It has to be said that Stefan Preston has an office for which many people will kill people.
Above his desk was a large framed print of a woman in sexy pink underwear, probably removed from a soft porn magazine.
There are still a lot from where.
His spacious office clean white walls have a lot of frame images of pretty girls wearing gorgeous shorts, which in any other company could put occupants in trouble with HR.
In fact, when visiting Benden\'s new headquarters in flash, which is now on the outskirts of the airport that rules mangir, it\'s hard to know where to go.
Almost every surface is decorated with images of bare or semi-barenaked woman -
Bigger than life. size.
\"There were some interesting moments in the early days,\" Preston said with a smile . \".
Just like a model on the lingerie show made an exception to the chief executive when she was trying to work hard on her laptop while she was showing off her stuff.
She grabbed Preston\'s computer and stuffed her chest into his face, muttering, \"What are you doing, it\'s so important that you didn\'t look at me? \" Five-and-a-
Half a year after holding senior positions at New Zealand\'s most popular lingerie company, pert breasts and sturdy hips no longer bother 44-year-old womenyear-old.
In fact, the impression you get is that at Preston, the dark side of the business is a bit wasteful and he has done so well in trying to understand the vast majority of his female customers, so that he may know more about the complex relationship between women and the body than his own wife.
He was originally a structural engineer, and after completing his master\'s degree in business administration at Stanford University, somehow he ended up being a regular candidate for Eric Watson --
This person\'s company is different.
Spiker Communications, Whitcom and Pacific Retail Group.
Also, the network disaster Fliggy by online retailers.
More revealing than his office art his insight into the mind is a pile of management books piled up on his impeccable and tidy table.
Of course, they include Jim Collins\'s \"from good to big\" and more dull titles such as customer experience management and experience economy.
His children\'s masterpieces were also proudly displayed, children.
Who\'s primary school age-
In fact, this is one of the main reasons why he announced to his staff yesterday that he was leaving.
\"I gave it a fair handshake and I have achieved what I started to do,\" he explained . \".
\"You have to sit there and say \'I have to make a commitment to the next five years and the life that will be represented \'.
I already have young children and, in fact, will be more like this now.
We have built the infrastructure, we have entered the markets we need, we have built a profitable position in these markets, and now you have to take a deep breath, run a different game to get this benefit.
\"It takes me more and more time to wait in the northern hemisphere.
There may be people in the world who do better than me because they have more experience, more attention and more connections in these markets.
\"For a new ceo, Global search is already in progress and he may even work overseas.
It is not clear whether this will happen in the short term, but it seems that another iconic New Zealand brand may eventually go overseas.
Will New Zealand really lose Ben?
\"It depends on how you define New Zealand,\" Preston replied . \".
In recent years, the upturn in Benden\'s wealth is indeed a typical example of how other New Zealand companies are heading Global.
Preston said that when Watson\'s Pacific Retail Group took over the company in a somewhat confusing way in 2002, the company was in a \"rather dangerous\" state.
Watson originally invested in the company because he could see the potential.
\"It obviously didn\'t cost any money.
After five years of hard manufacturing and exports, it\'s one of those businesses that people are trying to save margins by reducing costs, and of course the cost they cut is exactly the cost of supporting income --
Things like training.
Its warehouse is old.
The manager works in an executive suite with large windows, while the other employees work in halfair-
Space with conditions
\"We live in dongyumu, and I don\'t know what age the building was, but it looks like it hasn\'t been touched since we were in our 70 s.
It\'s been 12 years since the computer system, and if it goes wrong, people turn it off on the wall, then turn it back on and pray.
Only one person alive knows about it.
\"However, the company does have some strong brands, including a potentially huge partnership with Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson.
Preston fell into the top position after doing due diligence for Watson.
When general manager Hugo Venter parted ways with the company, he took over the company for the time being, and after a few months he decided not to mind staying.
Unlike most of the other turnaround facilities supervised by Preston, Benton is complex.
It not only designs and manufactures its own products, but also sells them in various countries through various channels, including wholesale, third
Retail, franchise stores, own stores, discount stores.
On the first day, he received a letter from Benden\'s largest customer stating that Elle Macpherson Intimates, the company\'s flagship brand, will no longer be in stock.
McPherson himself is not happy that the brand\'s sales are declining, while private label products are growing.
It is clear that what has to be done is: he needs to stabilize and repair the domestic business, then build the infrastructure to support growth, and then develop the business at the international level.
First of all, this is a problem of quick work.
Move the production line and solve the delivery problem.
This has had an \"amazing fast\" effect, he said.
It takes longer to work on McPherson.
The Australian Idol recently told The Australian Financial Review: \"I explored other avenues before I decided to expand with Bendon.
But I chose this company because it is young and interested and open to my ideas.
There is no burden of brand image.
\"One of the tricky questions is how to develop the Elle Macpherson brand without letting Elle Macpherson continue to be the\" body \"of the imitation product.
