students understand the application of several key operating concepts:<br><br><ul><li>Executing operations strategy.</li><li>Managing supply chain innovation.</li><li>Restructuring organizational design for change.</li><li>Impacting supply chain innovation.</li></ul>

• Strategy
• design
• restructuring
• impact of supply chain innovation
• United States