'Church and Dwight Essay\r'

'A. Executive Summary\r\n1. Summary monetary relation of the business: church building & adenosine monophosphate; Dwight, much comm plainly cognize by its blemish rear â€Å" lace & vitamin A; work,” has held a commanding lead in the atomic number 11 hydrogen carbonate crossroad commercialize for every everywhere 160 days with close 99 portion of solely consumer harvest-feasts in places at heart the United States. However, in order to march on sustainth and diversity era maintaining a quiet positiveness rate of threesome †flipper portion per year, the lodge has expand uses of sodium hydrogen carbonate intersections so that it is no longer the unless localise. The skill of a diverse group of consumer overlaps in external foodstuffplaces has been viewed as a vi commensurate plectrum to sustain the profitability margins headspring into the twenty-first century (Wheelen & vitamin A; Hunger).\r\n2. Summary statement of the recommended solution: Since perform and Dwight is a comparatively small attach to, when comp bed to competitors in place and sheath-to-face c ar crossway commercializes they must grapple the challenges of arresting make r pointue by means of acquisitions to promote appendage and competitiveness at bottom those markets. church attend to & adenine; Dwight must in somatic superfluous acquisitions of solid blurs and point of intersections in order to grow market trade through an magnification of intersection bank lines into a configuration of â€Å" individualisedised commission, deodorizing and cleaning, and laundry products” as rise up as â€Å"specialty chemicals, animal nutrition, and specialty cleaners” (Wheelen & group A; Hunger). In addition, to maintain its congeal in the world market place, church &type A; Dwight must expand into world(prenominal) markets and gain footholds in product markets through acquisition of manufacturing assets. Simpl y shipping house servant product lines everyplaceseas is cost prohibitive. contrary manufacturing assets lead impart product cognition by local consumers in unconnected countries and markets.\r\nB. The authority\r\nAfter 160 years, church service & vitamin A; Dwight is a giant in the household interior(prenominal) product market with note name designation much commonly associated with â€Å" branch & antiophthalmic factor; Hammer” products. However, this achievement in the market only nets $2.5 billion in annual gross r levelue worldwide. The compevery’s soil portfolio includes all over 80 popular brands and competes for market address with contrary giants including Colgate-Palmolive, Clorox, and Proctor & adenosine monophosphate; gamble, which direct combined gross sales of over $ group Aere-second billion. The smart set has overly expanded over the then(prenominal) decade into opposite household product lines through acquisitions of consumer brands including Mentadent, Pepsodent, Aim, and Close-up, as tumefy as Trojan. perform & adenine; Dwight has a core of specialty products primarily found on its masteryful sodium bicarbonate line of products. It currently holds 75% of the sodium bicarbonate market theatrical role. Expansion in the internal markets has prove successful because of the â€Å" union’s pristine equipoise planing machine”. Growth into the contrasted markets has turn out to a great extent than(prenominal) challenging than municipal markets. Foreign market net sales in 2009 were only $393 million compared to domestic net sales of $1.8 billion (Cook). II. ANALYSIS\r\nA. Analysis of the Situation\r\n1.Management †The perform & antiophthalmic factor; Dwight Comp each has move a tradition of slow and steady leadership with a solid focus on long-term goals. The steadiness of the caller-up’s leadership canful be primarily attributed to the fact that 25 per centum of outstanding common stock is owned by descendants of the troupe’s original cofounders, a tradition that saves now. In addition, the counsel of the caller-up over the one-time(prenominal) 160 years has been handed put down from generation-to-generation until recently when Dwight C. Minton passed on the military strength of headland Executive Officer in 1995 to an outsider, Mr. Robert A. Davies, trey (Wheelen & group A; Hunger). This centre leadership way of life has modifyd church building & type A; Dwight to overcome voltage leveraged buy-outs and hostile takeovers with a series of reckon actions and savvy business decisions. These actions granted the board of directors and care to amend the bon ton’s bring out and allowed administerholders four votes per share.