Evaluation of a Fortune 500 Company - Levis Strauss



Table of Contents

Introduction3

Structural Analysis6

Brand collaboration8

Business integration8

Corporate Social Responsibility9

Resource efficiency9

Leading in the industry11

Corporate Philanthropy12

Conclusion12

Evaluation of a Fortune 500 Company - Levis Strauss

Introduction

In the new connected economy, where rules of business change as quickly as they are created, the ability to make timely decisions means the difference between ytheir organisation's success or failure. Yesterday's start-up is tomorrow's industry leader - and ytheir new competition. Making, managing and adopting decisions at the speed of business is critical. Gartner provides advice and insight to support competitive decision-making, guiding ytheir company to success.

Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO.) strives to provide the world's casual workday wardrobe, inside and out. LS&CO., a top manufacturer of brand-name clothing globally, sells jeans and sportswear under the Levi's, Dockers, and Levi Strauss Signature names in more than 110 countries. It also markets men's and women's underwear and loungewear. Levi's jeans -- department store staples -- were once the uniform of American youth, but LS&CO. has been working to reconnect with the niche and expand outside the US. It has transformed its products portfolio to include wrinkle-free and stain-resistant fabrics used in making some of its Levi's and Dockers slacks. The Haas family (relatives of founder Levi Strauss) owns LS&CO. John Serrato is Vice President of Information Systems for Europe, the Middle East and Africa and is based at Brussels headquarters.

The IS department had had a busy five years. Several projects had been undertaken, starting with a Business Process Review resulting in Levi's implementing a Baan Enterprise Resources Planning solution. The implementation of packages from Manugistics and McHugh followed. As part of this overhaul, Levi's installed new Unix hardware and an Oracle database. An effort was also made to harmonise the software system used across the European continent. The ERP project completely changed Levi's infrastructure, and a new, centralised support strategy changed their ways of working. As anticipated, the IS team found that these new, more complex technologies drove up compensation costs and increased headcount. According to Serrato, the benchmark study covering Brussels HQ and 7 European affiliates was a method of taking stock following these implementations with a view to optimising operations. “Their aim is to reduce costs and to maximise value using a minimal amount of investment. Their goal is to have best of class operating environment, reducing expenditure thereby releasing funds for specific, targeted projects.”

The benchmarking study Levi's engaged Gartner to carry out was an Information Technology Overview Analysis (ITOA) centred on the costs and workload of its helpdesk, distributed computing and data centre technologies. Gartner's Measurement team was chosen to conduct the benchmark on account of Gartner's high level of IT industry experience and expertise and Measurement's extensive database of relevant metrics.

The benchmarking process kicked-off with a joint meeting of Gartner and Levi's project teams. The meeting covered the processes to be undertaken and the details of the data to be collected, and set the schedule and responsibilities of each party. The Levi's team was responsible for collecting ...