real-world’ strategic report in business operating major

real-world’ strategic report in business operating major
Colgate-Palmolive Colgate –Palmolive is a consumer goods American multinational company headquartered on Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York. The company is involved in the production and marketing of consumer products focused on Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition in the United States and more 200 other countries. In 2015, the company’s sales totaled $16 billion half of which were from outside the United States. The company was founded in 1806 by William Colgate, an immigrant soap and candle maker in New York, Colgate under the name “William Colgate & Company”. Its first products were starch, soap, and candles. After 211 years of operating, Colgate has diversified its product line and distribution worldwide. Today, it operates in more than two hundred through its numerous subsidiaries. Following the sale of its underperforming brands to Phoenix brands in a strategic moved aimed at focusing on higher margin products, the company’s focus is on the oral care, home care, personal care and pet nutrition products. The company’s most recognizable brands include Colgate, Palmolive, Axion, Ajax and Speed Sticki. Colgate-Palmolive has been long embroiled in competition with Procter & Gamble which is the world’s largest soap and detergent maker. The two companies manufacture and market similar productsii. However, Colgate-Palmolive remains the market leader in oral care. The company dominates the global toothpaste and manual toothbrush markets with a share market of between thirty five percent and forty five percent respectively as of 2015. In this segment, the company’s bands compete with Procter & Gamble’s Crest, Church & Dwight’s ARM &HAMMER and GlaxoSmithKline’s Sensodyne. The most important force that most critically affect the industry’s average profit potential is rrivalry. Palmolive faces a lot of rivalry from both international consumer goods companies and local competitors in the markets that it operates. First of all, there are many competitors in the fast moving consumer products segment. This range from the big multinational corporations to local competitors in the various markets such as in emerging economies. Some of the big multinationals that compete in this market segment include Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Clorox, Kimberley-Clark and L’Oréal. Procter & Gamble remains the biggest competitor in the industry and has the broadest and biggest portfolio of products in the household and personal care market segment. Moreover, the major competitors in this industry possess operations of virtually similar sizes as well as products that are almost undifferentiated. As a result, they are easily substitutable making the threat from substitutes to be very high. This results in the firms competing fiercely on price and in competitive pricing. High competition on price can also erode the margins in the industry requiring the company to sell high volumes in order to remain profitable. Another force that has a significant impact on the industry is the bargaining power of the buyer. The market for fast moving consumer goods is highly educated regarding the products. Consumers are also aware of the various alternatives that exist and have high expectations to get value for their money. One of the key environmental changes likely to influence the consumer goods industry is the rise of the emerging markets as a major source of growthiii. Emerging markets across the globe present strong growth opportunities for consumer goods marketers including Colgate Palmolive. As consumers in wealthier emerging markets such as Russia, India and China become increasingly sophisticated, there is need for consumer goods companies to expand their reach to serve this segment. Colgate Palmolive has leveraged on this consumer segment and has a strong international brand presence. As a result, the company is highly exposed to the emerging markets relative to its competitors. This is beneficial to the company given the growth opportunities inherent in emerging economies as compared to the developed markets where growth has fairly stagnated. Consequently, the company is exposed to more profit opportunities. Indeed, about half of the company’s sales came from the rapidly growing emerging markets. Technological trends and especially the rise of ecommerce and social media are another trend that is likely to influence the consumer goods industry. In the past, size gave fast moving consumer product manufacturers an astounding advantage. Centralized decision making and consolidation of operations as well as economies of scale helped the big multinationals expand their margins. With their huge financial base, they could outspend the smaller companies on advertising and see their sales rise. They were also able to pay for prominent placement on the retail stores. However, the rise of digital media, buoyed by social networking and mobile has led to customers learning about products on the social networks and from online reviews. Small firms can also outsource production and advertise their products online. With ecommerce, distribution is also getting easier. Newer brands buoyed by success from online sales can easily move into big stores. This trend could provide a big opening for smaller