Unilever has experienced quite a rollercoaster of marketing success and failure over the last 5 years. Originally its new 5-year strategic plan entitled 'Path to Growth' had special promise and forecast for success. The primary objective of this plan was to cull Unilever's 'tail' brands and place extra emphasis on those which were market leaders. Niail Fitzgerald believes that too many brands often confuse the customer and thus lead to poor purchasing decisions. The paradox of choice between Unilevers' products had to be addressed. This meant a dramatic reduction of over 1200 smaller brand names, the closure of 138 production facilities and the loss of 51,800 jobs. The key financial targets of this plan were to improve sales growth of the top line brands (which accounted for 90% of their annual turnover) by 5-6% each year, achieve an operating margin of more than 16% per annum and attain a double-digit figure in annual growth in earnings per share.
Unilever wanted to change its operations and follow a more differentiated and dynamic strategy of offering a service rather than a selection of products. This follows in line with PIMS which illustrates that growth in brand sales and market share is directly related to innovation and without a complete customer focus, market share and Return on Investment performance will suffer. Unilever also believe that by adopting an innovative approach to its brands, they will experience continued sales growth.
Unilever would also restructure its organisation and seek to cut out many of its suppliers in an effort to cut costs and simplify the supply chain. This tactic accompanied with the factory and job cuts would enable them to use the additional cash on top-line brand promotion and pass c...
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...e development and release of their new osteoporosis drug, Actonel. Feedback however was initially poor as patients complained about the size of and requirements for taking the pill. In again responding to consumer desires and requirements, P&G developed a weekly form of the drug which was just as effective in the conditions treatment but also more convenient.
The outlook looks very positive for P&G. They have created a well-rounded brand portfolio which appeals to a wide consumer base and have invested capital into developing markets. The financial forecasts are excellent and sales growth reached 19% in the beauty market last year. They have a clear strategy and structure in which to apply their knowledge of the marketplace. Unlike Unilever, it is P&G's innovation and consumer commitment that keeps them ahead, not brand culling, cost-cutting and market guesswork'.
Although Lafley has had success, the underlying problem remains. How will Lafley return P&G to its rightful place in Corporate America? P&G's solution to its problems is through product line extensions, expansion into non-premium brands, as well as acquisitions, licensing, reinforcing market orientation through consumer focus, and outsourcing. This recommendation was based on following items;
Sainsbury’s (2014) states they put their “customers at the heart of everything we do and have invested in our stores, our colleagues and our channels to deliver the best possible shopping experience. Our strong culture and values are part of our identity and integral to our success.” Sainsbury’s brand is established upon providing quality at fair prices, the importance of fresh, healthy, safe and tasty food is put very high at Sainsbury’s. Sainsbury’s also offer a range of up to 30,000 products such as household products, food, grocery, and even its own products.
Tesco’s objective is to be the ‘champion for customers’, and they want to achieve this by being number one in customer satisfaction. They want to grow globally and by doing this they ‘create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty’. Tesco is
McTigue Pierce, L. (2005, July). Pfizer: Growth amid adversity. Food & Drug Packaging, 69, p. 60.
By the end of 1998 though, there was evidence of a crisis occurring. Customers and media pulled together to assist senior management partake in an internal audit to identify the problems and see if they could come to a solution. The purpose of this assignment is to construct a SWOT analysis, highlighting each of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that were highlighted in the internal audit. The SWOT analysis is contained within the marketing plan and is the third step in the marketing planning process, coming after the Marketing audit and before any assumptions. (Joisce, Ted (2002), Marketing Planning Lecture Notes – 14/10/02, Mission, Objectives, Strategy, Tactics)
Tesco has been particularly successful because of its powerful brand. It has a reputation for value, low prices and for being customer focused. Its brand and associations have helped the company to expand into new sectors and markets. Tesco has also been strong in public relations, advertising and building profile in catchment areas on a local level. This local approach to marketing appears to be a key driver for success. Tesco has a good range of products, including own label products. It seeks to provide excellent customer service, and ensure high levels of customer satisfaction.
Tesco is one of the biggest grocery retailors in the world, it is one of the top five stores, it was founded in early nineties in UK, and now it is well known company around the global and very famous because of their successful strategies in marketing and how they manage any problem that they are facing. However, in recent day Tesco are facing some problems that may threat their career life, and make them loose their market position. This report will cover these problems, how the competitors are doing to take Tesco’s place, and what Tesco are doing to overcome these problems.
