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Essential Principles of Effective Management: A Concise Guide
1. A PROJECT REPORT ON
âP&Gâs Marketing Strategyâ
BACHELOROF BUSINESSADMINISTRATION
DEVELOPED BY
BURHANUDDIN MUSTAFA MODI
UNDER GUIDANCE OF MR. AVINASH PATIL
SINHGADCOLLEGEOF COMMERCE
KONDHWA,PUNE.
2. P&G SUMMARY â
⢠William Procter, a candlemaker, and James Gamble, a soapmaker, immigrants from England
and Ireland, respectively, who had settled earlier in Cincinnati, who met as they married
sisters, Olivia and Elizabeth Norris,[6] formed the company initially. Alexander Norris, their
father-in law, called a meeting in which he persuaded his new sons-in-law to become business
partners. On October 31, 1837, as a result of the
suggestion, Procter & Gamble was born. In 1858-1859,
sales reached $1 million. By this point, approximately 80
employees worked for Procter & Gamble. During the
American Civil War, the company won contracts to
supply the Union Army with soap and candles. In
addition to the increased profits experienced during the
war, the military contracts introduced soldiers from all
over the country to Procter & Gamble's products. In the
1880s, Procter & Gamble began to market a new
product, an inexpensive soap that floats in water. The company called the soap Ivory.
William Arnett Procter, William Procter's grandson, began a profit-sharing program for the
company's workforce in 1887. By giving the workers a stake in the company, he correctly
assumed that they would be less likely to go on strike.
3. ⢠The company began to build factories in other
locations in the United States because the
demand for products had outgrown the
capacity of the Cincinnati facilities. The
company's leaders began to diversify its
products as well and, in 1911, began
producing Crisco, a shortening made of
vegetable oils rather than animal fats. As
radio became more popular in the 1920s and
1930s, the company sponsored a number of
radio programs. As a result, these shows
often became commonly known as "soap
operas". The company moved into other
countries, both in terms of manufacturing and
4. ⢠Numerous new products and brand names were
introduced over time, and Procter & Gamble began
branching out into new areas. The company
introduced "Tide" laundry detergent in 1946 and
"Prell" shampoo in 1947. In 1955, Procter &
Gamble began selling the first toothpaste to contain
fluoride, known as "Crest". Branching out once
again in 1957, the company purchased Charmin
Paper Mills and began manufacturing toilet paper
and other paper products. Once again focusing on
laundry, Procter & Gamble began making "Downy"
fabric softener in 1960 and "Bounce" fabric softener
sheets in 1972. One of the most revolutionary
products to come out on the market was the
company's "Pampers", first test-marketed in 1961.
Prior to this point disposable diapers were not
5. ⢠Procter & Gamble acquired a number of other
companies that diversified its product line and
significantly increased profits. These acquisitions
includedFolgers Coffee, Norwich Eaton
Pharmaceuticals (the makers of PeptoBismol),
Richardson-Vicks, Noxell (Noxzema), Shulton's
Old Spice, Max Factor, and the Iams Company,
among others. In 1994, the company made
headlines for big losses resulting from leveraged
positions in interest rate derivatives, and
subsequently sued Bankers Trust for fraud; this
placed their management in the unusual position
of testifying in court that they had entered into
transactions that they were not capable of
understanding. In 1996, Procter & Gamble again
made headlines when the Food and Drug
Administration approved a new product developed
by the company, Olestra. Also known by its brand
6. ⢠In January 2005 P&G announced an
acquisition of Gillette, forming the largest
consumer goods company and placing
Unilever into second place. This added
brands such as Gillette razors, Duracell,
Braun, and Oral-B to their stable. The
acquisition was approved by the European
Union and the Federal Trade Commission,
with conditions to a spinoff of certain
overlapping brands. P&G agreed to sell its
SpinBrush battery-operated electric
toothbrush business to Church & Dwight. It
also divested Gillette's oral-care toothpaste
line, Rembrandt. The deodorant brands Right
Guard, Soft & Dri, and Dry Idea were sold to
7. ⢠P&G's dominance in many categories of
consumer products makes its brand
management decisions worthy of study. For
example, P&G's corporate strategists must
account for the likelihood of one of their
products cannibalizing the sales of another.
