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Case Study

COCO-MAT: The spartan mattress revolution

By Benoit F. Leleux, Mary Papageorgiou and Sophia Shilimindri

19 pages

August 2017

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Reference: IMD-7-1802

The Coco-Mat case tracks the development of the bedding brand from its initial concept in 1989 to the iconic status it had achieved by 2016. During that time, it went through a progressive refining of its customer proposition and brand values, developed a global retail network and expanded into hotels and wood bikes, among other areas. Back in 1989, Paul and Mike Efmorfidis embarked on a wild journey to develop an original, Greecebased sleeping system company. At the end of 2015, Coco-Mat was running stores in 14 countries, employed 250+ people, most of them in Greece, and this was nowhere close to the end of the story, barely an appetizer. They had started on a beach with virtually nothing, invented new concepts in an industry they knew little about and they could only be described as fairly resistant to change. They withstood one of the worst economic crises ever seen by a country, and they were now discussing further international expansion and accelerating growth. Could they continue to operate with their initial business model? Was it time to solidify the company and install more systems and structure? How could they retain their agility? What kind of culture did they want to establish for the company and leave behind as a legacy? The past had been nothing short of amazing but where should they take the company next?

Learning Objective

Managing growth
Developing an iconic brand
Sustainability in the business model
Hospitality
Service models
Competitive dynamics
Synergies
Strategic positioning
Corporate agility
Entrepreneurship
Emerging market issues
Building on localness

Keywords

Entrepreneurial Leadership, Retail, Management, Emerging Market, Innovation, Corporate Culture, Change Management, Customer Engagement, Brand Building, Sustainability, Social Responsibility, Hospitality

Settings

World/global, Greece
Coco-Mat, Consumer Goods, Household Cleaners
1989-2017

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

Related material

Teaching note, Video

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