Portfolio Overview of Unilever and P&G Essay

• A situation where a reduction in production will result in less overhead allocated to the respective product

2 Reduced waste: With improved systems there would be reduction in waste and fewer defects in the products. This will help in adding to the profits. Logistical improvements will help in better organisation of physical space required and viable transportation and reduction in the waiting times for the materials required, thus giving lesser room for wasting time.

Increase production efficiency by consolidation in manufacturing facilities. With a higher production volume, the new AGI might be able to negotiate for lower cost from different suppliers and manufacturers.

Q.1 Why did Grolsch Globalize and how well has it performed internationally? Reasons for Global Expansion: Grolsch faced less demand in Netherland (Home) to its products in 1970’s. At the same time its rivalry Heineken was moving impressive in an international market. Grolsch acquired German brand called as Wickuler due to which the capacity of Grolsch was doubled. Grolsch also bought Ruddles, UK brand to create distribution network for its own brands. In 1990, Eastern Europe started opening up which resulted an investment in Poland & Russia. Although Gorlsch acquired aforesaid brands Wickuler was sold to to another German brand

Unilever, founded in 1929, is an Anglo–Dutch multinational consumer goods company. Its headquarters are in London, England and in Rotterdam, Netherlands as well. It is the world's third-largest consumer goods company as of 2012. It is also one of the oldest multinational companies in the world, its products include food, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. And these products are available in 190 countries.

Canada Goose has experienced steady organic growth as a niche brand, selling their product through independently owned stores. By June 2008 it was selling product in 28 different countries across North America and Europe plus two authorized online retailers. Now it has a significant opportunity to further cement itself as a market leader by placing its product with a national chain. Initially, Canada Goose considered offers from two national chain retailers. One offer came from a Canadian chain called Asmuns Place. Another offer came from Levene’s Menswear. Table 1 provides a high level overview and compares these two offers.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) is a Fortune 500 American multinational company, and a world 's leading consumer goods company. P&G’s work is driven by a Purpose of providing branded products and services of superior quality and value to improve the lives of the world’s consumers now and for generations to come. P&G now has 50 Leadership Brands, which are among the world 's best known and which account for more than 90% of P&G sales. P&G entered the Chinese market through a joint venture in 1988. Now, P&G is the most successful foreign marketer in China as measured by market share.

In 2000, Unilever decided to reduce 1,600 brands down to 400 and then select a small number of them to serve as “Masterbrands”. One of the reasons to have fewer brands is to decrease control issues. It is harder to manage so many brands, especially when each one has its own particularities. As Deighton pointed, Unilever’s brand portfolio had grown in a relatively laissez-faire manner. In other words, the company’s brands were created without large interference.

The main issue of the P&G Korea case is centered around the question of market share. P&G and Unilever are the two major market shareholders in the Korean detergent industry holding 80-85% of the total market share. The remaining 15-20% of the market is held by low-priced local Korean brands. There are no new markets either company can tap for further market share since most Korean households already use laundry detergent, making the market saturated. Other than peripheral chemical changes claimed to be “improvements”, there are no major innovations to be explored for product development or diversification. Per Ansoff’s strategic opportunities matrix, P&G and Unilever are both focused on Market Penetration,

To understand the role of H-E-B’s Own Brands, we need to understand the role of private labels to a retail store. Retailers manufacture carry private brands since retail gross margins in the private labels are relatively high. Retailers are able to realize cost advantages since they do not have additional advertising and distribution costs associated with private labels. In addition to increasing profits, store brands help to attract and retain customers. Retailers however need the critical procurement revenue from national brands for ad space and displays on stores and hence need to maintain a balance between their Own Brands and national brands.

By reducing the introduction of new products, cost such as product development, R&D and advertising can be avoided.

The manufacturing cost can be lower as the rearrangement of the production line to meet urgent order can be minimize or even eliminated.

The move to the state-of-the-art facility will result in the organization being more efficient and will as well result in quicker pull of inventory and quicker shipment. Furthermore, stock will be handled more efficiently with less errors resulting in higher profits for the organization.

Through a joint venture franchising structure with fairly rigorous contractual stipulations Michel’s central administration were able to expand the business to China “on a shoestring” while still maintaining “arms length control” of how the Chinese business was run. The licensee and joint venture partner bore the financial risks, while risks of damage to the brand that a failed venture would cause were deemed negligible due to China being so far away from the Australian market.

For international business strategy, Hill and Jones (2004) suggested that there is four basic components of strategy development need to be addressed by a firm in order to succeed in foreign markets. These components are: ¡¥distinctive competence¡¦, ¡¥scope of operations¡¦, ¡¥resource deployment¡¦, and ¡¥synergy¡¦. By applying the theory, it is revealed that Whirlpool¡¦s distinctive competence is its brand name ¡V Whirlpool, the world¡¦s largest white-goods manufacturer. For the scope of operations, Whirlpool is specialised in broad middle market niche of white-goods products. In terms of resource deployment, Whirlpool allocates the resources equally to its three product lines. As far as synergy concern, due to the poor business performance of Bauknecht and Ignis, Whirlpool is not benefited in whole.