Avon 2008 Annual Report Download - page 16

PART I
Environmental Matters
In general, compliance with environmental regulations impacting
our global operations has not had, and is not anticipated to
have, any material adverse effect upon the capital expenditures,
financial position or competitive position of Avon.
Employees
At December 31, 2008, we employed approximately 42,000
employees. Of these, approximately 6,100 were employed in the
U.S. and 35,900 in other countries.
Website Access to Reports
Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q,
current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports, are
and have been throughout 2008, available without charge on our
investor website (www.avoninvestor.com) as soon as reasonably
practicable after they are filed with or furnished to the Securities
and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). We also make available on
our website the charters of our Board Committees, our Corporate
Governance Guidelines and our Code of Business Conduct and
Ethics. Copies of these SEC reports and other documents are also
available, without charge, from Investor Relations, Avon Products,
Inc., 1345 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10105-0196 or
by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling
[phone]. Information on our website does not constitute
part of this report. Additionally, our filings with the SEC may be
read and copied at the SEC Public Reference Room at 100 F Street,
NE Washington, DC 20549. Information on the operation of the
Public Reference Room may be obtained by calling 1-800-SEC-0330.
These filings are also available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov
free of charge as soon as reasonably practicable after we have filed
or furnished the above referenced reports.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
You should carefully consider each of the following risks asso-
ciated with an investment in our publicly traded securities and all
of the other information in this 2008 Annual Report on Form
10-K. Our business may also be adversely affected by risks and
uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently
believe to be immaterial. If any of the events contemplated by the
following discussion of risks should occur, our business, pros-
pects, financial condition and results of operations may suffer.
Our success depends on our ability to
execute fully our global business strategy.
Our ability to implement the key initiatives of our global business
strategy is dependent upon a number of factors, including our
ability to:
• implement our multi-year restructuring programs and achieve
anticipated savings from the initiatives under these programs;
• increase our beauty sales and market share, and strengthen
our brand image;
• realize anticipated cost savings and reinvest such savings
effectively in consumer-oriented investments and other
aspects of our business;
• implement appropriate product mix and pricing strategies,
including our PLS program and achieve anticipated benefits
from these strategies;
• implement enterprise resource planning and SSI and realize
efficiencies across our supply chain, marketing processes, sales
model and organizational structure;
• implement customer service initiatives, the Sales and
Operation Planning process and a zero overhead growth
philosophy;
• implement our outsourcing strategies;
• implement initiatives to reduce inventory levels;
• maintain appropriate cash flow levels and implement cash
management, tax, foreign currency hedging and risk
management strategies;
• implement our Sales Leadership program globally, recruit
Representatives, enhance the Representative experience and
increase their productivity through investments in the direct
selling channel;
• reach new consumers through a combination of new brands,
new businesses, new channels and pursuit of strategic
opportunities such as acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic
alliances with other companies; and
• estimate and achieve any projections concerning future rev-
enue and operating margin increases.
There can be no assurance that any of these initiatives will be
successfully and fully executed in the amounts or within the time
periods that we expect.
We may experience difficulties, delays or
unexpected costs in completing our multi-
year turnaround plan, including achieving
the anticipated savings of our multi-year
restructuring initiatives.
In November 2005, we announced a multi-year turnaround plan
as part of a major drive to fuel revenue growth and expand
profit margins, while increasing consumer investments. As part
of the turnaround plan, restructuring initiatives include:
enhancement of organizational effectiveness, implementation of
a global manufacturing strategy through facilities realignment,
additional supply chain efficiencies in the areas of procurement
and distribution and streamlining of transactional and other serv-
ices through outsourcing and moves to low-cost countries. As
part of the turnaround plan, we also launched our PLS program
and SSI initiative. In February 2009, we announced a new
restructuring program under our multi-year turnaround plan.