Valorization strategy in a cosmetics multinational company: sexed exploitation of labor and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyze the ways through which Avon cosmetics company articulates sexed exploitation of labor with corporate social responsibility, to set a unique valorization strategy. Getting into the worlds of Avon’s –the largest multinational company dedicated to the production and sale of cosmetics through the system of "direct selling"– resellers and factory workers, we investigate how the company capitalizes on their benefit the advantages of the use of female labor force. While Avon policies are presented as unrelated to each other, they can be read as a particular valorization strategy, which can be broken down analytically into two elements that are articulated. The first, known as sexed exploitation of labor, consists of intensive utilization of female labor force, both for production (inside of the factory) as for marketing of products (through the direct sales system). The second is based on the implementation of corporate social responsibility policies, as a crucial element of valorization, both in the sphere of production as in the sphere of marketing