On August 24, 2009, the Irish-based
pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott
announced they had bought P&G's
prescription-drug business for $3.1 billion.
8. SWOTAnalysis In order gaina deeper
understanding of P&Gâs internal and external
environment, a SWOTanalysis can be done to look at
the companyâs Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats.
9. Strengths
⢠P&G is dedicated to understanding its consumers,
spending $350m annually on market research (Neff,
2011)
⢠Invests heavily in R&D for product innovation. In
2012, spent $2b on research (P&G, 2012), 50% more
than its closest competitor, Unilever (Brown, 2011).
⢠Its core business is in Home Care and Fabric Care
which constitutes 32% of Net Sales and 26% of Net
Earnings (P&G, 2012) e.g Febreeze, Tide, Duracell.
These products are non-cyclical consumer goods; the
price elasticity of demand is consistently high.
⢠Great brand outreach with huge public visibility, with
250 brands in at least 6 main product categories.
(Corporate Watch, 2012)
10. Weaknesses
⢠Declining expenditure on innovation, one of
P&Gâs core competencies.
⢠Sales of new launches decreased by half
between 2003 and 2008; the âbig product
breakthroughsâ fell to an average of 6 per
year.
⢠Net earnings from core product category
(Home Care and Fabric Care) fell 6% from
2011-2012.
⢠14% decline in Operating Income and 20%
decline in Net Earnings from Continuing
Operations from 2011-2013.
11. Opportunities
⢠Emerging markets with rapidly rising incomes: great demand
potential. Sales from developing markets represent 32% of
P&Gâs $78b annual revenue, up from 23% 4 years ago; these
sales are doubling every 4 years.
⢠By 2020 the collective GDP of the emerging markets will
overtake that of the developed economies. Consumer
spending in emerging markets is expected to grow thrice
faster than that in developed nations, reaching $6 trillion by
2020.
⢠Growing global populations present greater demand for non-
cyclical consumer products which P&G specializes in.
⢠The rise of social media provides a new platform for
marketing
12.
13. Threats
⢠i) Competitors e.g. Unilever & Colgate
are eyeing the same markets.
⢠Increasing availability of generics store
brands of consumer products, making
it harder for P&Gâs brands to compete.
⢠Rising commodity prices and costs of
production.
14. Rigidity in changing product portfolio to enter new markets
(Over-Centralization).
⢠Being a multi-billion dollar MNC with a high
degree of diversification in its products, P&G
runs the risk of over centralization in its
management. Recently, P&Gâs product portfolio
is largely skewed towards the high-end markets,
with upward-stretching brands like Dunhill
Fragrance and SK-II, looking to obtain higher
margins. This seems like a logical development,
with 62% of its operations sited in more
lucrative developed markets. However, it puts
P&G at a disadvantage during times of
economic weakness, when consumers are forced
to switch to cheaper options.
15.
16. ⢠Being a market leader with such a diverse portfolio, P&G has been
inflexible due to the size of its organization and extensive bureaucracy in
shifting to emerging markets. This ill-timed shift in focus meant that P&G
forgone the opportunity to engage in either a market development strategy
(selling existing products to new markets), or a diversification strategy
(new innovative products brought into new and growing markets). To
make up for this strategic product mix mismatch, P&G has to reposition
their products and increase decentralization of management, ensuring that
they have the required marketing intelligence, in order to better understand
and customize for the local needs and preferences of each emerging
market. Despite efforts that have been made to penetrate these markets,
with sales from developing markets making up 37% of P&Gâs total sales
in 2012, an increase of 20% from 2000, it still trails behind competitors
Unilever (55% of sales) and Colgate (50% of sales). Lack of price
sensitivity also hampers the companyâs long term growth, since a growing
middle class might not be willing spend on premium household products
despite higher disposable incomes, with cheaper local alternatives
available. Slipping market shares and profits in leading segments have
been the consequence P&G has borne.
