| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JUNE 28, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- EUROPEAN COVER STORY
Where the Science Is More Than Skin-Deep (int'l edition) Any hint that the beauty business is, well, cosmetic, runs into staunch rebuttles at L'Oreal's Paris headquarters, where some 2,147 scientists outnumber its French factory workers. Science, any ''L'Orealian'' will inform you, gives the company an edge on the competition. ''You want a car to be beautiful, but you also want a lot of technology under the hood,'' says Chief Executive Lindsay Owen-Jones. Founded in 1907 by chemist Eugene Schueller, inventor of the first synthetic hair dye, L'Oreal reveres its research roots. Two of L'Oreal's four CEOs have been scientists, and the company's research in skin care, hair products, and cosmetics yields an average 300 patent applications a year. Over the past 10 years, L'Oreal has pumped $3.2 billion into research and development--more than any of its cosmetics industry rivals. The research pipeline helps L'Oreal update roughly 50% of its product line every three years, an advantage in the beauty business where new products are a necessity. ''The key issue in this industry is product flow,'' says Susanne Seibel, Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst in London. ''If you don't have flow, you can't grow.'' Rivals such as Procter & Gamble, Beiersdorf, and Revlon keep their labs busy, too. And most people agree real breakthroughs are a rare event. In most cases, science serves the humble task of improving the texture of a product. L'Oreal's Plenitude Revitalift skin cream, for example, was designed to reduce wrinkles in a less-greasy-feeling cream. UNSEATING CLAIROL. Nonetheless, research has helped L'Oreal score more than one major coup. In the '80s and '90s, it created richer-looking, less harsh hair-coloring products that enabled L'Oreal to reach No. 1 in the global market and rival once-dominant Clairol in the U.S. In 1997, a newly designed curled brush allowed L'Oreal's Maybelline Inc. to be the first major seller of mascara in China. And the quest for breakthroughs continues. Using $238,000 scanning-laser microscopes to probe the nature of hair cells, L'Oreal scientists search for a way to prevent hair from graying--and ultimately make hair grow where there is none. ''It's reasonable to say we'll have products in 10 years,'' says Bruno Bertrand, head of L'Oreal's hair research labs. The study of the metabolism of hair cells, he adds, was launched only about 10 years ago. Already, L'Oreal's researchers have shown that in some cases hair loss can result from inflammation triggered by a microflora of bacteria on the scalp. They've developed shampoos that eliminate the hair loss. They've also cloned skin cells so they can test skin-care and sun-protection products in the laboratory. And to be sure there's no mistaking the role of the science, L'Oreal's scientists coach its marketing aces in special courses three times a year. ''We aren't isolated, we are part of the chain of development,'' says Bertrand. The engine under the hood, you might say. By Gail Edmondson in Paris _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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 RELATED ITEMS L'Oreal: The Beauty of Global Branding (int'l edition) EUROPEAN COVER IMAGE: L'Oreal: The Beauty of Global Branding CHART: L'Oreal's Makeover TABLE: Across the Beauty Spectrum Where the Science Is More Than Skin-Deep (int'l edition) ONLINE ORIGINAL: L'Oreal's Owen-Jones: ``I Strive for Something I Never Totally Achieve'' ONLINE ORIGINAL: RESUME: Resume: Lindsay Owen-Jones ONLINE ORIGINAL: How Germany's Beiersdorf Succeeds with Its Own Style INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online | |||
