Levi's posts higher profits, mostly because it's selling cheap jeans in Wal-Mart. The Street loves it.
Do I even have to go into why selling cheap jeans at Wal-Mart is a good way to destroy a century of authenticity and innovation?
Levi's
can compete on price - but it will have to change everything about it's business to really sustain such a strategy.
Everything - from it's culture, to it's supply chain. The cost of such a strategy will be the heart and soul of Levi's.
But hey- the Street loves it. And we all know that cashing in your brand, business, and innovative capability for short-term profits to make the Street happy is what's important.