17. Prioritizingmarket share over profits.
P&Gâs main strategic focus is the retention of its
market share; it is difficult to get it back once it is lost.
Despite a steady increase in net sales from 2010 to
2012, diluted net earnings per common share
experienced a steady drop from 4.11 to 3.66
suggesting a compromise in profits through price
reductions to maintain sales and market position. This
strategy is only effective if major rivals are financially
constrained and are unable to keep up with the price
cuts undertaken by P&G. However, this is not the case
as key competitors like Unilever have adequate
financial resources, resulting in extended price wars.
As the market leader, P&G will sustain greater losses
in profits.
18.
19. Also, other firms are able to invest in research and innovation
to develop new and improved products to increase their
brand value like the case of Unilever and Colgate, with
successful innovation efforts. They have created unique
selling propositions for their products; this allows them to
place their products (against P&G) in value propositions that
bring more benefits for the same at a lower price. E.g.
Colgate has continued to position many new products, like
the Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief (toothpaste to treat tooth
sensitivity), aggressively by playing up their unique Points-
of-Differences against P&Gâs competitors. As such, Colgate
has been experiencing a steady increase in its brand value
throughout the years. P&Gâs competitors are rapidly
increasing the Brand Equity that consumers receive from
their products.
20. ⢠Exacerbating the issue, P&G has slowed innovation
efforts by relating research expenditure to
immediate revenue concerns. By 2009, the number
of big breakthroughs invented for the company had
decreased to an average of less than six per annum,
as greater emphasis was placed on short term results
and small inventions . Consequently, P&G has lost
its customers in developed countries like Europe to
cheaper and equally capable products made by
rivals such as Unilever. As such, rivals have gained
significant market share with more successful
innovations and improved their market positioning,
threatening P&Gâs market leadership
21. Brand Erosion and higher profileof company mistakes.
As the market leader, consumers pay closer
attention to the company; as such, mistakes
committed by the company would usually gain
more negative publicity. This can be classified as
an external threat in SWOT analysis. The sheer
size of P&G means any mistakes are magnified
and exposed to be larger than they really are. E.g.
the six-month delay of Tide Pods and supply
problems with Fusion ProGlide razors and Old
Spice body wash has gained greater attention than
a normal company would warrant.
22.
23. ⢠P&G uses a multi-brand strategy, creating
new brand names in existing product
categories. It allows P&G to dominate a
resellerâs shelf space with multi-brands.
However. there are drawbacks: with this
multi-brand strategy, one brand could easily
affect another through association. A
scandal relating to another P&G brand could
undo all the good customer relationships
built by another brand with a customer. This
is potentially disastrous, because if one or
more of P&Gâs brands erode significantly,
their financial status and market positioning
will be adversely affected.
24. LimitedRoomfor Growth.
⢠P&Gâs major brands are in the fast-moving consumer
goods, e.g. shampoo (Head & Shoulders), baby
products (Pampers), household cleaning (Tide), beauty
products (Olay). The markets these products are in are
characterized by frequent sales per consumer, low
margins and low brand loyalty. Also, these markets are
relatively mature. Innovation on these goods have very
much been in stasis, and given that these products are
targeted at fulfilling the lower layers in Maslowâs
hierarchy of needs (Safety, Physiological), it also
means that there is an absence of significant growth in
the market size as it already encompasses almost every
consumer.
25.
26. ⢠P&G, as the market leader for most categories, has limited
room for growth â it can only try and maintain market
share. Even that is a daunting task, against well-heeled
competitors such as Unilever and LâOreal in hair products.
