Who – the protagonist
Lauren Schulte Wang, co-founder of Flex Co.
What?
Frustrated by the idea of women having to settle for the same old menstrual products, Lauren founded Flex Co in 2015 - alongside e-commerce expert Erika Jensen - to change this.
By 2019, Flex Co had introduced a number of products to the American and Canadian markets, with major stores such as CVS and Target becoming national retailers.
Flex Co began to reach many milestones, as it surpassed 20-year industry leader DivaCup as the number one sustainable period care brand.
Why?
Flex Co had worked hard to end the stigma around menstrual products, education, and marketing, and their growth in the US market had been mighty impressive.
Lauren now wanted to cater for females in different parts of the world, which presented its own challenges.
The right product was different for each person and culture, while Flex’s products were not cheap and needed to be kept clean. How could Lauren lower manufacturing costs and make her products affordable in developing markets?
Furthermore, would other regions be open to Flex’s liberal ‘no blue dye’ approach to product marketing? Flex Co needed to be culturally sensitive.
When?
Flex Co’s presence in North America was strong. As proven in 2021 when Walmart awarded them full supply-chain distribution, allowing their products to be offered to over 95% of the US population within five miles of their home.
Where?
According to the Kulczyk Foundation, 1.9 billion women and girls currently menstruate, with around 500 million lacking complete menstrual health and hygiene.
The biggest challenge facing women today is the lack of access to hygiene tools and education about menstruation. The problem of menstrual poverty is not limited to developing countries and can be found almost everywhere.
In the US, 10% of the female college students surveyed had experienced continuous period poverty, and 14% had experienced poverty at some point in that past year. For minority groups, these numbers were even higher.
In the UK, one third of girls aged 14-21 struggled during the pandemic with affordable hygiene products.
Key quote
“There are women all over the world who menstruate each month. Do they have access to comfortable, safe, and effective products?”
Lauren Schulte Wang.
What next?
Lauren had limitless options for growing her company, helping millions of women and girls, and significantly reducing waste from disposable period products. But where should she start? How could she lower manufacturing costs and make her products affordable in developing markets? And how could she market them in culturally sensitive ways?
On reasons for writing the case…
Amanda said: “This case came from a graduate student case project assignment guided by me and written initially by Michala, Lea, and Brett. The project was part of a graduate level global leadership mindset course. The assignment required students to choose a leader of an organisation with global aspirations who was facing a challenge, analyse the situation, and provide recommendations.
“After the case was graded and earned very high marks, I invited the students to publish the case in the Women Leaders Case Series. From there, the class project was transformed into a teachable case with a teaching note, a process I led with assistance from graduate assistant, Tosin.”
On the case writing challenges…
Amanda continued: “The challenge for this case was staying focused on the leader as an individual facing a leadership challenge. Often, it becomes easy to let the lens migrate to the organisation level (i.e. what the organisation should do). Leaders are the driving forces behind organisations - organisations don’t lead themselves. The cases in the Women Leaders Case Series must centre on the leader’s challenges and decision-making process, focusing on what the leader should do.”
On how students react to the case…
She added: “This case presents concepts that many college students were unaware of, particularly in an American classroom - menstrual health and period poverty. Beyond that novelty, students mostly approached the case as they would any other, from a business perspective.”
On teaching the case…
She explained: “The unique topic of this case allows the instructor to teach leadership concepts and challenges like global business expansion, manufacturing and supply chain strategy, and innovative and educational marketing through a cause that affects millions of girls and women all over the world.”
On case writing tips…
Amanda concluded: “Cases must be written with the student reader first as the top priority, focusing on what they need to know to learn the most from exploring the topic.”
The case
Who – the protagonist
Lauren Schulte Wang, co-founder of Flex Co.
What?
Frustrated by the idea of women having to settle for the same old menstrual products, Lauren founded Flex Co in 2015 - alongside e-commerce expert Erika Jensen - to change this.
By 2019, Flex Co had introduced a number of products to the American and Canadian markets, with major stores such as CVS and Target becoming national retailers.
Flex Co began to reach many milestones, as it surpassed 20-year industry leader DivaCup as the number one sustainable period care brand.
Why?
Flex Co had worked hard to end the stigma around menstrual products, education, and marketing, and their growth in the US market had been mighty impressive.
Lauren now wanted to cater for females in different parts of the world, which presented its own challenges.
The right product was different for each person and culture, while Flex’s products were not cheap and needed to be kept clean. How could Lauren lower manufacturing costs and make her products affordable in developing markets?
Furthermore, would other regions be open to Flex’s liberal ‘no blue dye’ approach to product marketing? Flex Co needed to be culturally sensitive.
When?
Flex Co’s presence in North America was strong. As proven in 2021 when Walmart awarded them full supply-chain distribution, allowing their products to be offered to over 95% of the US population within five miles of their home.
Where?
According to the Kulczyk Foundation, 1.9 billion women and girls currently menstruate, with around 500 million lacking complete menstrual health and hygiene.
The biggest challenge facing women today is the lack of access to hygiene tools and education about menstruation. The problem of menstrual poverty is not limited to developing countries and can be found almost everywhere.
In the US, 10% of the female college students surveyed had experienced continuous period poverty, and 14% had experienced poverty at some point in that past year. For minority groups, these numbers were even higher.
In the UK, one third of girls aged 14-21 struggled during the pandemic with affordable hygiene products.
Key quote
“There are women all over the world who menstruate each month. Do they have access to comfortable, safe, and effective products?”
Lauren Schulte Wang.
What next?
Lauren had limitless options for growing her company, helping millions of women and girls, and significantly reducing waste from disposable period products. But where should she start? How could she lower manufacturing costs and make her products affordable in developing markets? And how could she market them in culturally sensitive ways?
Author perspective
On reasons for writing the case…
Amanda said: “This case came from a graduate student case project assignment guided by me and written initially by Michala, Lea, and Brett. The project was part of a graduate level global leadership mindset course. The assignment required students to choose a leader of an organisation with global aspirations who was facing a challenge, analyse the situation, and provide recommendations.
“After the case was graded and earned very high marks, I invited the students to publish the case in the Women Leaders Case Series. From there, the class project was transformed into a teachable case with a teaching note, a process I led with assistance from graduate assistant, Tosin.”
On the case writing challenges…
Amanda continued: “The challenge for this case was staying focused on the leader as an individual facing a leadership challenge. Often, it becomes easy to let the lens migrate to the organisation level (i.e. what the organisation should do). Leaders are the driving forces behind organisations - organisations don’t lead themselves. The cases in the Women Leaders Case Series must centre on the leader’s challenges and decision-making process, focusing on what the leader should do.”
On how students react to the case…
She added: “This case presents concepts that many college students were unaware of, particularly in an American classroom - menstrual health and period poverty. Beyond that novelty, students mostly approached the case as they would any other, from a business perspective.”
On teaching the case…
She explained: “The unique topic of this case allows the instructor to teach leadership concepts and challenges like global business expansion, manufacturing and supply chain strategy, and innovative and educational marketing through a cause that affects millions of girls and women all over the world.”
On case writing tips…
Amanda concluded: “Cases must be written with the student reader first as the top priority, focusing on what they need to know to learn the most from exploring the topic.”