Introduction The purpose of this report is to undertake financial analysis of the position of the three major supermarket chains (Tesco plc, Morrison plc and Sainsbury plc) in the UK, using the financial tools such as Horizontal and Vertical Analysis and Ratio Analysis. The calculations done are considering the figures from the income statement and balance sheet of these three companies for the last 2 years (2008 & 2007). Doing these calculations is an effort to find out the current position and if any forecast on their performance. Tesco Plc *Interpreting the Horizontal and Vertical *Analysis The balance sheet’s horizontal analysis reveals the first worrying statistics about the company- the fact that stock level has increased by 25.84% in the year, even though net assets have increased by only 12.59%. The vertical analysis of the balance sheet again highlights the increase in amount of stock held by the company at the end of 2008 and increase in current assets. Interpreting the Ratio Analysis By looking at the ROCE* ratio it is clear that the business has not generated any higher return in the period 2007-2008. Though there is a marginal decrease in the returns (0.14% from 0.16%), however when compared with returns of other competitors Tesco plc has performed much better. Drop in asset utilisation ratio in the year 2008 indicates that the company did not use its assets efficiently to generate sales. As a result profit margin dropped down to 5.91% in 2008 from 6.21% in the year 2007. The Acid test ratio also doesn’t meet the ‘ideal’ ratio of 1:1. In other words Tesco had only 38p of quickly realisable assets to meet each £1 of current liabilities. Stock turn shows the effect of increased stock at the end of 2008 as it s...
Companies all over the world varies but yet shares a common challenge, that is to solve problem not only effectively and efficiently but also creatively. The P-O-L-C framework which stands for Planning, Organising, Leading and Controlling plays a major role in both the company’s survivability and success. The SWOT analysis looks at both internal and external factors that can affect the Starbucks’s performance. The purpose of this report is to define and analyse how Starbucks respond and should have respond to the change of its external environment on the cofee market,This report will also identify and disscuss how The P-O-L-C framework and can help starbucks to compete and reduce the loss of their failing peformance in the Australian market and how SWOT analysis helps to define some externalities that can be a threat to Starbucks.
Unilever’s steady underlying improvement in Europe has continued, with 2.8% growth in the year. The fourth quarter was particularly strong, at 5.5%, against a weaker comparator. The Americas were up by 4.1% in the year, with Brazil and Mexico improving through the year, while the US grew solidly at 3.2%. Asia Africa has shown consistent, broad-based growth across countries and categories throughout the year, up by 11.1%. This demonstrates that merging with globalised technologically advanced companies such as SAS, and using their expertise, is paying dividends for Unilever. (Unilever’s Annual Report, 2007) (Drinks Business Review, “Unilever selects SAP as standard for global IT Strategy”, May 2007)
P&G is an international and famous consumer goods founded in United States by Williams Procter and James Gamble both from the United Kingdom since 1837 about 177 years ago. P&G manufactures diversified range of product such as personal care, cleaning items, beauty product, pets food, drugs, & other beverages. Their products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world through grocery and departmental stores and retailers. They are also among the world’s most profitable consumer product company, with highest amount of sales. Their products are recognized in most part of the world. Their company have an organizational strategy to touch the live of its employees which is the major strength and competitive advantage of the company.
Unilever is a multinational consumer goods company, which includes products like food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever is the world third largest customer goods company. The brands of Unilever are trustworthy worldwide and because of the feedbacks given by the people, Unilever is stated as one of the most successful customer goods/products companies. Unilever have more than 400 brands which focuses on health and wellbeing, and this is the reason why Unilever has touched so many people lives in many different ways. Unilever collection of varieties varies from nutritionally composed foods to permissive ice creams, inexpensive soaps, comfortable shampoos and everyday domestic care products and goods. Unilever also produces world-leading brands such as Lipton, Knorr, Dove soap, Axe, Blue Band and many more. Unilever is a responsible business as their supportable living strategy sets out to decouple their development from their environmental influence, and at the same time growing their social encouraging influence as well. Their plan has three main aims to achieve by 2020 which are as follows:
Unilever is a multinational company which ranks third globally in fast moving consumer goods. They have an excellent value chain which is one of the factors that has resulted in them to be among top consumer goods company globally. Their merger and acquisitions have led them to expand their company in different sectors of the consumer goods. They have 400 brands and sell their products across 190 countries. They have to work on some areas of the value chain to work even better than how they are working now. Also, there are many opportunities that will help Unilever to overcome their shortcomings and make them a successful Consumer goods
Upon review, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade should approve the offer from Unilever for $36.00 (cash) per share. In reviewing the offers two questions were presented. The two questions included: the social mission of Ben & Jerry’s surviving a takeover, and maintaining the best interests of the shareholders. To follow, will be the justification for the Unilever offer, alternative offers, and the risks that are involved with a possible takeover.
The case looks at prescriptive strategy as applied to multi-product group of companies. Unilever is based in over a hundred countries where multiple products are being made in each. However, the market is mature which means that growth is stagnant and innovation is almost non-existent. In order to improve on growth and sales, the strategies that are needed look at how to come up with new products that have high profit margins and penetrate new markets. The prescriptive approach was used to come with a strategy to improve growth and profit. In order to improve on innovation, both the prescriptive and emergent strategies can be used since both support innovation. From the case study, not much profit was made when the ‘Path to Growth’ strategy was first implemented (2001-2004). The strategy was initially based on cost cutting. There was a need to also build volumes through existing portfolio of branded products through innovation and marketing. By focusing on increasing sales in developing countries where growth prospects were high and increasing investment in personal care products where profit margins were higher, it was possible to improve the profit portfolio.