Genève Ltd. is a manufacturer of up

Genève Ltd. is a manufacturer of upscale clothing and accessories for men and women. The
company is headquartered in New York and
has worldwide distribution. Manufacturing is
carried out in the United States, Italy, Spain,
Lithuania, and most recently, China. Genève
was founded in 1925 and has remained in business as an independent company.
As the demand for formal business attire
diminished during the 1990s, Genève suffered
a 35 percent decrease in sales. However, as the
demand for formal business attire rebounded
from 2002 forward, Genève reestablished its
sales volume. A few late-night shows featured
guests who mentioned they were wearing suits
with the Genève label and this resulted in a
surge in sales.
CEO Pauline Matthieu holds a 10 a.m. staff
meeting most Monday mornings. Although she
would like to have the meetings at 8 a.m.,
Matthieu recognizes that the commuters on the
top executive team can rarely get to the office
before 9:30 a.m. On this particular Monday,
Matthieu is visibly upset. She tells her staff:
It’s not my pattern to dig too deeply into
operational matters. As you know, I’m interested primarily in strategy and merchandising.
Yet, I’m ticked off today. You probably all
know about Jimmy Kincaid, the production
planner from our Vermont plant who has set
up a blog on http://Blogger.com to host his personal forum about Genève. What he has to say
about our fashions and our company usually
isn’t too negative, but he has become an
embarrassment.
In his latest blog, Jimmy has superimposed
the faces of apes on the models featured in a
current ad. The male ape says that Genève fashions will never be sold at Wal-Mart or Target,
and the female ape responds,‘Are you sure?