Deniz's Input MARY KAY

Q1.)Was embarking on a totally new, unproven strategy the answer, or should the company stick to what had always worked in the past?
It is obvious that Mary Kay has to do something to catch up the competitors. But I do not think it can be a good idea for the company to embark on a totally new strategy. This is why; the very core of the company is built up on direct selling model. And for such companies like Mary Kay the pricing strategy is an important issue .However if they start online sales, pricing will be transparent and will destroy the business model of the company. (Because the consumers of the company are also the sales personnel of the company for the end users of the Mary Kay products)As explained in the case, all these sales personal has developed the business model by socialization or on relationship bases. However internet or e-commerce is “high-tech” not “high-touch” way of selling, so it will completely destroy all the image of the company and trust .
Besides, as mentioned in the case , although the executives in the company believes that it is not easy to adapt these sales people to technology(because most of them are housewives or over middle-aged )in pg9, at the end of the fist paragraph, it says: “ sales force was finding the ne technology valuable” I believe that, if the company can increase the sales and revenue, since these people are also have interest they will also push themselves to adapt to new technology. By saying this , I do not mean the online sales or so but it is obvious in the case that the company is missing a lot business opportunity and even current consumers by its poor organization and communication. (Which can be solved easily by current IT)SO I think the company should stick to its business model but with few developments.
Q.2) what approach should it pursue?
Mary Kay can spent more on R&D and can enlarge their product quality and range. (On pg23 exhibit 8 for Avon)this can be helpful for the company to increase their sales/revenue. Besides this, they can still concentrate on more IT to develop their operation quality. (to decrease the delays or wrong orders) They should keep their business model but can also adapt themselves to the current changes in the society. (since the company’s goal in the very beginning was to increase the quality of the lives so they should stick to this idea by adapting themselves to changing needs)Maybe another Tupperware sample can be settled to secure the rights of the sales consultants.
Whatever they choose as a target strategy they should still keep the idea of direct selling. It is clear that internet is almost whole parts of our lives however , it is also clear that in postmodernist era people are trying to keep in touch with other people for socialization. And definitely direct selling is the way people can achieve this goal. Maybe Mary Kay can develop a blog (a social network area )also as an alternative to keep in touch with the costumers too. (actually they are doing something similar to this one on their web site)