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Management Project
Levi Strauss and Co.

Prepared By: Jibran Ullah Khan

Hassan Raza
Zain Khalil
Zia-ul-Haq

Submitted To: Mr. Muhammad Ather

Company In Focus: Levi Strauss and Co.

Submission Date: 10.04.2010

Resources: Ms. Ayesha Mian,

Assistant Manager HR,
Levi Strauss Pakistan.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1.1 Goal and Mission Statement
1.2 Company Profile
1.3 History and Inception
1.4 Products and Outlets
2.4.1 Products and Brands
2.4.2 Outlets
2. Organogram

3. Managerial Styles
3.1 Planning
3.2 Organizing
3.3 Leading
3.4 Staffing
3.5 Controlling

1. Introduction

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Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&CO.) is one of the world's largest brand-name apparel marketers with
sales in more than 110 countries. There is no other company with a comparable global presence in the
jeans and casual pants markets. Today, the Levi's® trademark is one of the most recognized in the
world and is registered in more than 160 countries. The company is privately held by descendants of
the family of Levi Strauss. Shares of company stock are not publicly traded.

The company employs a staff of approximately 11,400 people worldwide according to 2008 figures,
including approximately 1,010 people at its San Francisco, California headquarters. Levi Strauss & Co
currently makes jeans in approximately 108 sizes and 20 finish fabrics. With 2008 net sales of US$
4.303 billion billion, the company is committed to building upon strong heritage and brand equity as
they position the company for future growth.

1.1 Goal and Mission Statement

Goal: To Cloth the world.

Mission: Marketing and distribution of the most attractive brand in the world.

Mission Statement: We must balance goals of superior profitability and return on

investment, leadership market positions, and superior products and services. We will
conduct our business ethically and demonstrate leader ship in satisfying our responsibilities
to our communities and to society. Our work environment will be safe and productive and
characterized by fair treatment, teamwork, open communications, personal accountability
and opportunities for growth and development.

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1.2 Company Profile

• FY 2008 Net Revenues: $4.4 billion

• Global presence: Three geographic divisions: Levi Strauss Americas (LSA), Levi
Strauss Europe, Middle East and North Africa (LSEMA) and Asia Pacific Division
(APD).
o Regional headquarters located in San Francisco, Brussels and Singapore
o Global sourcing headquarters in Singapore.
o More than 5,000 registered trademarks in approximately 180 countries.
o We derive approximately 40 percent of our net revenues and regional operating
income from our European and Asia Pacific businesses.

• Retail distribution: LS&CO. products are sold through approximately 60,000 retail
locations worldwide, including 260 company-operated stores and approximately 1,500
franchised stores around the world.

• Licensing: LS&CO. trademarks are licensed for products and accessories

complementary to our core branded products and extend our brands into product
categories that broaden the product range available to consumers and create compelling
and distinctive brand looks, including:
o Tops, sweaters, jackets, and outerwear
o Kidswear
o Footwear and hosiery
o Loungewear and sleepwear
o Belts, bags and wallets
o Eyewear
o Luggage and home bedding products

• Sourcing: We source our products primarily from independent manufacturers located

throughout the world.
o Contractors are located in approximately 45 countries around the world
o No single country represents more than 20 percent of our production

• Employees: More than 11,400 worldwide

o 4,700 in the Americas
o 4,400 in Europe
o 2,300 in Asia Pacific

• Ownership: The company is privately held by descendants of the family of Levi

Strauss. Shares of company stock are not publicly traded. Shares of Levi Strauss Japan
K.K., the company's Japanese affiliate, are publicly traded in Japan.

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1.3 History and Inception

Jacob Davis was a tailor who frequently purchased bolts of cloth made from hemp
from Levi Strauss & Co.'s wholesale house. After one of Davis' customers kept purchasing
cloth to reinforce torn pants, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the points of
strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly. Davis did not have the
required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they go into
business together. After Levi accepted Jacob's offer, on May 20, 1873, the two men received
U.S. Patent 139,121 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The patented rivet was later incorporated into the company's jean design and
advertisements. Contrary to an advertising campaign suggesting that Levi Strauss sold his
first jeans to gold miners during the California Gold Rush (which peaked in 1849), the
manufacturing of denim overalls only began in the 1870s.

