L'Oreal, a current-globalized firm but which remains faithful to his ruts and western values of origin though

Résumé du document

Like all Asian women, I like having a very fair skin, explains a woman Chinese in front of a L'Oreal stand. With irreproachable make-up and applied fringe, this young music professor, native of the province of Shandong takes advantage of her holidays and roams the department stores of a big Chinese city. This woman is anything but an exception because according to the figures, cosmetics sales centred on skincare, represents between 40 and 60 % of the total sales of cosmetics. Indeed, in modern China, the skin is one of the main criteria of beauty of the Chinese women. As explains Zhenzhen Lan, manager of communication at L'Oreal in China, 'the traditional Chinese poetry always evokes a pure skin as some jade object as the ice '. This example reveals that L'Oreal, to win market shares has to take into account the intrinsic particularities but also the cultural aspects of each population. That is why in Shanghai, L'Oreal recently opened research laboratories, which notably work on the efficiency of these bleaching products. Generally speaking, this cosmetic firm always proves its ability to adapt to an international context by putting in practice the motto 'Think global, act local' and, for instance, by experiencing the ethno marketing. With the example of the bleaching products, we can observe that poetry is not the only factor that can explain a such phenomenon. Indeed, L'Oreal contributes to spread the western values by showing many fair L'Oreal Ambassadresses, or by betting on the French luxury image. All these points will be tackled in the following paper to understand how a firm such as L'Oreal manages to start businesses in many countries, whose cultures prevents the company from always planning the same strategy.

Extraits

[...] Middle classes, as opposed to rich classes, rarely have the opportunity to travel to Europe and bring cosmetics and body care home. In Asia, women are willing to have a very white skin because the skin is one of the most important criteria of beauty. This is a very cultural point. In the Asian tradition and in the poetry, the skin is always compared to something white, almost transparent. So the majority of Asian women buy cosmetics for the skin. [...]

[...] It enables the group to quickly widespread this brand over a lot of consumers. The strategic activities of the group are really coherent and permit the group to develop global brands. These brands are the mainstay of the penetration into a market. Making these same brands accessible to everybody worldwide improve their spreading and their fame Very thorough market research at the local level: the examples of China and Japan In the passed year, the French group L'Oreal invested approximately 500 million euros in the R & D. [...]

[...] How do cosmetic firms adapt to the requests of its Chinese consumers? In Pudong, in the industrial suburbs of Shanghai, each day, the company uses guinea-pigs in its new laboratory: m2 of microscopes and treatment rooms intended to study the skin and the hair of the Chinese consumers. They are photographed, interviewed and test the new products. This is an invaluable data base, screened by a team of 65 researchers. The Chinese women have specific requirements. Their obsession: to clear up the dye thanks to bleaching products. [...]

[...] The group strategy is based on these brands, which means that brands are top-ranking towards goods themselves, even if goods contain a strong technological and well-being capacity. When it came, for instance, to introducing the range of Elseve shampoos, L'Oreal decided to implement special ranges for greasy hairs, dry hairs, dandruffs In the same vein, L'Oreal did not promote these curative properties but on the contrary, the promotion was based on the brand itself. Currently, the whole consumption experiences the emergence of “Mega Brands”, some quite powerful brands widespread all over the world and containing pretty different products. [...]

[...] Au cœur de la réussite durable d'une marque réside la qualité du produit : Chaque formule doit battre son concurrent local. La communication via une égérie régionale joue un rôle clé pour mieux personnaliser les campagnes Quels autres types d'obstacles socioculturels avez-vous rencontré ? Comment L'Oréal les surmonte-t elle ? Obstacles de styles de présentation et de style de communication en interne, les latins parlant beaucoup, les asiatiques étant plus discrets Le groupe L'Oréal cherche t il à transmettre une image globale ou locale? Pourquoi ? [...]