{"id":6913,"date":"2015-12-09T23:10:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T04:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/"},"modified":"2015-12-09T23:10:06","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T04:10:06","slug":"whats-in-your-luggage","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s in Your Luggage?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Samsonite International S.A. started out as a trunk manufacturer, but has since become one of the world’s most well known and respected travel luggage brands. Over time, Samsonite expanded its manufacturing to include business and computer bags, outdoor and casual bags, and travel accessories, in addition to growing its travel luggage product lines. The company\u2019s unrelenting focus on \u201cquality, durability and innovation\u201d has proven to be successful at keeping it at the forefront of meeting travelers\u2019 changing needs.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Samsonite complimented its organic growth strategy by\u00a0acquiring\u00a0complimentary businesses\u00a0that enabled it to create synergies between existing and newly acquired resources, capabilities and customers. In 2012, Samsonite acquired High Sierra to expand into the outdoor and sports luggage market and Hartman Brands to expand its footprint in the high end luggage and leather goods market both in the U.S. and abroad. In 2014, the company acquired Lipault to reach a more function and fashion conscious, largely female market and Speck to gain exposure to the fast growing market for smartphone and tablet protective cases. (4) \u00a0Samsonite is an example of a highly effective business that has achieved alignment and harmony between its business model and operating model.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Business Model<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Samsonite creates value for its customers by offering a wide variety of quality travel luggage and accessories that are durable and dependable. Their brand delivers a consistent product that customers believe will always provide the quality necessary for their business travel needs. Customers can travel at ease knowing that their belongings are safely secured from point A to point B. Samsonite\u2019s travel luggage retails between $35 for a boarding bag to $600 for a Firelite 30\u201d Spinner (see pictures below). Customers are subject to premium pricing in exchange for \u201cperfect travel companion[s] that combine strength and lightness with unique sport shape[s], dynamic colors, sporty wheels and water resistant zipper[s].\u201d (2) The company has adapted its designs to incorporate customers needs for added security by including a three-digit TSA lock for secure travel and enhanced durability through its use of \u201cCurv\u00ae material, enabling a strong and extremely light suitcase.\u201d (2) Staying on the cutting edge of luggage design and innovation is one of Samsonite\u2019s core competencies.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
SAMSONITE ASPIRE GR8 BOARDING BAG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
SAMSONITE BLACK LABEL FIRELITE 30″ SPINNER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Operating Model<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Samsonite has effectively managed its supply chain and logistics, global distribution networks and channels for vertical integration in order to organically grow its travel luggage business. In addition, the company continuously evaluates acquisition opportunities to expand its current growth model into \u201chighly fragmented markets, less-represented product categories, and under-penetrated channels\u201d. (3) As Samsonite\u2019s customer base further expands beyond the traditional business traveler, the company continues to invest heavily in R&D and Marketing & Sales. For instance, innovations such as the cosmolite material and patented Curv\u00ae material for use in creating carry-on luggage enables the company to maintain its competitive advantage in the production of hardside luggage. Investing heavily in direct-to-consumer sales, including e-commerce, retail and omni- channel helped the company achieve strong growth sales in all regions including Asia (16.1%), North America (8.3%), Europe (22.4%) and Latin America (5.7%). (5) The company effectively leveraged regional preferences and buying behavior to create country-specific product offerings and focused targeting efforts on regional markets to further increase demand for travel products. <\/span><\/p>\n

Samsonites operating model allows it\u00a0to capture many benefit-based advantages driven by the physical characteristics of their products including durability, quality and ease of use. In addition, its\u00a0complementary goods, such as its warranty offering, is an additional reinforcement to their value add to customers. As Samsonsite continues to grow through acquisitions, they are able to leverage the\u00a0resources and cumulative experience of the combined\u00a0firms to increase their cost-based advantage during manufacturing. These factors sustain the companies market share, competitive advantage and high performance overall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(1)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>http:\/\/samsonitedesigner.com\/in\/design-innovations\/)<\/span><\/p>\n

(2) (<\/span>http:\/\/shop.samsonite.com\/sitewide-exclusion-list\/samsonite-black-label-firelite-30%22-spinner\/545371198.html)<\/span><\/p>\n

(3)\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>http:\/\/www.samsonite.com\/investors\/annualreports.do)<\/span><\/p>\n

(4) (http:\/\/www.samsonite.com\/investors\/home.do;jsessionid=D232D978BFDDEC3E0604F6E5F13FF833)<\/span><\/p>\n

(5) (http:\/\/www4.samsonite.com\/_investordocs\/20150316222955_Samsonite%20FY14%20Results%20Investor%20Presentation%20FINAL%202015-03-17.pdf)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What your perfect travel companion has to says about design innovation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":6914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[138],"class_list":["post-6913","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/the-tom-challenge-tom-winners-and-losers-assignment\/","yoast_head":"\nWhat\u2019s in Your Luggage? - Technology and Operations Management<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s in Your Luggage? - Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What your perfect travel companion has to says about design innovation...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Technology and Operations Management\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/Picture154.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"444\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"204\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/whats-in-your-luggage\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/whats-in-your-luggage\\\/\",\"name\":\"What\u2019s in Your Luggage? - Technology and Operations Management\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/whats-in-your-luggage\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/whats-in-your-luggage\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/Picture154.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-10T04:10:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/whats-in-your-luggage\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/whats-in-your-luggage\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/whats-in-your-luggage\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/Picture154.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/4\\\/2015\\\/12\\\/Picture154.png\",\"width\":444,\"height\":204},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/whats-in-your-luggage\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Submissions\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/submission\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"What\u2019s in Your Luggage?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Technology and Operations Management\",\"description\":\"MBA Student Perspectives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"性视界Action\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3.harvard.edu\\\/platform-rctom\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What\u2019s in Your Luggage? - Technology and Operations Management","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What\u2019s in Your Luggage? - Technology and Operations Management","og_description":"What your perfect travel companion has to says about design innovation...","og_url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/","og_site_name":"Technology and Operations Management","og_image":[{"width":444,"height":204,"url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/Picture154.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/","name":"What\u2019s in Your Luggage? - Technology and Operations Management","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/Picture154.png","datePublished":"2015-12-10T04:10:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/Picture154.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/Picture154.png","width":444,"height":204},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/whats-in-your-luggage\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Submissions","item":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"What\u2019s in Your Luggage?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/","name":"Technology and Operations Management","description":"MBA Student Perspectives","potentialAction":[{"@type":"性视界Action","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/6913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/hck-submission"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hck-submission\/6913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}