Levi Strauss started the business at the 90 Sacramento Street address in New York.
He next moved the location to 62 Sacramento Street then 63 & 65 Sacramento Street. By
changing the location of the store the company began to become more successful. Levi got
the idea for the jeans, then referred to as "waist overalls," by Jacob Davis, one of Levi's
regular customers. He said that by placing "metal rivets at the points of strain- pocket
corners, and at the base of the button fly. The two men got together and got a patent for
their idea and this is how the jean was invented.

Modern jeans began to appear in the 1920s, but sales were largely confined to the
working people of the western United States, such as cowboys, lumberjacks, and railroad
workers. Levi’s jeans apparently were first introduced to the East during the dude ranch
craze of the 1930’s, when vacationing Easterners returned home with tales (and usually
examples) of the hard-wearing pants with rivets. Another boost came in World War II, when
blue jeans were declared an essential commodity and were sold only to people engaged in
defense work. From a company with fifteen salespeople, two plants, and almost no business
east of the Mississippi in 1946, the organization grew in thirty years to include a sales force
of more than 22,000, with 50 plants and offices in 35 countries.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Levi's jeans became popular among a wide range of youth
subcultures, including greasers, mods, rockers, hippies and skinheads. Levi's popular
shrink-to-fit 501s were sold in a unique sizing arrangement; the indicated size was related
to the size of the jeans prior to shrinking, and the shrinkage was substantial. The company
still produces these unshrinking, uniquely sized jeans, and they are still Levi's number one
selling product. Although popular lore (abetted by company marketing) holds that the
original design remains unaltered, this is not the case: the company's president got too close
to a campfire, and the rivet at the bottom of the crotch conducted the fire's heat too well;
the offending rivet, which is depicted in old advertisements, was removed.

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History in Pakistan

There have been two division of Levis working in Pakistan.

• APD
• GSO

APD:
Levi Strauss & Co.'s Asia Pacific Division is comprised of subsidiary businesses, licensees and
distributors throughout Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The Division sources,
manufactures and markets Levi's®, Dockers®, and Levi Strauss Signature™ products through 14
affiliates. The company employs approximately 2,500 talented people working together to ensure that
the apparel brands are leaders in this part of the world. The division is comprised of both wholly
owned-and-operated businesses, licensees and distributors throughout Asia and the Pacific including
Pakistan.

GSO:
The GSO division of Levis has been working in Pakistan since 1960 and involves the
production import/export and outsourcing of denim and the Levis brand.

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1.4 Products and Outlets

1.4.1 Products:
Levis manufactures following products.

• Tops
• Bottoms
• Watches
• Belts
• Bags
• Glasses
• Sweaters
• and other such apparels and accessories
Under the following three brands

Levis:

Invented in 1873, Levi's® jeans are the original, authentic jeans. They are the most
successful, widely recognized and often imitated clothing products in the history of apparel.
Levi's® jeans have captured the attention, imagination and loyalty of generations of diverse
individuals.

As the inventor of the category, the Levi’s brand continues to define jeans wear with
widest range of products available from quintessential classics, such as the famous Levi's®501®
Original jean to favorite fits and styles in our Red Tab™ and Levi's® Premium collections.

The Levis brand from it's start was popular among young people and that defined the
Levis brand as a brand for the young at heart whether male or female.

Dockers:
Launched in 1986 in the United States,
Dockers® brand products and marketing played a major
role in the creation of a new apparel category for men's
pants and the shift to casual clothing in the workplace.
Dockers® Khakis quickly became the No. 1 khaki pant
brand in the United States .
In 1988, the brand launched Dockers® for
Women, a feminine interpretation of Dockers® brand
apparel. The line offers fashionable tops, dress and casual
pants and a full range of accessories — designed to fit a
variety of different body types and sizes. Today, the Dockers® brand has expanded to more than 50
countries in every region of the world with a complete assortment of stylish and innovative products —
including a full line of tops, footwear, outerwear and accessories — for a broad range of consumers.