\"I think our idea is that if the brand is dependent on her photography then we are in trouble because she will not be in photography forever, Preston said.
\"But if Elizabeth Aiden dies and her brand is still alive, then it doesn\'t matter.
Preston admitted that the answer to the question was an advertising campaign that deliberately caused controversy, \"almost a voyeur \".
The sport has achieved amazing success and has won numerous awards in Australia and the UK (
Bendon only cost 70,000 ($199,000).
Even now, in countries where Bendon has not yet sold, he says, there is a lot of demand for the Elle Macpherson brand.
Recruiting the right people is also an important part of the strategy.
Almost the entire senior team was replaced.
To shift business from manufacturing to manufacturing
He guided the culture to the marketing culture and hired marketers with fast background
Mobile consumer goods.
For example, a lot of research has been done to improve the retail experience of the company.
Preston said that originally, its flagship store on Broadway, Ben den, existed only to build the brand.
But now, all of its stores have been transformed into high-end boutiques with separate themes, with excellent service and customers
The locker room was friendly.
These stores won fashion, clothing and footwear categories in the top store awards last year.
The next growth needs another change, one more design and marketing --led approach.
In other words, rather than asking consumers what they want and giving it to them, the company must use its own knowledge of the industry and the knowledge of its customers to create products that have not yet been thought, like the Bendon sports bra.
The latter approach requires more collaborative culture, which means the company has undergone two cultural changes in just five years.
However, Preston is now very happy with the existing team.
\"The core team here is working very well.
We feel like we\'re on a great adventure.
This group of brave, disrespectful New Zealanders who just want to give it a try but have the brain and experience to make the right decision.
\"Ben Den\'s determination to break into the competitive American market is a good example.
\"You have to start with a little reckless,\" he said . \".
\"You must be willing to board the plane and give it a try.
But you won\'t make any progress unless you\'re fully engaged.
Many New Zealand exporters believe that they can develop their own brands overseas through distributors and will not really fly anywhere or really get any employees working on the ground.
They see some orders coming in and think they can build a business, but it\'s all a bunch of retailers looking for something new.
This will not happen unless you are willing to commit on the ground.
\"Needless to say, you need to have a unique selling point.
In the Ben den case, he said, it was a surprisingly unusual combination of comfort and creative design.
He insisted that most of the underwear either looked good but did not fit or fit but did not look good.
Before the company\'s patience starts to pay off, it takes a year to listen, build a network and completely change what it does in the US.
Similarly, smart and cheap marketing is essential.
One of Benton\'s stunts is to wear 16.
During New York Fashion Week, there was a huge billboard on the Long Island highway.
The Billboard gives the impression that the brand is much bigger than before
It also helps to violate the planning, which means it becomes a TV news.
Bendon is now selling at several top department stores in the United States and also has an office in New York that serves Canada.
But he acknowledged that the initial efforts of the board did take courage.
\"I think many boards lack vision. . .
You can\'t write a business plan to tell you exactly what will happen.
All you know is you have to take a break.
Even in one of the largest markets in the world.
What you do later will depend on what you learn, but you must have the will to commit to this level.
Still, Preston admitted that he deliberately kept a low profile during his tenure in Benden because the company had to take some risks.
Its biggest problem is that it has introduced a global enterprise resource planning system designed to integrate all its data and processes into a unified system.
He was glad he was not a public company at the time.
Other infrastructure investments include $14 million. of-the-
Art distribution facilities at the new headquarters of mangray.
The 7000sq m plant, which opened a year ago, handles up to 1 million packages per month.
The company also has warehouses in Seattle and China.
All of the company\'s growth so far has come from retained profits.
\"We have been able to improve its efficiency since we developed our business, so it is quite effective.
\"Five years ago, Bendon\'s turnover was about $80 million, and the New Zealand dollar hovered around 40 degrees Celsius in the United States.
Last year\'s turnover was $0. 154 billion and New Zealand\'s was around 70 degrees Celsius. More than two-
Now its products have been exported 30 kinds, which are all organic growth.
Preston said: \"In previous companies he was asked to turn things around and the task was relatively simple:\" You replaced most management teams and fixed all the basic operating parameters, take some leadership in it and come up with fairly basic ideas on how to market it, and you go.
\"But Ben den is more interesting because the possibilities are almost endless,\" he said.
\"The company is now in an interesting position because it has built a reputation worldwide and has done that on the basis of successful retail, in the first position on some of the top floors --
Senior department stores in Europe and the United States.
There is no theoretical limit on how you want to develop it, because if you want --
The only limit is your creativity and the ability to come up with meaningful products.
\"But unlike some other stories of local export success, such as Icebreaker clothing, in fact, Bendon doesn\'t have anything that is essentially Kiwi in addition to design aesthetics and attitudes, he thought.
