Estée Lauder in Russia: a success story of internationalization through digital strategies

Abstract

The web is a powerful tool, which is influencing our daily life. It is becoming important for almost everybody, as it is considered “the” medium of the future. It influences the society and the economy more than any other communicative tools, which were invented until now. Following the globalization and higher levels of competition, companies need more skills to compete efficiently and to face new challenges on the market. Innovative corporations adapted their way of doing business according to a new reality: the digital one. Estée Lauder Companies is one of the colossus of the cosmetic industry thanks to its responsiveness to new market needs. It offers high quality products with high level of service to customers satisfying the luxury market. Against an aggressive market competition and challenging economic climate, Estée Lauder created a global strategy to retain market share and maintain market leadership in its prestige cosmetic brands through the Internet. The web may be in contrast with the luxury sector, but the multinational company had the ability to find the right path towards the success. The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to analyze Estée Lauder Companies different strategies adopted to drive their success for ongoing times with a long time orientation. It focuses on international management through digital strategies. Due to the globalization, companies are entering in new markets such as Russia, which is one of the Estée Lauder’s affiliate. This country has a particular culture, traditions, ways of doing business and this thesis is analyzing the challenges that the multinational company is facing to maintain its supremacy. This paper shows how the web is an important tool for doing business and how to use it for penetrating global markets.