To overcome this threat of reaching a growth ceiling,
P&G must look to expand its marketing strategies, to
move beyond the marketing concept; to meet the needs
and wants of the consumer better than their competitors â
P&G must employ a societal marketing concept to deliver
value to the consumer and also improve societyâs well-
being. Their marketing mix must adjust to fulfil these, and
allow them to build relationships and brand loyalty
through the fulfilment, in the customersâ eyes, a âhigherâ
and noble need.
27. Lack of a P&G Identity.
Adopting a multi-brand approach does mean that P&G is
practically everywhere in everybodyâs lives â that has its
advantages, as evident in P&Gâs strong numbers in many
markets. However, being everywhere at one time could
well dilute P&Gâs identity in the eyes of the consumer. To
the average consumer, P&G is remembered as a
multinational conglomerate that âmakes many household
items we useâ. The sheer number makes it difficult for one
to associate brands with P&G. The lack of identity may
lead to low brand equity, with consumers failing to
understand the values of the P&G brand positioning. Huge
diversification has resulted in P&Gâs market leadership in
many markets, but with that it has lost the ability to build a
strong, singular identity
28. First-Moverâs Disadvantage.
P&G is a market leader that prides itself on product
innovation, spending $2billion annually on R&D alone
(60% more than its closest competitors, resulting in
about 3,800 applications for patents per year. One of its
innovations is Cascade â packets of detergent powder
and gel mixture designed to get rid of stains without
pre-soaking. These are âStarsâ in the BCG Growth-
Share Matrix. With this dare to innovate and invest into
new possibilities are risks of free riders. For example,
Finish Quantum is a competitor to the Cascade
Complete Pacs, positioned and designed very closely
to P&Gâs product; it performed well in the US market.
29. ⢠As market leader of saturated
markets, the way to expand a
leading brand is through product
innovation. However, competitors
have the opportunity to make
similar improvements to their
products, without incurring nearly
as much R&D cost. This causes
P&G to suffer in terms of market
share and profits than what they
should have, as a result of free-
30. Managing Brands Amidst Growing Popularity of Social
Media.
⢠P&G must continuously communicate its brands to
consumers in order to maintain its strong brand
positioning. It has been spending a lot of capital on
advertising to create brand awareness, build preference
and loyalty. In many societies worldwide, social media
has become increasingly more popular than television,
amongst not only the young, but also the mature
populace. It is therefore unsurprising that P&G has
gradually shifted a larger portion of their advertising
budget onto social media. It now boasts a significant
presence on major social media websites such as Twitter,
Facebook, Youtube, as well as niche sites like Pinterest.
Yet the question remains if P&G could further leverage
on this growing trend to build strong brand images.
31. Status Quo of P&Gâs MarketingPolicy on Social Media.
⢠P&Gâs social media efforts are mainly targeted at 25- to 54-year
old women. This is due to two reasons. Firstly, this is the most
active group of social network users, making up 70% of all
women accessing social networks from their phones, thereby
making social media a viable option. Secondly, this group
coincided with the majority of P&Gâs customer base, since
many of its products are household items or personal hygiene
products, which are purchased by women. In addition to
targeting women, P&G also organises specific marketing
campaigns online to target other market segments. For instance,
P&G hired Antonio Rosales, one of the top ten Hispanic
hairstylists in the US, as its brand ambassador on the Head and
Shoulders scalp care blog. This was noted as an effort to target
the growing Hispanic market (Bird, 2008).
32. ⢠P&G continues its brand position based on beliefs and values in
its social media marketing, emphasizing on its care for
consumers. E.g. The brand positioning of Pampers used to be
just its physical attributes and benefits, now it is positioned as an
aid in helping mothers manage babiesâ development; that every
baby deserves the best. The current social media efforts reflect
this shifting brand positions to reflect P&Gâs increasing care for
its customers. For instance, the promotion for its Secret
deodorant goes beyond the product itself, in a campaign coined
âMean Stinksâ, to rally netizens behind the issue of bullying that
is often faced by the mainly teenage girl users of the product. In
doing so, P&G aims to build the self-confidence of its users
beyond the self-confidence boosting effect of the deodorant
itself. Such a personal touch enables P&G to engage its
customers on a deep, emotional level, building stronger brand
images.
