We will be publishing our annual list of the top 100 direct selling companies in the world in our upcoming June 2013 issue of Direct Selling News. To ensure that we have your company ranked accurately, please fill in the fields below and submit your company’s information. If you have any questions, please contact us at editor@directsellingnews.com.

In addition to completing this online form, we require that you download and complete the Revenue Certification Form (RCF). Only companies that submit a completed RCF are eligible to be ranked in the DSN Global 100 list.

Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consultancy, has identified Natura Cosméticos as Brazil’s most valuable brand. Interbrand’s methodology focuses on three key factors: the financial performance of the branded products, the role of brand in the purchase decision process and the strength of the brand. According to Interbrand’s analysis, Natura has built a strong relationship with consumers through “perpetual reinvention, an enduring commitment to sustainability and a growing portfolio.” Throughout 2012, Natura demonstrated a continued commitment to innovation, including a $170 million investment in research and development.

Read the full evaluation and learn more about Interbrand’s methodology here.

China is currently Amway’s largest market, accounting for more than $4 billion in annual sales. Given the fact that the Chinese government outlawed direct selling 15 years ago, the company’s success certainly did not come about the old-fashioned way. In the April 2013 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Amway President and Co-CEO Doug DeVos shares how the company revised its approach to sales and marketing in lieu of breaking ties with the Chinese people and government.

DeVos outlines four lessons the company learned in its struggle to continue providing entrepreneurial opportunity for anyone who wants to own and run a business. “Being forced to change our model in China helped us realize that we need to regularly adapt to succeed in different markets,” DeVos writes. By the time the Chinese government lifted its direct selling ban in 2005, Amway had equipped itself with new strategies for global growth and emerged as China’s market leader.

Read the full Harvard Business Review story here.

Following its debut at 46 out of 100 on Forbes’ annual ranking of America’s Most Promising Companies, Vivint is receiving further recognition from SecuritySystemReviews.com, a leader in home security reviews. The rapidly-expanding company received the highest ranking on the site’s list of Best Home Automation Companies in the country. Vivint’s cutting-edge equipment is leading the security system industry’s revolution in home automation—technology which enables consumers to more effectively regulate and reduce energy consumption by controlling lights, thermostats and home appliances remotely. With its Go!Control Panel, Vivint boasts the only touchscreen home security control panel currently on the market.

Read the full Vivint Security Review here.

In accordance with a January letter of intent, The Longaberger Company has signed a definitive agreement with Computer Vision Systems Laboratories Corp. (CVSL) to integrate the 40-year-old company into CVSL’s direct selling strategy.

With the transaction, publicly held CVSL acquires a controlling interest in Longaberger. “It’s fitting that in our 40th anniversary year we can fulfill my father’s dream that our sales field and employees will have the opportunity to share in ownership of our business,” said President and CEO Tami Longaberger.

Longaberger is the first direct selling company to join forces with CVSL in its vision to become what Chairman John Rochon calls a “worldwide champion of micro-enterprise.”

Read the full press release here.

Over the past few decades, companies such as Modicare, Tupperware, Quantum, Oriflame and Amway have brought the opportunities of direct selling to India. The direct sales model currently generates 35.8 percent of non-store retail sales, 4.41 percent of organized retail sales and 0.07 percent of the country’s GDP. As direct sellers have increased their impact on India’s economy, the country’s financial regulators have engaged in sustained debate concerning proper jurisdiction over multi-level marketing firms. Both the direct selling industry and government officials have expressed the need for reform to weed out any pyramid or other schemes and to establish clear guidelines around legitimate direct selling opportunities.

Renowned economist Bibek Debroy addresses the issue in a study entitled, “Direct Selling in India: Appropriate Regulation Is the Key.” The study calls for an amendment of India’s present legislation banning money circulation schemes to include a clear definition of direct selling, explicitly qualify direct selling as separate from money circulation schemes, and specify what qualifies as an illegal pyramid scheme.

The Wall Street Journal’s Livemint blog reports that a committee composed of the capital market regulator and the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) is set to draft India’s first set of regulations for MLMs. An Amway spokesperson confirmed that “the direct selling industry has been meeting officials from the ministry of consumer affairs, corporate affairs, ministry of commerce and finance ministry, to provide regulatory clarity.” The MCA’s efforts focus on bringing a greater degree of clarity to India’s current legislation, as Debroy and others have advocated.

Read more on India’s steps toward regulatory reform here.

Shares in Tupperware Brands Corp. dropped 4 percent to $76.10 this week after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock, cautioning a possible earnings hit from foreign-currency exchange rates. Following upon a strong gain of 24 percent this year through March 8, the dip represents Tupperware’s greatest decline in more than nine months. The Orlando, Florida-based company generates 90 percent of its sales outside of the U.S. and 61 percent in emerging economies. Dara Mohsenian, an analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York, wrote on March 8 that any material change in the dollar will have a significant impact on Tupperware and its shareholders.

