A SUCCESS-DRIVEN CHALLENGE
Avon Products is a 122-year-old company originally founded by David H. McConnell—a door-to-door book seller who distributed free samples of perfume as an incentive to his customers. He soon discovered that customers were more interested in samples of his rose oil perfumes than in his books and so, in 1886, he founded the California Perfume Company. Renamed Avon Products in 1939, the organization steadily grew to become a leader in the direct selling of cosmetics, fragrances, and skin care products.
By 2005, Avon was an $8 billion company that had achieved a 10 percent cumulative annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue and a 25 percent CAGR in operating profit from 2000 through 2004. A global company, Avon operated ...