33. ⢠One issue faced is that P&Gâs products are mainly convenience products for
which consumers spend little effort to compare and research, and therefore
are unattractive topics for conversation on social media. In response, P&G
organised online advocacy campaigns, such as the aforementioned âMean
Stinksâ, to spark activity on its social media pages. Another method
frequently used by P&G is to use ambassadors, with the aim of using the
characterâs appeal to promote their products. For instance, in 2005, P&G
created a blog for Tyler, a rescue-shelter dog to promote its Iams Pet Food.
Its Cover Girl makeup, on the other hand, was promoted using celebrities
such as Sofia Vergara.
⢠Another issue is the difficulty of breaking through the advertising and
promotion clutter on social media. Social media is increasingly seen as an
important outlet for advertisements by companies, resulting in consumers
often either tuning out to the advertisements or being diverted to other
companiesâ advertisements, sometimes its competitorsâ. For instance, while
P&Gâs âThank You Mumâ campaign was highly successful on the website
Pinterest, the very same website has large numbers of users pinning up
Unileverâs products.
34. ⢠P&G uses the major social media sites Facebook, Youtube and
Twitter. It has only a minor presence on other sites such as Pinterest
and Google+. Also, none of the Chinese sites are used, despite
China being a big market for P&G, and that the Chinese have no
access to the three sites due to government ban. Therefore, P&G has
to channel more resources towards the other major sites such as
Google + as well as Chinese sites in order to achieve enough reach.
Also, inherent in online advertising is the lowered media impact.
Although social media allows P&G to interact with its customers,
the degree of exposure remains controlled by the user. For instance,
it is up to the user to decide to join P&Gâs Facebook group and
thereby be a target of P&Gâs marketing. As such, P&G needs to
raise the media impact beyond using ambassadors or advocacy
campaigns. For instance, it can link the online campaigns to offline
activity.
35.
36. ⢠The purpose of social media is to allow sharing of events in life with friends.
P&Gâs current catalogue of largely product advertisements is poor sharing material
and may portray a negative, overly monetarily-oriented brand image. Instead, it
should harness this desire of users to share experiences to sculpt positive brand
experiences. Through the websites, it can invite users to real-life product-related
events, and subsequently post positive images of customers in the event. In this
way, the event material becomes personal for the users, spurring sharing and
positive online word of mouth, thereby building positive brand images. Another
action that P&G should consider is to expand on the market segments targeted on
social media. Currently, the main segment targeted is 25- to 54-year-old women.
While this may be suitable for a majority of its products, there remains uncovered
ground. The existing groups that P&G has are may not have sufficient appeal to
retain the attention of the uncovered segments. It can consider having separate
social media groups to deal with other significant market segments. For instance, it
can have a group to handle the male market for brands.Examples of such brands
include Old Spice, Zirh, Art of Shaving, Dunhill, Gucci colognes and Hugo Boss
fragrances. In this instance, it could hold events that appeal to men, such as sports
events, and subsequently post the event pictures on the groups. Other possible
segments include the singles for its fragrances and the various specific regions in
the world to handle region-specific products.
37. Risks FacedGoing Forward.
⢠As a multi-national corporation
(MNC), P&G faces many potential
risks as it moves forward. This
section examines these risks in a
macro and micro-environment
conceptual tool framework.
