The Structure of an International Fragrance Company

The six largest multinational fragrance houses account for some 70% of total fragrance compound sales. Theirs is a legacy of a century of experience and a financial strength that can cope with the tens of millions of dollars expense each year in pure research and development required to keep ahead of the game. 

Fragrance houses are fed a daily diet of perfumery briefs. Their survival depends on the successful nurture and assimilation of the brief leading to a winning response. They are thus structured around two main themes, namely  

The fragrance industry is close to the fashion industry, its trends being olfactive reflections of fashion. Empathy with these trends and the ability to translate them into perfume is highly prized however, here customer service is also of a high value like in any other industry operating on a global scale. Fragrance suppliers are therefore structured around two main themes, namely  

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D. H. Pybus, The Structure of an International Fragrance Company. In The Chemistry of Fragrances From Perfumer to Consumer, 2nd ed. C. Sell, Ed. The Royal Society of Chemistry Cambridge, 2006 pp 132-137. 

Figure 5.1 General structure of an international fragrance company around the perfume brief (adaptedfrom Curtis and Williams, 1995)...

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