Levi Strauss (www.levistrauss.com) is an iconic American company with a rich history of profitable growth, quality, innovation and corporate citizenship.
Their story began in San Francisco, California in 1853 as a wholesale dry goods business. Levi Strauss invented the blue jean 20 years later. Today Levi Strauss design, market and sell products that include jeans, casual and dress pants, tops, shorts, skirts, jackets, footwear and related accessories for men, women and children around the world under their Levi’s, Dockers, Signature by Levi Strauss & Co. and Denizen brands. With US$5.6 billion in net revenues, and US$283 million in net profits in 2018, and sales in more than 110 countries, Levi Strauss is one of the world’s leading apparel companies, with the Levi’s brand having the highest brand awareness in the denim bottoms category globally.
The Levi Strauss headquarters are in San Francisco, USA. By the end of 2018, Levi Strauss has a global workforce of 15,100 employees.
Levi Strauss first went public (on the stock exchange) in 1971. After 14 years (in 1985), it was taken private again by the Haas family, the descendants of the founder Levi Strauss, in a US$1.6 billion leveraged buyout.
At the second IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in March 2019, the market capitalization was set at $8.7 billion

Levi Strauss’s background Their founder, Levi Strauss, was committed to integrity, philanthropy and good corporate citizenship.
To this day, Levi Strauss continues to operate as a company with these values through an approach Levi Strauss call ‘profits through principles’. It means doing business in an ethical way and ensuring that the people who make its products are treated fairly. It means sourcing in a responsible manner and investing in innovative and more sustainable ways to make its products. Finally, it means using its influence as a successful business with global reach and powerful brands to advocate for social good and to give back to its communities.

Its iconic, enduring brands are brought to life every day around the world by their talented and creative employees and partners. The Levi’s brand epitomizes classic, authentic American style and effortless cool.
Levi Strauss has cultivated Levi’s as a lifestyle brand that is inclusive and democratic in the eyes of consumers while offering products that feel exclusive, personalized and original. This approach has enabled the Levi’s brand to evolve with the times and continually reach a new, younger audience, while its rich heritage continues to drive relevance and appeal across demographics.
With a rich history spanning over 165 years, Levi Strauss offers products of exceptional quality at accessible prices. Levi’s is one of the most recognizable consumer brands in the world and the #1 brand globally in jeanswear (measured by total retail sales). Levi’s is an authentic and original lifestyle brand that has expanded beyond men’s jeans into women’s jeans and multiple product categories. Consumers around the world instantly recognize the distinctive traits of Levi’s jeans.
Levi Strauss’s geographic sales Its business is operated through three geographic regions that comprise its three reporting segments:
the Americas, Europe and Asia, which includes the

Middle East and Africa. Levi Strauss services consumers through its global infrastructure, developing, sourcing and marketing its products around the world.
Its Americas, Europe and Asia segments contributed 55 per cent, 29 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, of its net revenues in 2018.
Levi Strauss has a significant opportunity to deepen its global presence in key emerging markets, such as China, India and Brazil. For example, China represents 20 per cent of the global apparel market, but it only represented 3 per cent of Levi Strauss’ net revenues in 2018.

Levi Strauss’s product sales Levi Strauss has an established market share position in jeans, non-jeans bottoms and tops for both men and women. In 2018, 20 per cent of its net revenues were from tops (t-shirts etc.), 74 per cent of its net revenues were from bottoms (jeans), and 6 per cent of its net revenues were from footwear and accessories.
Levi Strauss’s core business is men’s bottoms. This is not only due to Dockers (accounting for approximately 10 per cent of the net revenues), which is a men’s-only brand, but also the fact that the Levi’s brand has traditionally appealed more to male consumers.
The company has been making progress, with its women’s category fueling growth over the past few years; however, Levi Strauss has still a long way to go in profiling itself as a key player in womenswear.
The appeal of the Levi Strauss brand has enabled it to license its trademarks (primarily Levi’s and Dockers)
for a variety of product categories, including footwear, belts, wallets and bags, outerwear, sweaters, dress shirts, kidswear, sleepwear and hosiery. Licensing accounted for approximately 2 per cent of net revenues in 2018......

Questions
As an international marketing expert you are asked to give a report on the following tasks /questions:
1. What are the general key competitive advantages of Levi Strauss in the global apparel market?
2. Which international markets should be the focus of Levi Strauss’s marketing resources in the coming years (please give a ranking of three countries)?
3. Which global marketing strategy should Levi Strauss use in order to increase the global market share of jeans?

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963 LEVI & Co. ORIGINA RIVETED QUALITY CLOTHING SAN FRANCISCO CAL. VA n PATENTED MAY 201873