Disrupting Luxury: Creating Resilient Businesses in Times of Rapid Change

Authors

• 

  Elisa Niemtzow

  Vice President, Consumer Sectors and Membership, BSR

  

  ---

  

  Elisa Niemtzow

  Vice President, Consumer Sectors and Membership, BSR

  

  Paris

  ---

  Elisa leads BSR’s consumer sectors practice globally and oversees the BSR global membership network. She works with companies in the luxury, beauty, fashion, hospitality, retail, and food industries to better integrate sustainability into core business strategy, products, and operations.

  She helps companies understand the world’s big disruptions, create resilient and inclusive business models and practices, and evolve brand strategy to integrate changing consumer expectations. Elisa also leads BSR’s Responsible Luxury Initiative and the Southeast Asia Reptile Conservation Alliance (SARCA).

  Prior to joining BSR, Elisa was an account manager at CHANEL and a consultant at Accenture and Ernst & Young.

  Elisa is French-American. She holds an M.B.A. in Luxury Goods Marketing and Management from Sup de Luxe, an M.A. in International Relations from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques Paris, and a B.A. in French from the University of Pennsylvania.

  ---

  Recent Insights From Elisa Niemtzow

  • Can Made in Italy Withstand Climate Change? / November 7, 2024 / News
  • The She’s Mercedes Program Drives Responsible Innovation with the Bertha Benz Prize. / October 9, 2024 / News
  • What Is Underconsumption Core? Experts Explain the Trend Putting Dirty Shoes All Over Your Feed / August 5, 2024 / News
  • AI, Outlets, Recycling: Can Luxury Solve Its Billion-Dollar Excess Inventory Problem? / March 4, 2024 / News
  • Can Sustainable Fashion Come Back From the Brink of Burnout / January 8, 2024 / News

  Full Bio

  Close

Companies across industries are facing major challenges that, if left unaddressed, will have an impact on the resilience of existing business models. These challenges—climate change and biodiversity loss, new technologies and automation, and rising economic inequality—have specific implications for the luxury sector.  

Climate change and biodiversity loss are affecting the supply of precious raw materials, as well as the resilience of the sector’s infrastructure; new technologies and automation are redefining the manufacturing process, retail experience, and nature of work; and rising economic inequality means luxury brands will need to re-affirm their value, particularly in emerging markets. Given the luxury sector's role as influencers and trendsetters and its reliance on well-functioning ecosystems, what is the role of luxury to enable and help drive environmental and social progress? 

This report from BSR’s Responsible Luxury Initiative offers a roadmap toward a resilient luxury sector and highlights three opportunities for luxury companies to invest in future success.