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Signature:
The Levi Strauss Signature™ brand was launched in 2003 exclusively for
consumers who shop in the mass channel. The brand gives value-conscious
consumers access to high-quality, affordable and fashionable jeans wear from
a company and name they trust.
The Levi Strauss Signature™ brand includes a collection of denim and non-denim pants, shirts, skirts
and jackets for men, women and children all designed with the high quality.

1.4.2 Outlets:

As discussed previously, Levis operates in more than 110 countries but we are going to
discuss the outlets it has in Pakistan. The company has two types of outlets in Pakistan.

• O&O Stores
• Franchises

O&O or Owned-and-Operated stores are the stores that the company owns and has full
responsibility of, while franchises are company product distributors working solely without any strings
attached to the company. There are a total of 20 O&O stores where more than 100 employees work and
13 franchises which have a staff of 2 to 3 employees per franchise in Pakistan.

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2. Organogram

CEO/Country Manager

Product Marketing HR Finance Logistics IT

A/M A/M A/M A/M A/M A/M

Officer Officer Officer Officer

Officer Officer

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3. Managerial Styles

3.1 Planning

For Pakistan division, Singapore the regional headquarters which assigns plans to all the
regional offices. For the planning process the department head of each country heads to
the headquarters and they sit down for 2 days session designing the plan for the required
time period. This activity is known as Rapid Action Plan or RAP.

Goals are mainly set by time frame for each area and franchises. The shortest time period
for any given plan is 1 day while the longest time is 1 year.

Buying from Hongkong is an example of programmed decision for Levis where the
department head and a team go to Hongkong to buy products and then decide where to
distribute these products and what quality should be sent where.

There is no unsystematic decision making in Levis as they always plan one season ahead
e.g. planning for summer in the winter and vice versa. While forces that may affect the
planning process or force a change in them may be economic factors of the country.

3.2 Organizing

Levis basically has functional departmentalization where each department has its head
and employees are hired and given tasks for each separate department.

Job rotation and Enlargement are two tools used for job specialization by Levis where
authority is distributed according to the level of the job.

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3.3 Human Relations/Staffing/Leading

There are basically two types of hiring at Levis.

For Store Leader/Retail:

A bachelor or master degree is required.
1st interview is conducted by Store Manager.
2nd interview is conducted by Retail Operation Manager.
3rd Interview is conducted by HR Department.
After that if the employee is selected and given an offer letter upon acceptance of this
letter the employee is then hired.

For Department/Internal Hiring:

1st priority is given to internal staff for promotion.
if not found then external sources are used for hiring.
A bachelor or master degree is must with 6 months to one
year experience in the related field.
1st interview is conducted with HR
2nd interview is conducted with Department head.
3rd interview is conducted with Country Manger
After that if the employee is selected and given an offer letter upon acceptance of this
letter the employee is then hired.

If a new employee is hired then an induction plan is moved into action which involves
know how of every department, tours and orientation for the job description and
requirements from the employees. While if training is necessary for employees then a
training need analysis is done and if required internal or external training is held.
External training is conducted in the following institutes.

• Franklin Conway
• PIMS
• IMS
• Torque Institute.

Compensations after selection for permanent employees include.

• Salary
• Fuel

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• Health Insurance
• Provident Fund
• Bonuses
• House Rent
• etc.

While contracted employees only get salary as compensation.

Performance is monitored through 360 feedback and 2 appraisals are given each year,
mid year and end year.

Motivation of employees is boosted through recognition, training and compensations

and there is an open door policies for new ideas and strategies for all employees and
APEA awards are held each year and given to employees with the best ideas.

3.4 Controlling

The tool used for controlling in Levis is CLM(Collaborative Leadership Model) which
has got six steps

i. Be Attentive
ii. Explore Intelligently
iii. Interpret Openly
iv. Decide Responsibly
v. Act with firm resolve
vi. Begin Again

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