TOMS Shoes
TOMS Shoes (www.tomsshoes.com) was founded in 2006 on a simple premise: with every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for one. Using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good is what we're all about.
In 2006 Blake Mycoskie, an American traveller, went to Argentina and found that many children there had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS Shoes, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One.
Blake returned to Argentina with a group of family, friends and staff later that year with 10,000 pairs of shoes made possible by caring TOMS customers. In developing countries wearing shoes prevents feet from getting cuts and sores on unsafe roads and from contaminated soil. Not only are these injuries painful, they are also dangerous when wounds become infected. The leading cause of disease in developing countries is soil-transmitted parasites which penetrate the skin through open sores. Wearing shoes can prevent this and ultimately the risk of amputation.
Since the beginning in 2006, TOMS has given over 400,000 pairs of shoes to children in need through the One for One model. Because of your support, in 2008 TOMS plans to give over 300,000 pairs of shoes to children in need around the world. TOMS is built on the loyalty of customers who choose a better tomorrow with every purchase. TOMS has one of the coolest internship programmes in the country, according to Inc. Magazine. Many of those passionate interns stay with TOMS and become hard-working, full-time employees.
Toms Shoes' HQ is in Santa Monica, California.
Questions
1. What would be the key barriers in the early days of internationalization if TOMS Shoes decided to expand to Europe?
2. What have been the driving forces (motives) for the early internationalization of TOMS Shoes?