Estee Lauder 2009 Annual Report Download - page 10

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Our strategy seeks to take the Company to the next level by leveraging our numerous strengths, which
include our diverse brand portfolio and our long history of superior creativity and innovation. In addition,
we will continue to maximize our selective distribution model and our tremendous global reach and rely on
our solid fi nancial underpinnings and our passionate workforce.
We believe an important way to leverage our core strengths is by gaining even greater consumer insights,
and we’ve started enhancing this capability throughout our regions. We will use even more consumer
understanding
and market intelligence to stimulate our creative process across product development,
innovation, distribution,
packaging and our personalized service model.
Another critical component of our strategy is to better leverage our scale and improve integration. Our new
North American affi liate, which launched on July 1, 2009, is a prime example of how we are bringing our
brands together to work more effectively with retailers and gain economies of scale.
We are also addressing obstacles that are impeding our growth, including our underperforming brands,
which drain resources from our investment priorities. We have begun to make progress in this area and
look forward to achieving more in the coming year.
Fiscal 2010 is the fi rst full year of our four-year strategy. We expect to show signifi cant improvement toward
our goals and continue building capabilities in many areas. The following are the goals we seek to achieve:
• Gain share by growing sales at least one percent ahead of global prestige beauty annually
• Derive more than 60 percent of sales from outside the United States
• Strive for annual improvement in operating margin, with a goal of 12 to 13 percent by fi scal 2013
• Create a substantial increase in return on invested capital, reaching 19 to 20 percent by fi scal 2013
• Reduce inventory days 15 to 20 percent, to 145 to 150 days, by the end of fi scal 2013
9
DESPITE REDUCED CONSUMER SPENDING, WE WERE ABLE
TO GAIN SHARE IN MANY IMPORTANT COUNTRIES AND
CHANNELS, THANKS TO OUR EMPLOYEES’ HARD WORK
AND CREATIVE EFFORTS.