VF Corporation Still Strong

The current CEO of VF Corporation, Eric Wiseman has been instrumental in helping his company stand its ground during the 2008 economic meltdown. VF Corp. sells its well-known brands, such as Lee, Nautica, The North Face, Wrangler, and Vans, through more than 67,000 retailers in about 150 countries. The company owns and operates more than 700 retail stores, including about 60 outlet stores.

Prior to 1998, VF Corp. derived most of its revenues from manufacturing brands such as such as Lee, Rider, and Wrangler, and selling them wholesale to large retail stores. In 1998, VF Corp. aggressively began acquiring well-known active wear and contemporary brands, such as Nautica, The North Face, Eagle Creek, Eastpak, lucy, Vans, and several others. The company rid itself of unprofitable brands. In 2004, VF Corp., which had revenues of $6 billion, launched a bold growth strategy to transform itself into a global lifestyle apparel manufacturer and retailer. "We Fit Your Life" became the mantra for the company's growth strategy.

With Eric Wiseman as CEO, at VF Corp. they have been controlling expenses, investments and lowering inventory and capital expenditures to make up for the revenue decrease of about 5% during the economic recession. In 2008, VF Corp. reported an all-time record for revenue and an all-time record for earnings per share. They delivered $679 million in cash flow, which was above the five-year average and the second highest number in five years. Also, 2008 was the 36th year in a row that they increased our dividend to our shareholders. It is a good part of why VF Brands is a good investment. They ended that year with more cash than they started and they ended the year with less debt than they started with.

In November 2010, VF Corp. began a process of outsourcing their IT services to CSC, a global leader in providing technology-enabled solutions and services, in a seven year outsourcing agreement. Under the agreement, CSC will bring new, innovative approaches to VF’s business use of IT, covering a broad spectrum of services, including service desk, end user support services, network services, distributed computing services and data center management services. Work will be performed utilizing CSC’s worldwide network of delivery centers. The transition from VF’s current information technology services provider to CSC is expected to be completed by the end of August 2011.

http://www.enterpriseleadership.org/blogs/Articles/2010/06/26/vf-corps-ceo-talks-about-forging-a-strategy-to-become-a-global-leader-in-branded-leisure-apparel