brands to steal market share from established brands like Colgate-Palmolive and its big competitors such as Procter & Gamble and Unileveriv i Hellman, J. (2016, May 09). Colgate Palmolive Company: A Quick SWOT Analysis. Retrieved from Value Line: http://www.valueline.com/Stocks/Highlights/Colgate_Palmolive_Company_A_Quick_SWOT_Analysis.aspx ii Whitfield, P. (2013, October 16). Colgate Vs. Procter & Gamble: Who Wins Classic Match? Retrieved from Investors Business Daily: http://www.investors.com/research0the-income-investor/which-is-better-colgate-or-procter-gamble/ iii Brennan, J., Kelly, G., & Martinez, A. (2013, December). Tough Choices for consumer-goods companies. Retrieved from McKinsey: www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-sights/tough-choices-for-consumer-goods-companies iv The Economist. (2016, July 9). Invasion of the bottle snatchers. Retrieved from The Economist: https://www.economist.com/news/business/21701798-smaller-rivals-are-assaulting-worlds-biggest-brands-invasion-bottle-snatchers
real-world’ strategic report in business operating major
The report is to examine and address some ‘real-world’ strategic issues. So I need a professional operating or business major writer. The report is 4 pages double spaced. It relates to presentation which I have already done. The presentation is departed to part 1 and 2. I have already done paper for presentation 1. This paper is following what I have done. It needs to relate to presentation 2. I will upload the presentation slides for both 1 and 2, and the paper I have done before for presentation 1. More information will be uploaded below. The components of the project will be based on research that you do over the course of the term The group project is an opportunity to examine and address some ‘real-world’ strategic issues. The components of the project will be based on research that you do with your group over the course of the term Group Project Contents Introduction (should be included in both Presentation I and Final Paper) Begin your presentation and paper with a short summary section that identifies and briefly describes the company and summarizes its history. Include what businesses it is in if the firm is diversified. In a paper, this section should be less than a page. External analysis (should be included in both Presentation I and Final Paper) First, identify the important industries and/or market segments for your firm as well as the key competitors in those industries/segments. Next, determine the attractiveness of the industry (i.e. is the profit potential in the industry high, medium or low?) by doing the full analysis of Porter’s five forces. Identify the most important one or two key forces that most critically affect the industry’s average profit potential. If your firm is in more than one industry, choose one to analyze here. You can choose to define the ‘industry’ your firm is in more broadly or narrowly, just be clear about the industry or industry segment you have chosen to analyze. In your presentation, you’re expexted to present the full analysis of five forces. After that, conclude your analysis with what you think is/are the most important one or two key forces that influence the average profitability of the industry. You have to justify your choice. In your paper, however, do not report the entire five forces analysis of the industry. Based on the full analysis you’ve done for the presentation, include only the most important one or two key forces with a short summary of your justification. Finally, describe one or two key general environment changes or trends likely to affect the industry in the future, and describe how these will affect industry attractiveness overall and how they matter strategically for your company. Be as specfic as possible here (e.g., not just “technology” – what specific events or trends and specifically how will they affect the industry broadly as well as your company more specifically). Be sure to provide reasons and evidence to support your claims. Historical performance analysis (should be included in both Presentation II and Final Paper). Analyze the company’s financial performance over the last 5 to 10 years by calculating operating and net margins for each of those years. Compare the company’s performance to the firm’s key competitors (you may want to consider additional financial performance data in your analysis). The point is not just to have you report these data in the paper and presentation, but to draw conclusions from analyzing the data. Does the firm have a competitive advantage? Internal analysis (should be included in both Presentation II and Final Paper). First, identify the critical resources and capabilities of the company and two or three ‘core competencies.’ If you believe the firm has a competitive advantage, it should be clear from your analysis which core competencies or combinations of resources and capabilities make this advantage possible. Is it sustainable? Second, analyze the firms’ strategies. Explain the company’s corporate level strategy and (main) business-level strategies. Include an analysis of recent alliance/M&A activity if appropriate. Identify challenges and why you expect these efforts to be successful or not. Describe the firm’s international strategy, if appropriate. Are these strategies justified by your internal analysis? Why or why not? Do they make sense given the external environment? Be sure to support your assertions with reasons, evidence, and strong logic. In sum, your arguments should explain your company’s historical relative performance by drawing on your knowledge of the company’s internal environment and strategies. Key issue (should be included in both Presentation II and Final Paper). Determine what you believe is the most important strategic challenge or issue your company faces. The issue should follow from (and be strongly supported by) your analysis to this point (including the information on the external environment). There will be numerous issues facing your company, but choose one issue and justify your choice. Recommendations (should be included in both Presentation II and Final Paper). Finally, develop a compelling set of recommendations for the firm going forward that will address the key issue. In many cases, you will find that your project firm is contemplating implementing – or has already implemented – several specific strategic actions. You may believe these are appropriate actions for the firm, or you may believe the firm should pursue a different path. Develop two or three recommendations about what the firm should do going forward, and describe at least one risk associated with each recommendation. The recommendations should be feasible and should address the key issue and also build clearly on the analyses you offered earlier. Be as specific as possible in explaining the recommendations and how the firm will benefit. For example, instead of saying that ABC company should “acquire a company,” try to suggest possible candidates and be specific about the benefits of a particular candidate. Your recommendations should demonstrate that you understand the firm’s external and internal environments and its strategies, that you understand the frameworks we are MGO 403 Chu/Spring 2017 Group project instructions 3 studying in the course, and that you have based your conclusions on reasons built from data and other evidence. Guidelines specific to Paper Written strategic analyses are often prepared in business settings as part of planning or consulting projects, and are often conducted in a group. The paper assignment require you to gather, sift through, and integrate information into a coherent written analysis similar to what you would experience in a work setting. Please follow the guidelines below: Length & format. The paper should be 3 double-spaced pages. Page limits encourage you to distill your ideas and communicate them clearly. The page limit applies to text only and doesn’t include the title page, table of contents, executive summary, and exhibits or references. Please use 11 or 12 point font with 1” margins all around and number the pages. Style/content tips. When writing the paper imagine you have been hired to be an impartial analyst to deliver an objective assessment of the company for investors or potential acquirers. In other words, choosing to study a company doesn’t mean you love the company or are expected to make a ‘sales pitch’ for the company. Strive for language that is clear and precise, and strive to make factual, objective statements. Use evidence from more than one source, and not just from the company website. Avoid hyperbole. It can be hard to write this way because much of what we read and hear about business in the media is a counterexample. But do your best – it will make you a more critical consumer of business information as well as a better communicator. Also, please write in sentences and paragraphs, not bullet points. It’s fine to use bullet points in the exhibits, but not in the text. I strongly recommend that one or two group members are given the authority to edit and pull the parts together, in the interests of generating a cohesive and persuasive report. Though grading will be focused on the strength of your analysis and recommendations, style will also be evaluated. References and appendices. You can add the relevant references for your data sources just by ‘inserting’ an endnote at the appropriate spot in the text and listing the relevant reference. Use the endnote format (rather than footnote format) so your references are all listed on one page at the end of your paper. For websites, include the URL (so I can click through to see your source) and include a brief description of what the site is and how you used it (a few words is sufficient). If you quote directly from other sources, use quotation marks and cite page numbers. If you paraphrase or use ideas from other sources, please also cite them. You may include appendices (e.g., tables, charts or figures), provided they are explained somewhere in the text. Do not include exhibits that are not integrated into the text in some way. Data sources. You may use any sources of data as long as you are not restricted from doing so by confidentiality issues. The UB Libraries are a useful source of data. Much of what the library has is available online, although some resources are only available on-site. Business reference librarians are available for assistance. Grading criteria. The papers will be graded along three main criteria: (1) have the required elements of the assignment been completed? (2) have the key concepts been applied correctly? and (3) are the arguments & explanations clearly expressed and convincing (e.g. coherent and well supported with evidence)