Founded in Italy in 1961, Luxottica is the world’s largest eyewear company, controlling over
80 percent of major eyewear brands. Alain Mikli, Arnette, Oakley, and Persol are some of the
company’s proprietary brands. Luxottica also makes products under license for a large number
of well-known companies such as Armani, Bulgari, Burberry, Coach, Tiffany & Co., Tory Burch,
and Versace, to name only a few. Additionally, Luxottica owns and operates a large number of
eyewear storefront brands including LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Laubman & Pank, and Sears
Optical. Another measure of the scope of the firm’s positions within the eyewear industry is its
operations of “one of the largest managed vision care networks in the United States through
EyeMed and the second largest lens finishing network, with three central laboratories, over
900 on-site labs at LensCrafters stores, a
fully dedicated Oakley lab, and an addi-
tional facility based in China dedicated to
North America optical retail.”
As these product offerings and mar-
ket positions show, Luxottica dominates
all phases of the eyewear industry. One
reason for this dominance is that the
firm is vertically integrated in that it
designs its own products, produces
them through manufacturing facilities
located throughout the world, and
sells them in outlets such as those
mentioned above. In the view of those
leading the firm, Luxottica’s extensive
degree of vertical integration is a com-
petitive advantage. The company says
that its products are distinguished from
competitors’ offerings by their excellent
design and the quality with which they
are manufactured.
Late in 2014, Luxottica changed its
organizational structure in a major way, as
demonstrated by the fact that co-CEOs
were appointed. Long-term Procter & Gamble executive Adil Mehboob-Khan accepted the
responsibility for distribution in the firm’s markets, while long-time Luxottica manager
Massimo Vian was appointed as co-CEO with the responsibility for products and operations.
Wholesale, retail optical, marketing, go-to-market, and e-commerce are examples of the units
that comprise the distribution part of the new structure. Style & design, R&D and engineering,
quality assurance, and purchasing are some of the units in the products and operations side of
the structure. Each co-CEO holds a seat as a member of the firm’s board of directors.
A dual CEO structure is unusual; many observers believe that this type of leadership struc-
ture cannot lead to long-term firm success. According to an observer of organizational struc-
tures, “the adoption of a co-CEO model is often a symptom of weakness. Having two people
at the same level shows that the company is undecided about its leadership and it invites too
much confusion.” Another way of thinking about this some say, is that a ship with two captains
is essentially a ship without a captain.
Although used infrequently in many countries, Italy is a nation in which a dual CEO struc-
ture is popular, particularly among family controlled/owned firms such as Luxottica. In fact,
evidence indicates that more than one-third of “Italian family-owned businesses with annual
revenue of more than 50 million euros have at least two bosses.”
The critical issue when considering a dual CEO structure is the reason for choosing to use it.
If there is a strong strategic rationale for the co-CEO structure, then arguably, a firm for which
this is the case should organize itself in such a manner. Luxottica officials claim this is the case,
saying that “this new organizational structure will support a new phase of development for
LUXOTTICA’S DUAL CEO STRUCTURE: A KEY TO
LONG-TERM SUCCESS OR A CAUSE FOR CONCERN?Courtesy of Luxottica