"I don't believe bigger is better. I believe better is better." -Leslie Wexner, Founder and CEO

     The Limited opened its first store in 1963 in Columbus, Ohio and it had grown to over 5,300 stores and 8 retail brands including Express, Lerner New York, Lane Bryant, Structure, Intimate Brands and Henri Bendel.  Limited, Inc. previously owned Abercrombie and Fitch and Limited Too, but they have since broken away.  Limited is "committed to building a family of the world's best fashion brands.  Brands that will maximize shareholder value, by eliciting strong consumer demand, across a variety of disciplines, demographics and lifestyles." (1)  The  question here becomes, how has The Limited organized their divisions of brands and still been able to succeed?

Limited, Inc.'s Retail Brands

Limited: This company markets simple, sophisticated and modern 
       sportswear to classic American women (1).

Express: Express is all about fashion.  They are the international,   innovative, sexy and strong store for modern women.  It leads in design and delivers global runway style (3).

Lerner: This company has completely changed to mean so much more than value.  It's fashion for women with an urban feel.  They are under the brand of New York and Company (5).

Lane Bryant: This store is for women size 14 and up.  They offer tops, sweaters, jeans, pants and intimate apparel to make plus sized women feel stylish and sexy (6).

Structure:  They sell classic American sportswear for men.  They are unique by incorporating the latest fabric innovation with exacting fit and street cool comfort (7).

Intimate Brands: This includes Bath and Body Works and Victoria's Secret.  It began in 1995 as a separate company from Limited, Inc. (8).

Henri Bendel: Their Fifth Avenue store is located in one of the most beautiful and fashionable centers in Manhattan.  It is targeted towards modern, sophisticated, higher-income, thirty-something women from all over the world (9).

Philanthropy

Leslie Wexner started Limited Inc. over 30 years ago with the help of his family and friends.  Because of this, he never forgot that to accomplish a goal we must help one another.  This is what began the Limited Foundation.  They support the organizations that would best benefit the employees and customers.  They are targeted to make the greatest impact.  In Columbus, Ohio, the city where Limited is head quartered, they participate in ColumbusReads.  It is a tutoring and mentoring program for kindergarten students in Columbus Public Schools.  It is aimed at improving their reading skills, preparing them for first grade and the reading section of Ohio's Fourth Grade Proficiency Test.  400 Associate tutors from Limited, Inc. and Intimate Brands, Inc. participated in the pilot study by spending 30 minutes twice a week one-on-one with the children on company time.  This was so successful that now 600 associates participate in the program (10).

Read more about the program through an article from the Columbus Dispatch

Another discussion of the program found in This Week

Competition and Recent Sales

    Hoovers online (www.hoovers.com) states that The GAP, Sears, and TJX, Inc. are The Limited's main competitors.  TJX includes stores such as T.J. Maxx and Marshalls.  But even through the competition that they have in all areas of their divisions, they have still been able to pull a 4.0% increase in sales growth and a 77.6% increase in net income growth for the fiscal year (2). They do have some struggles though, as stated by an article in BusinessWeek.  They referred to the company as "The Limited Inc.'s sometimes troubled empire" (4).  One observation though, that is stated at limited.com, is their sales is up but recently stock has been flat or slightly low (they have their stock scrolling on the bottom on the screen at all times).  They continue to organize and improve to keep up with their competition, for they have to consider their competition in their 8 different retail brands (1).

Working for The Limited

    The Limited, an equal opportunity employer, prides themselves in their hiring practices.  They work hard to organize a complex process of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, training, and assigning appropriate tasks for their employees.  They look for individuals that are highly motivated, smart, outgoing, and ambitious.  Their main concern is having the individuals that work for them to want to build a career with them.  They offer many opportunities for internships and advancements in the company as well as benefits.  The benefits go beyond just an employee discount.  They also offer full medical and dental coverage, life insurance and disability income, voluntary participation in stock plan, and participation in the Saving and Retirement Plan (SARP).  Organization and some controlling are important in this company for they consider their environment "stimulating, cutting-edge, fast-paced, and exciting" (1).

Website

     Limited.com is the official website of the company.  This site provides information about the company and its divisions of brands.  You can check up on what's new and read their recent financial reports.  A description of job opportunities and benefits are available as well as where you can send your resume.  It also provides the company's philosophy and stock information.  This site hosts links to most of their brands and describes the look of each store.  Their philanthropy is also included on this site with information about the work they have done (1). 

Interesting Facts

At Victoria's Secret's Online Catalogue, customers can view the individual products and are able to zoom in on the picture at the click of the mouse (8).
Limited Inc. created Limited Too, a fashionable, trendy store for young girls, spun off to create Too, Inc. (12).
Although Limited, Inc. still owns 84% of the shares of the company, Abercrombie and Fitch spun off to create its own company.  Abercrombie was purchased by Limited in the early 1990's, but it began in 1892  (1) (13).
Through Lane Bryant's website, customers can purchase gift certificates without ever leaving their home (6).
At Express's webpage visitors can watch a runway show, read up on current beauty tips and look up hot clubs in certain areas of the world (3).

Review Questions

1) How could The Limited be considered a divisional structure in the organizational model?

2) How has the advantages and disadvantages of a divisional structure shown prevalent in The Limited?

3) Is The Limited more of a product, geographical, customer, or process structure?

Answers to review questions
 

Works Cited

1.The Limited, Inc. www.limited.com, March 6, 2000.

2. Hoovers Company Capsule
http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/1/0,2163,11471,00.html, March 7, 2000

3. Express Express.style.com, March 6, 2000.

4. "Bath and Body Works: The McDonald's of Toiletries" http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/index.html, March 6, 2000.

5. Lerner http://www.limited.com/about/ler.asp, March 6, 2000.

6. Lane Bryant http://www.lanebryant.com, March 6, 2000.

7. Structure http://www.limited.com/about/stc.asp, March 6, 2000.

8. Intimate Brands http://www.VictoriasSecret.com, March 6, 2000.

9. Henri Bendel http://www.limited.com/about/ben.asp, March 6, 2000.

10. ColumbusReads http://www.limited.com/philanthropy/columbusreads.asp, March 6, 2000. 

11. Schermerhorn, John R. Management. 6th ed. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1999.

12.  "The Limited, Inc. Completes Spin-Off of Too, Inc." http://www.limited.com/new/toospin.asp, March 6, 2000.

13.  Abercrombie and Fitch http://www.abercrombie.com, March 6, 2000.