Read the full Bloomberg story here.

Direct selling company Natura Cosméticos, ranked No. 4 on our DSN Global 100 list of industry leaders, is receiving recognition for another kind of success. The Brazil-based manufacturer of beauty products is ranked No. 2 on a list of “The Global 100: World Leaders in Clean Capitalism.” Initiated by Corporate Knights Inc., the Global 100 represents the most extensive corporate sustainability assessment in existence. Companies first undergo screening based upon “sustainability disclosure practices, financial health, product types and recent legal payouts.” The remaining candidates are scored on industry-specific performance indicators. The Most Sustainable Corporations in the World are then announced each year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Read the full press release here.

View the entire Global 100 list here.

As we approach the publication of the DSN Global 100, our annual list of the world’s top direct selling companies, we are excited to announce more positive reports from industry leaders.

For a first in more than five years, Reliv International reported a quarterly year-over-year net sales increase in the fourth quarter of 2012. Much of that momentum stems from Reliv Europe, where the nutritional supplements company experienced its 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.

Reliv reported net sales of $68.71 million in 2012 compared with net sales of $73.88 million in 2011. Though U.S. net sales decreased, Reliv’s European market increased net sales by $2.73 million, or 72.7 percent. The company also announced plans to open in France, its 16th company of operation, in spring 2013.

In a positive report for shareholders, Nature’s Sunshine Products doubled its quarterly dividend from 5 cents to 10 cents per share. The company attributed the increase to “strong cash flow, its record high year-end cash balance of $79.2 million and the Board’s commitment to return excess capital to shareholders.”

The natural health and wellness company sustained net sales of $367.5 million, compared with $367.8 in 2011, for a year-over-year decrease of 0.1 percent. The report shows operating income of $34.0 million, compared with $20.2 million in the prior-year period, for an increase of 6.9 percent.

Nature’s Sunshine also announced that Gregory L. Probert, Executive Chairman of the Board, will serve as interim CEO until the Board of Directors names someone permanently to the position.

Read the full Reliv International press release here. 
Read the full Nature’s Sunshine Products press release here.

The direct selling industry in Europe is taking a leading role in expanding opportunities for women entrepreneurs. Seldia, the European Direct Selling Association, teamed with the European Parliament and over 28 partner organizations to present a February exhibition on “Women Entrepreneurs: 5 Pillars for Growth.”

The three-day exhibition represents part of a wider effort to cultivate what Viviane Reding, Vice President of the European Commission, identified in her keynote speech as “the largest untapped potential for entrepreneurship in Europe.” In the EU, women constitute only 34.4 percent of the self-employed and about a 30 percent share in startups.

In a message on the exhibition website, Seldia Executive Director Maurits Bruggink shares the vision of providing “an opportunity for NGOs, civil society organisations and policy makers to engage in the active promotion of women entrepreneurship.” Hosted at the European Parliament in Brussels, the event focused on the five pillars of Government Policies, Education, Innovation, Networks and Access to Finance.

Over 100 participants and 11 MEPs attended a luncheon debate on “The Importance of Government and Education Programmes for Women Entrepreneurs,” featuring three expert speakers followed by a candid open forum during which Members of Parliament and participants could take the floor. One of the speakers was Isabelle Rabier, CEO of direct selling company Dermance. Her call for the French government to increase its involvement in supporting business startups appeared the next day in a leading EU affairs newspaper here.

WFDSA Executive Director Tamuna Gabilaia attended the exhibition, along with representatives from an array of direct selling companies, including Amway, Avon, Mary Kay, NL International, Nu Skin and Oriflame. The exhibition included a prominent display on the opportunities available to entrepreneurs in the direct selling industry, where women make up 85 percent of the salesforce.

Read more about how Seldia and the European Parliament are supporting women entrepreneurs on the exhibition’s website here.

Sheri McCoy

In one of her first interviews since taking the helm at Avon, CEO Sheri McCoy spoke with Forbes about the company’s current challenges and the strategies that will guide the world’s fifth-largest beauty company forward. The last five years have seen Avon stock fall more than 50 percent, along with a decrease in net income. McCoy discusses the necessity of establishing a clear vision for the company’s future and maintaining a disciplined focus on big-picture goals.

McCoy’s disciplined approach characterizes the initial steps in Avon’s turnaround plan, namely cutting 1,500 jobs, pulling out of Vietnam and South Korea, and reducing the company’s spending to save $400 million by the end of 2015. These cost-saving measures aim at refining the core business and products to better address the external question of what is important for Avon’s representatives. The company is also implementing a strategy to invest additional resources in the company’s most dynamic markets.

In the same spirit of efficiency, McCoy is working to carry the company’s business model of social connection into the digital age. Avon will invest $200 million to update its information systems and cultivate digital and social media. With an increased online presence and contemporary direct selling model, McCoy aims to restore the over 100-year-old brand to its iconic status in the global beauty market.

Read the entire Forbes Q & A with McCoy here.