After breaking into China’s smartphone market, where it becomes a leading brand, Xiaomi sees sales stagnate and then decline as the disruption strategy that empowered its rise loses momentum. As competitors counter every move, targeting its core consumer segment, the company urgently needs to reignite growth and develop a sustainable competitive advantage.

Yue Sai is L’Oreal’s troubled Chinese luxury brand. Alexis Perakis-Valat, the new CEO of L’Oréal China, has made it a point of honor to turn the brand around. He has asked Stéphane Wilmet, the brand’s new general manager, to come up with a turnaround plan that will restore L’Oréal’s reputation in China as the world’s best cosmetic marketer.

Parfums Cacharel, a division of L’Oréal, used to have a dominating position on the European market with both the number one and number two best-selling fragrances: Anaïs Anaïs and Loulou. At the time of the case however, sales were declining at a rate of 15 % per year and Cacharel was a fragance brand in need of a major revitalization.