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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Hennes & Mauritz, 2000

  John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

  In 2000, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) was the second largest and most global player in the fashion retail business. It operated 682 stores, 80% of them outside its home country of Sweden, and achieved revenues of $3.0 billion and operating profits of $375 million. ). In 1999, when H&M announced plans to enter the US, sales had grown 20% per year and operating profits, 30%, for a decade. After the August announcement of US expansion plans, its share price hit a record $35 (a P/E of over 90). But the new millennium brought challenges and uncertainty. In March 2000, the first non-family CEO, Fabian Mansson, resigned after only two years at the helm and the company issued a profits warning. In September of 2000, H&M’s share price closed at $18.68, a fall of nearly 50% from the optimism of the prior year. Meanwhile Gap, the world’s leading fashion retailer with revenues of $13.7 billion, was adding 600 stores a year and expanding into Europe from its US base. Stefan Persson, the son of H&M’s founder and the current chairman, spoke well of Masson’s replacement, Rolf Erikson, “We are entering a hectic expansion phase and our new CEO is well-prepared for that. He can tackle these challenges better than anybody else.” But Eriksen’s relatively low-profile past as the head of H&M’s Danish subsidiary impressed few analysts and questions lingered about H&M’s ability to expand as quickly as they boasted. What did new CEO Rolf Erikson need to do to avert the threat from Gap and restore the company’s fortunes?

  Citation:

  Wells, John R., and Galen Danskin. "Hennes & Mauritz, 2000." Harvard Business School Case 713-509, June 2013.

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Hennes & Mauritz, 2012

  John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

  Keywords: Strategy; Fashion Industry;

  Citation:

  Wells, John R., and Galen Danskin. "Hennes & Mauritz, 2012." Harvard Business School Case 713-512, June 2013.

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Inditex: 2000

  John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

  Citation:

  Wells, John R., and Galen Danskin. "Inditex: 2000." Harvard Business School Case 713-538, June 2013.

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