Today the class went to VF Corporation at its headquarters in Greensboro, NC. VF is a clothing company that sells jeanswear, underwear, workwear, and daypacks. VF is a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange. It employs 58,000 people worldwide with assets around 9.3 Billion dollars. The company was started in Reading, Pennsylvania as the Reading Glove and Mitten Company. Over the years the company grew and underwent changes in ownership.
VF´s mission is to grow by building leading lifestyle brands that excite customers around the world. VF wants to continue to innovate their product line by continuing to combine the art and science of apparel. VF manages the industry´s most complicated supply chain that spans over different countries and distribution channels.
VF´s customers are businesses and individuals. The main business customers for VF´s product line are major superstores, department stores, and specialty stores. The superstores would be the Walmarts, K-Marts, and Targets. Department stores would be Kohls or Sears. And specialty stores would be small shops that may or not be independently owned.
The customers of VF value good quality and price for its brands. The customers also expect a high degree of innovation, they do not want to buy the same thing every year. New products and ideas are valued in the company. Since VF sells to the bigger chain stores, the businesses who buy VF expect a low price to sell products with.
VF´s results are very impressive. 20% growth every year for the past five years, with 2011 posting revenues in the range of nine billion dollars. The products VF provides are known for their quality and reasonable prices.
VF´s plan for the future is a complex growth strategy that plans to make the company the biggest clothing manufacturer in the world. VF plans to achieve $17.3 billion dollars in revenues by 2017, and reach an earnings per share of $18. In terms of geography, VF wants to decrease its footprint in China because of the currency and move those efforts to Mexico. The plan going forward to continue to grow the business model and increase revenues and assets.
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