Founded in 1962, Mary Kay (marykay. com) has about 1. 8 million consultants selling its cosmetics and fragrances in 34 countries. In 2008, the company had about $2. 4 billion in wholesale sales. As a company that has based its reputation on personal contacts through door-to-door visits and home gatherings, one might think that Mary Kay would not benefit from EC. Actually, the opposite is true. Currently, more than 95 percent of Mary Kay’s independent salespeople place orders via the Internet.
The Problem The cosmetics market is very competitive, but it is growing rapidly, especially in developing countries.
Mary Kay is trying to capitalize on this trend. The Mary Kay business model enables rapid growth into new markets. By the early 2000s, consultants found that more and more customers wanted to shop online. With a long and global supply chain and the need to manage almost 2 million consultants, it was clear that automation was needed, but Mary Kay’s existing computer system was old and lacked Web or e-commerce applications.
Therefore, a major overhaul of the information systems was needed. Finally, it became clear that the emergence of social computing might provide a golden opportunity for Internet marketing by the company. The Solution Mary Kay’s IT department is now split into three divisions: e-commerce, supply chain, and back-office support. Because of pressure from the consultants, the restructuring focused on e-commerce. The company’s goals and objectives were set based on industry best practices.
Goals and objectives determine what, how, and when the company is operated, and these also apply to EC initiatives.
Mary Kay’s EC solution included the creation of an electronic service desk that supports consultants in 30 countries in a standardized way. Mary Kay also introduced a global electronic ordering system, called Atlas, that allows the consultants to communicate with company warehouses. An intelligent data repository that dynamically maintains a logical model of the EC environment can be accessed by Mary Kay IT staff.
Mary Kay and its consultants are also making extensive use of social computing. The following are some representative examples of how Mary Kay uses social computing: The company posts job opening announcements on several sites, including MySpace Jobs ( classifieds. myspace. com/job). Movies and videotapes are available on YouTube (youtube. com) and on movies. go. com. Several blogs are available, both for and against the company (e. g. , marykayandrews. com/blog). Auctions and fixed-price items are available for sale on eBay. Mary Kay provides a consultant locator on the Internet.
All of these developments are supported by an extensive hardware and software infrastructure, including a wireless remote management system at the 760,000 square-foot corporate headquarters, an extensive wide area network (WAN, see Chapter 8), and a large data center. Some of the EC systems are used enterprise wide (e. g. , service desk, ticketing system for consultants attending events, and service requests made by consultants). Others are functional (e. g. , accounting, finance, marketing, and inventory control).
The company uses an intranet for internal communications as well as dozens of other EC applications. In addition to providing better support to consultants, the EC initiatives produced other benefits, such as greater efficiency, reduced costs and downtime, and improved service. In terms of human resources, it enabled the company to handle its rapid growth without a substantial increase in staffing. The changes also have allowed EC personnel to focus on strategic tasks. Mary Kay found that its engineers and technical people now have time to spend on new innovations.
Remember! This is just a sample.
You can get a custom paper by one of our expert writers.
Get your custom essay
Helping students since 2015
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download