I choose Moleskine as a great example of success and effectiveness<\/strong>, through a strong alignment between its business model and operation the company managed to revitalize an object, the notebook, which had become a commodity,<\/strong> achieving unique positioning and opening up an entirely new market.<\/strong> Moleskine success, reflected in the company growth in the recent years, from \u20ac40M in 2009 to \u20ac98M in 2014, enjoying a CAGR of +21%, and positive Net income. This was only possible given the strong operational model behind it, and its focus on retail, product innovation and brand management.<\/p>\n Moleskine develops and markets three main product line, all of them sharing the Moleskine Brand:<\/p>\n The brand currently distributes its products in 113 countries through 4 main distribution channels<\/strong>:<\/p>\n As of the end of 2014, 50%<\/strong> of the sales are generated in Europe<\/strong>, with only 10% in Italy, 36%<\/strong> of the sales are generated in the Americas<\/strong> and 14%<\/strong> in the APAC<\/strong> Region.<\/p>\n With the basic notebook selling at approximately $23, the company has a unique positioning in the luxury market <\/strong>(exhbit1). With a strong brand identity, Moleskine is a highly ego-expressive brand<\/strong>, becoming over the years a life-style brand<\/strong>, associated by most consumer with design, art, culture, writing and memories, almost completely losing the functional aspect of a regular notebook<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Exhibit1 \u2013 Moleskine positioning<\/strong><\/p>\n Source: Moleskine IPO report<\/p>\n Moleskine approaches the market with an integrated operational structure<\/u><\/strong>, which includes the direct management of key segments of the value chain, with a tight control over outsourced goods. Moleskine runs its most strategic activities (brand equity & communication, marketing, production, development and distribution)\u00a0 in house, whereas manufacturing is outsourced, supported by 17 supplier.<\/p>\n The company operating model is built around three pillars (exhibit2):<\/p>\n Exhibit2 \u2013 Moleskine Operation Pillars<\/strong><\/p>\n Source: Moleskine \u2013 company strategy deck<\/p>\n Increasing brand awareness<\/strong>: Moleskine is highly effective in nurturing its worldwide relationship with the design community by continuously engaging with this environment through spot on and targeted below the line activities. An element that is proving of great success for Moleskine are the partnerships <\/strong>that it establishes. Examples are Moleskine Partnership with Valentino for its 50th<\/sup> anniversary. Moleskine develop a specific notebook design that would be sold\/gifted during Valentino\u2019s 50th<\/sup> anniversary exhibition.\u00a0 Through such deals Moleskine manages to enhance its brand awareness and being associated more and more tightly to the design\/luxury industry, achieving an always more unique positioning.<\/p>\n Growing accessibility:<\/strong> Moleskine is heavily expanding its distribution, by leveraging on all the four channels that it currently operates. Over the past years Moleskine has been expanding the current distribution as well as upgrading the current one. A special mention has to be made about the retail channel expansion, through in-house developed retail concept (picture2) Moleskine manages not only to increase sales, but also to effectively deliver a strong customer experience that will reinforce its customer loyalty. The company also does a great job continuously updating its store concept<\/strong>, a great example of this is the latest concept of the Moleskine Caf\u00e9, a mixed retail concept that will open the first prototype store in 2015 in the Geneva Airport.<\/p>\n Broadening the product offer:<\/strong> Innovation is a key strength for the group. Over the past years new product are contributing to 15%-18% of the company revenues. Moleskine manages to achieve this through a very strong internal R&D<\/strong> department<\/strong> always looking into developing new and exciting products satisfying the customer needs as well as through partnership<\/strong> with digital players, that allow the company to achieve a high level of integration between the analog and digital environment. The most interesting of this partnership is the one with Evernote, established in 2013, whose main objective is make always more efficient and easy to transfer and manage content from analog to digital.<\/p>\n Moleskine business model perfectly aligns with the company strategy, being in control of the key functions that are supporting its three operational pillars<\/strong>. The company has been able to define its own market segment and create as strong competitive advantage by continuously innovating its product line, leveraging on partnerships, both in the design area and the communication\/brand equity area and by developing and rolling out a consistent and strong retail model.<\/p>\n This operational model has led Moleskine to a substantial growth<\/strong> over the recent years, with successful financial results, as shown in exhibit3<\/p>\n Exhibit 3 \u2013 Moleskine financial Results 09-14 (\u20acM)<\/strong><\/p>\n Source: Moleskine<\/p>\n Picture1:<\/p>\n Picture2:<\/p>\n Sources:<\/p>\n Company website:<\/p>\n www.moleskine.com<\/a><\/p>\n Mediobanca IPO report: http\/\/www.mediobanca.it\/static\/upload\/mol\/moleskine-ipo-report-04-03-2013-mediobanca.pdf<\/p>\n Moleskine corporate strategy documents: http:\/\/corporate.moleskine.com\/documents\/1134303\/e0d0f5b2-75bc-491b-bcae-109a1d8355dc<\/a><\/p>\n Moleskine IPO report<\/p>\n Moleskine quarterly presentations<\/p>\n Articles:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/id\/100612006<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.milanofinanza.it\/news\/moleskine-apre-1-concept-store-a-pechino-201307151352001492<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.milanofinanza.it\/news\/moleskine-accordo-con-fiftythree-per-sviluppo-nuovi-prodotti-201304221156001614<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/videos\/b\/aa727bb0-95f0-41da-94a6-713a94ad5670<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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