38. Macro-environment risks in a PESTFramework.
Political â Managing Cross-Border Regulations -
⢠P&G has significant international operations, and
especially since the markets with the most growth are
overseas, they face many potential risks in the global
macro-environmentâs political arena such as compliance
with foreign country regulations, foreign currency
fluctuations, fiscal policies, difficulties enforcing
intellectual property rights abroad, difficulty ensuring
quality control in its international manufacturing plants
and protectionist trade barriers. Examples of such can be
seen in the mandated price cuts in Venezuela and import
curbs in Argentina.
39. Economic and Social-Cultural â ChangingConsumer
Demand due to Recession -
⢠The recent economic recession in USA, P&Gâs most important market,
brought down the discretionary income of USA family households and
depressed citizensâ spending power, especially the middle class. This
has prompted a change in the social aspect of peopleâs lifestyles and
preferences and made them even more value conscious, resulting in a
switch from mid-range to lower end products, a range which P&G
does not have, thus detrimentally affecting its profits. The recession
may be long-term, prompting P&G to rethink its positioning in the
market to cater to the lower end. P&G historically has always used
product differentiation and innovation as its competitive advantage,
putting forward to consumers its value proposition of âmore for moreâ,
charging a premium on its products for their added benefits, and
targeting them towards the middle class. With cash-strapped people
rethinking whether high-quality is a necessity, there is a general switch
to cheaper alternatives. This is a great potential risk to P&Gâs future
success and dominance as a market leader.
40.
41. ⢠Thus P&G may need to reposition itself to
cater to the change in customer spending
power and offer âmore for lessâ to
customers, offering value for money at
lower prices. This in fact could be seen
as downward stretching product line
decision by P&G to snatch market share
at the lower end. Of course this may pose
risks of cannibalization of its existing high
end products as well as image dilution of
its established brands, but it may be a
cost worth paying if it can gain back its
market share in the developed markets.
42. Economic â Rise in CommodityPrices .
Given the nature of its business of (Fast Moving
Consumer Goods (FMCGs), P&G is affected by
fluctuations in the commodity market, especially
for fuel and oil which is used heavily, from
producing its beauty line to distribution for almost
all of its products. This was previously
demonstrated when P&G was forced to increase
prices to reflect the jump in commodity prices a
few years ago (Jopson, 2011). P&G can introduce
smaller-sized packages for their products, or
substitute for materials less sensitive to commodity
costs to overcome this risk
43. Socio-Cultural â Shift of Focus to New Market Target
Segments.
⢠Another potential risk that P&G faces would be the new
shift of focus towards the new developing markets.
According to the Boston Consulting Groupâs (BCG)
Matrix, the developed market has matured, resulting in
low market growth. With regard to many of P&Gâs
brands, they hold a high market share there, thus
attaining âCash Cowâ status. P&G has realized this and
is using the profits enjoyed from the âCash Cowâ market
to fund entry into new markets. This, coupled with the
decline of USA and Europe due to recession, has given
P&G ample incentive to shift focus to developing
countriesâ emerging markets, namely India and China, in
order to prop up its dropping net sales volumes. In an
effort to penetrate into this new market with new product
lines, P&G, according to Ansoffâs Matrix, has adopted a
diversification strategy, riding on its established brands
44.
45. ⢠An example of such would be Tideâs soap bars to cater to
Indian women who traditionally use soap bars to wash
clothes and are not rich enough to own a washing
machine, a prerequisite of Tideâs liquid-based laundry
detergent products. Emerging marketsâ demand centres
on low-cost consumer goods, thus P&G needs to position
itself in developing markets with a âless for lessâ value
proposition to capture market share. An example would
be one of its products, Tide âBasicâ. âBasicâ is a new
laundry detergent product with less features at a lower
cost to target consumers looking for better-value
alternatives (Osak, 2009). That being said, much still
needs to be done to dominate in the new developing
markets and P&G is actually lagging behind its rivals in
this area. P&G has previously done well in its product mix
decisions to lengthen existing lines by acquiring multiple
established brands under its umbrella. However to
succeed in the new market, it needs to change focus to
46. Technological â Changes in Channels of Distribution -
⢠P&G has historically focused on selling at retail outlets, but with
technological progression and the rise of E-commerce,
consumers may start demanding online avenues for shopping.
