TOMS Shoes (www.tomsshoes.com) was founded in 2006 on a simple premise, as stated on their website ‘With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One.’ Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what the company is all about. The company name is derived from the words ‘tomorrow’
and ‘shoes’ (evolved from the original concept, the ‘shoes for Tomorrow Project’).
In 2006, Blake Mycoskie, an American traveller, went to Argentina and found that many children there had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes, all made possible by caring TOMS customers.
In developing countries, wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores on unsafe roads and from contaminated soil. These injuries are not only painful, but, when wounds become infected, they are dangerous. The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and ultimately the risk of amputation.
From the beginning in 2006 up to the end of 2017, TOMS gave over 30 million pairs of shoes to children in need (in 60 developing countries) through the ‘One for One’ model. In 2011, TOMS launched its eyewear line. When Toms sells a pair of glasses, part of the profit is used to save or restore the eyesight of people in developing countries. At the end of 2017, more than 700 retailers worldwide were carrying the brand.
TOMS’ marketing activities have included fashion shows, high-profile events, university campus marketing, social media and temporary pop-up stores. TOMS’ recent marketing plan also includes an advertisement with AT&T showing one of TOMS’
shoe drops in Uruguay.
TOMS is built on the loyalty of customers who choose a better tomorrow with every purchase.

TOMS has one of the coolest internship programmes in the country, according to Inc. Magazine. Many of those passionate interns stay with TOMS and become hard-working, full-time employees.
TOMS Shoes’ headquarters are in Santa Monica, California and have around approximately 600 employees. In 2014 private equity Bain Capital purchased a 50 per cent stake in TOMS Shoes, valuing the company at $625 million. TOMS had estimated revenue of US$350m in 2017, with 30 per cent of sales coming from its website. Most of its consumer shoes – priced between US$55 and US$85 – are made in China, as are the vast majority of its giveaway shoes. It is estimated that the average cost price of a pair of TOMS shoes is around $9.
From 2019, TOMS plans to have one-third of all shoes produced in the countries in which it operates its donation programmes.

Questions

1. What would be the key barriers in the early days of internationalization if TOMS Shoes decided to expand to Europe?

2. What have been the driving forces (motives) for the early internationalization of TOMS Shoes?

3. What are the key drivers of TOMS Shoes’ internationalization today?

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