The company\'s sales in Australia are from Melbourne, and its sales in Europe are from London.
It also has a chain of retail stores in the Middle East run by Arab partners.
With the latest licensing agreement signed with Britain\'s top fashion designer Stella McCartney, the company will be exporting to 16 countries early next year, including Italy, Germany, France and Russia.
Of its 200 employees worldwide, only 500 live here.
Preston admits that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find skilled employees needed by the company in New Zealand simply because there is no longer any notable apparel industry in New Zealand.
\"In New York, I can hire people I need like this.
\"Ironically, given the company\'s reputation as the future of manufacturing, thousands of low
Skilled workers will be replaced by high-tech workers. skilled ones.
He insisted that the situation in the country was still better than Ben Den\'s hiring hundreds of mechanics at low wages.
\"There are marketers, designers and product engineers everywhere in the market now, and we create a much greater per capita value.
\"But for the same reason, he admits that he has felt the focus of the company moving north, especially now that the company is building a design team in New York.
So he hopes to end his relationship with London eventually.
Find another local challenge to immerse yourself in.
\"One thing that attracts me to go abroad is a more interesting, scalable, and profitable business environment.
But I like this country.
I was born here. I like to live here.
I like the outdoors, like the sea, like fishing, like boating, like climbing, like skiing, I think my children like it too.
\"Between running Benton and adapting to a variety of sports activities, he was involved in the beach project for New Zealand Trade and business, which helped exporters break into new markets and was better designed, apparently design-focused.
He said that the two plans are great for companies that want to develop.
While he felt the experience was a bit frustrating, due to the company\'s conservatism and the lack of export commitments in New Zealand, he was also inspired by examples of \"very cool\" companies doing something \"very amazing\", such as icebreaker, Pumpkin Patch, Phil and Ted\'s Carriage Company.
To his dismay, New Zealand appears to lack the role model of those who can create intrinsic value and successfully export goods.
\"Our business heroes tend to be people who just rob public assets, or reschedule the recliner at an existing company or somewhere else, and then take the money out of the country.
\"He was even prepared to carry out blasphemy and slander under 42 metres.
\"This is a good example of branding, but it doesn\'t make much money, and now it\'s gone, so it doesn\'t help New Zealand at all.
\"I think we need to be more knowledgeable about how to judge a business that is good or bad for New Zealand.
He said warmly, \"What we need is more icebreakers.
\"I am passionate about such a business, and I think there are more companies in New Zealand that can go this way.
But unfortunately many of them are troubled by owners who do not have the skills, experience, commitment or capital to go further than they do.
\"In the creative industry, in particular, there are a lot of companies that have reached $10 --
Revenue was $15 million and then stopped.
\"I can name eight of these companies.
I believe that every company can become a $0. 2 billion business, but their boss is wrong and the management is wrong. . .
\"At the risk of sounding a bit like Linda Clark, he is eager for his next project to work with people who believe in New Zealand\'s vision, to develop the country and contribute to it \".
After all, he\'s a guy with brains.
While he was able to create the intellectual stimuli he needed through Bendon, \"I don\'t see any reason why I can\'t create it through other projects, and I can take my time on this
Who knows what will happen?
\"So far he has no specific ideas.
But he is clearly ready to meet new and unique New Zealand challenges.
\"My passion is New Zealand, and I look around and think, what if I had some free time, I could go and see some of those issues solved?
\"I think I can learn how to acquire some New Zealand companies and learn how to make them a global business, which is very exciting for me.
What about other people I can study?
I just don\'t know what form it will take, but I think it\'s just an interesting thing and I need a new project and something that excites me.
\"Because, frankly, the bra stars in them no longer cut it, it seems. Bendon -
Profile 1947: a retired Navy officer, Ray Herley, and his model-cutting brother, Ed.
The underwear provided by the new company can \"bend\" the body and get women out of heavy wire, steel and bone base clothing.
1963: Introduce the elastic strap bra and the elastic body fashion.
1964: $1 million in sales.
1966: become a leader in the New Zealand private apparel market.
1977: Introduce the Bendon series in Australia.
1982: public listing on the New Zealand stock exchange.
1986: start manufacturing in China.
1987: Merger with Ceramco.
1989: an authorization agreement with Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson.
1999: it is announced that nearly 400 employees will be fired as manufacturing moves to Asia.
2000: Acquisition of bankrupt retail chains Bennett and Bain Capital and the brand Fayreform.
2001: break into the UK.
2002: management failed to acquire.
Acquired by Pacific Retail Group for $59 million.
2004: turn retail stores into premium themed boutiques.
2005: enter the United States, Canada, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Turnover was reported at $0. 113 billion.
2006: Auckland headquarters moved from East Tamu to Munger.
2007: Buy an independent retail chain in Australia.
A licensing agreement was reached with British fashion designer Stella McCartney.
Turnover reached $0. 154 billion.