According to the company, its global market share grew from 4 percent to 5 percent between 2004 and 2009, reaffirming the soundness of the strategy.
However, the global economic crisis has resulted in a changed market situation, one that will be characterized by uneven growth, changed trade structures, and increased competition from cheaper, private-label brands over the next few years, according to executive board chairman Thomas Quaas.
Two key growth elements
As a result, Beiersdorf is looking to focus on its core competencies in order to drive future growth, with the two elements identified as a priority being ‘Focus on Skin Care and ‘Closer to Markets’.
Skin care is an area of particularly strong growth potential for the company, given its weighting in Beiersdorf’s portfolio and predicted growth trends within the cosmetics and personal care market.
“Fifty percent of the expected growth in the global cosmetics markets will occur in the skin care category,” said Quaas.
“This translates into excellent growth opportunities for Beiersdorf, because skin care has always been our core competence,” he added.
Board reorganization
Looking to establish closer contact with the markets it serves, Beiersdorf has chosen to reorganise the structure of its executive board.
From the beginning of May, it will be reorganised into three functional and three regional areas of responsibility, according to the company.
Board member Markus Pinger will be responsible for the Americas region, as well as continuing to be in charge of the global supply chain. Responsibility for the Asia region will fall to James Wei, and a new board member will be named for the Europe region, Beiersdorf stated.
“With innovative product developments, flat organisational hierarchies and quicker decision processes, we will be able to respond to local consumer wishes even more flexibly and align ourselves even more precisely with the respective market,” said Quaas.
Dr. Bernhard Düttmann, the board member in charge of Finance, will also become responsible for the Human Resources portfolio, as Peter Kleinschmidt, formerly in charge of Human Resources and Sustainability, will leave the company after 25 years, said Beiersdorf.
The rest of the board positions remain unchanged.