Church & Dwight: Time to Rethink the Portfolio? A case report prepared for MG 495 Business Policy

About everyone at some age, at some point or another, and in some country has gotten a sample of American's symbol for fast food through the golden arches of McDonald's. This report will attempt to analyze the external and internal sectors that affect the company's success. The external analysis will provide opportunities and threats while the internal analysis will show indicators of strength and weakness. It will then follow up with critical issues, strategic alternatives, recommendations and implementation. The case studied is found in Appendix 2 of Mary Coulter's "Strategic Management in Action" book.

CASE 35 – CHURCH & DWIGHT: TIME TO RETHINK THE PORTFOLIO? I. INTRODUCTION A. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Summary statement of the problem: Church & Dwight, more commonly known by its brand name “Arm & Hammer,” has held a commanding lead in the sodium bicarbonate product market for over 160 years with virtually 99 percent of all consumer products in households within the United States. However, in order to promote growth and diversity while maintaining a steady profitability rate of 3-5 percent per year, the company has expanded uses of sodium bicarbonate products so that it

The success of McSweeney’s as a brand is due to the McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern and its reflection of the unique character of founder Dave Eggers

Questions 1: How would you describe McDonald 's business strategy? What are the foundations of its competitive advantage?

For this particular marketing assignment we are looking at an organisation based in the leafy suburb of Brisbane. The business is a home wares stores chain by two friends and business partners who have invested quite a huge sum of money and are running the business smoothly, but as always see the need for more growth and more profits on balance sheet. The strategies of the business have to completely match or outlive that of the rivals of the business so as to meet and obtain any growth.

The current strategy of the company is to enter foreign markets and to succeed there. The corporate main strategy is to provide high quality product to its customers.

1. Adams espouses a “market first” analysis of opportunity by looking for discontinuities. Is this substantive or window-dressing? Do the four types of discontinuities represent applicable guidelines? Are they comprehensive, or are there other discontinuity templates that a venture investor would find useful?

Strategy formulation has been acknowledged as one of the most crucial factors of ensuring the long-term growth of the business. However, the manner in which strategy is formulated, and most importantly, the nature of the strategy chosen for the company determines its future position in the marketplace (Grant, 2005).

In January 1980, the management of the Marriott Corporation found itself in an interesting dilemma: not only did the corporation have considerable excess debt capacity, but projections of future operations and cash flows indicated that this capacity was on the rise. For Marriott, excess debt capacity was viewed as comparable to unused plant capacity because the existing equity base could support additional productive assets. Management was therefore faced with two problems. First, it needed to determine the amount of funds that would be available if Marriott's full debt capacity were utilized. Second, management needed to decide whether to invest excess funds in new or existing businesses, or to return them to the companies shareholders

Portfolio and project management are similar and sometimes thought of as being one another. Between the project and portfolio management the goals and the intended strategic action is similar. The process between the portfolio management includes and involves the resources that list a process, which includes the evaluation, selection, and prioritization. Portfolio management and strategic management assist with the organizations missions and goals. These lay out the objective in the continuous planning and monitoring that assist with reaching the goals.

  Church & Dwight Co., Inc., founded in 1846, is the world's leading producer of sodium bicarbonate, popularly known as baking soda, a natural product which cleans, deodorizes leavens and buffers. The Company's Arm & Hammer brand is one of the nation's most trusted trademarks for numerous consumer and specialty products. The company has multiple plants in United States and Brazil from where they export their product. Their subsidiary in Brazil also manufactures various inorganic chemicals, such as sodium sulfide, sodium sulfite, sodium metabisulfite, barium carbonate, barium sulfate and barium chloride. Church & Dwight consumer products can be broken into four categories: deodorizing and

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO Liautaud Graduate School of Business Department of Finance Professor Hsiu-lang Chen 1 Practice Problem I

What if I was Castro-Wright: Each strategy option has its own set of strengthens and weaknesses. The geography dimension is the primary since Wal-Mart expanded to far away from the center. I believe the Customer (Market) Grouping is appropriate design for such large scale company.

The success the Snapple Beverage Company had achieved by the early 1990s drew the attention of the Quaker Oats Company which bought it in 1994 for $1.7 billion, and planned on maximizing the professedly unequivocal synergies between the “funky” iced tea brand and their established Gatorade brand. Despite Quaker’s efforts and ambition, which some might classify as hubris, the company’s decision to acquire Snapple is often regarded as a clamorous example of a merger and acquisition disaster. This paper analyzes Quaker’s failures using the 4 P’s framework, and proposes an action plan for Triarc’s turn-around of the Snapple brand, tailoring it to a modern market setting.

| WO Strategies: * Make merger and acquisitions in order to improve the marketing strategies. * Improve their advertising using new methods.