P&G needs to keep up with the times and provide such avenues
in order not to give opportunities to other competitors. Opening
online stores could also be seen as a way to bypass traditional
retailers like Walmart and Target, allowing customers to enjoy
lower prices online and shop from the convenience of their
homes. New channels of distribution could even be used as a
means of further differentiation from competitors to appeal to
consumers, though by this time, developing Ecommerce is seen
more of a necessity to be on par with competitors rather than a
point of difference. P&G has indeed realized this and
experimented with an initial online store opening, but they need
to expand faster online if they are to dominate as market leaders
in this arena, or risk being overtaken.
47. Micro-environment Risks in a Conceptual Framework.
Company â Risks of Brand Extension.
⢠P&G often does brand-extension and they must be careful not to have a
new product âflopâ or it may adversely affect the original product. One
current brand extension example is the Pampers brand rolling off its âDry
Maxâ version of the original Pampers âSwaddlers and Cruisersâ. Apparently
the âDry Maxâ version started to cause rashes to babies who wore them and
this soon negatively affected Pampers as a whole with boycotts on even its
original products due to consumer fear that the rashes may be caused by all
Pampers Brand products as a whole (Reuters, 2011). This highlights the
potential risk that brand extension brings to whole product groups as a
âflopâ on one would spark a boycott on all. Also, the introduction of the
earlier mentioned Tide âBasicâ also devalues the brand name of Tide, a
brand long known for being a premier laundry detergent choice. This in
turn hurts the brand image (Osak, 2009). This indeed is one of the
disadvantages of family branding as failure (or cheapness in this case) may
cause association with the rest of the brand and lead to peoplesâ doubts on
the quality consistency of the brand.
48.
49. ⢠P&G purchases almost all its raw materials
from outside suppliers and it has some key
sole supplier or sole manufacturer supply
arrangements. As such, the supplier may
have superior bargaining power or it may
not have enough supply to fuel P&Gâs ever-
growing sales demands. This is evidenced
by the recent supply side delays in its Tide
Pods and Gillette shavers leading to
shortages. To prevent suppliers from taking
advantage of P&G, they have healthy
relationships with their suppliers, and also
have many performance metrics for their
suppliers. P&G should also have in place a
contingency plan in the event a supplier
fails.
50. ⢠With new innovations such as the Tide Pod,
there are often complex and new
manufacturing systems needed. As a result,
it is difficult to source for many suppliers, and
P&G often has to rely on a key manufacturer
to provide for all the demand. This posed a
problem for P&G when they had to delay the
launch of their Tide Pods due to insufficient
supply from their key manufacturer. They
could possibly delay the launch of a new,
highly anticipated product, if they foresee a
demand shortage to ensure that every
consumer would have sufficient quantity, thus
resulting in an increase in consumer
satisfaction, although the trade-off maybe the
initial disappointment from a delayed product.
51. Competitors â Intense Competition in EmergingMarkets .
⢠Another problem is revealed by a competitor analysis of new
emerging markets using Porterâs Five Forces. Other heavy-
weight MNCs, such as Unilever, have also started to jump on the
emerging market bandwagon, leading to intense competitive
rivalry in these markets. The degree of substitutes for household
items such as razors and shampoo is thus high with multiple
MNCâs selling the same thing. Though P&G is still considered a
large player in the new market, it is currently lagging behind
Unilever in India. In addition, not only is the competition against
other MNCs, but also against the developing economies own
home-grown businesses who have established themselves to be
comparable to the MNCs in those markets and have a stronger
home following due to localsâ customer loyalty. Competition has
and will always be a prevalent problem and P&G needs to
unceasingly innovate and distinguish itself if it hopes to remain at
the top.