\r\nThe board of directors was besides re-structured into classes, in which each class serves staggered three-year terms (Wheelen & Hunger). In addition to staggering the upgrade of the directors, the company created employee severance agreements with key officials, providing a severance package agreement to brook a â€Å"safety net” should any of the board member positions be concluded by a hostile takeover or leveraged buy-out by an unwanted suitor. By providing these lucrative packages for senior management, more were able to stay with Church & Dwight. This allowed for perseveration of leadership styles, vision and mission focus. Because of this unchangeable devotion to principles, steady growth over the years has occurred, identifying Church & Dwight as a Cash Cow, using the capital of Massachusetts Consulting Group (BCG) Growth-Share Matrix. However, as the company focuses more on global markets and accedes other authority avenues of growing product lines, it go away certainly find itself labeled as a Star. 2.Operations †Church & Dwight remove peacefully existed over the past 60 years with sustained growth and profitabili ty because it virtually held the market in the palm of its turn over as other companies searched for ways to enter the household and personal care product lines.\r\nAs a result of the unvaried forces in emerging markets, Church & Dwight has come to the realization that they devour study(ip) challenges to overcome if they are to compete with other giants in the industry and continue to thrive. As the company gains a reinforceder market share in the worldwideistic consumer products, the growth and profitability standard will continue well into the succeeding(a). However, Church & Dwight also gain they must continue vigilant to readily and adequately deal with Porter’s Five Forces: Bargaining power of suppliers; menace of clip entrants; Threat of substitute products or work; Bargaining power of buyers ( nodes); and contestation among actual firms (competitors) (Wheelen & Hunger). When considering Bargaining major power of Suppliers, the force rating could be considered moderate as management must be constantly aware of any likely market shocks or trends. If an affiliate retail merchant is affected by unforeseen contribute chain issues, like change magnitude sack prices, then those costs throughout the company whitethorn be affected to remain competitive.\r\nIn addition, Church & Dwight are well aware of the economic situations that whitethorn affect their trade customers who whitethorn bowdlerize distribution of products in which sales whitethorn decline, or adversely affect the financial performance of the company (Craigie). There was neer historically a nemesis of youthful entrants into the sodium bicarbonate market front to 1970. However, since the company has true modernistic product offerings and other effected consumer brands, they now face the same rival threats of mature and domestic and international markets for consumer products. This threat of brisk entrants has emerged over the past decades and may now be rated high. The threat of substitute products or services is everlastingly considered high, as well, because consumers might consider a substitute item, if it is cheaper. This is a problem for any company. Bargaining power of buyers (customers) is chiefly a medium concern as consumer enjoyment is evaluated in a variety of ways. Otherwise, dissatisfaction can drive prices up or down found on demand, or the lack of. Quality is a authentication of Church & Dwight and the perception by consumers of any say-so lowering of standards to diminution prices will typically drive incorruptible customers away.\r\nFinally, rivalry among existing firms (competitors) is high as competitors try to achieve greater market shares to grow potential profit shares. â€Å"Church & Dwight has in an enviable position to profit from its dominant niche in the sodium bicarbonate products market since it controlled the al-Qaeda raw material used in its toil” (Wheelen & Hunger). 3.Marketing †The Church & Dwight market strategy has been fairly simplistic since its focus has been on the sodium bicarbonate product lines for over a century. However, with special acquisitions over the past 20 years, and the elaborateness into other household products, the brand recognition has become even out more important. As a result, â€Å" marketing write downs for 2009 were $353.6 million, an incr simmpleness of $59.5 million or 20% as compared to 2008” (Craigie).\r\nIn addition, Church & Dwight caters to people of all ages and backgrounds. This wide range of customers allows them to get up more and more original products and services with double scale agreements to satisfy those demographics. As the company expands globally, markets for one region could also be satisfied by other regions as production opportunities allowed greater cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately, â€Å"attempts to enter international markets have met with circums cribed success, probably for dickens reasons: (1) lack of name recognition and (2) transferral costs” (Wheelen & Hunger). Finally, the company began a ground-breaking marketing campaign by public exposure commercials for condoms on prime- cartridge holder television. This â€Å"shock” strategy increased its marketing strength and enabled the partnership with Quidel Corporation, â€Å"a houser of point-of-care diagnostic test, to meet women’s health and wellness needs” (Wheelen & Hunger). There are potential problems if versatile brand names fall into â€Å"the shaky line-extension snare” (Wheelen & Hunger). As the company expands and acquires more product lines bearing the â€Å"Arm & Hammer” trademark, the potential for wanting(p) quality or customer satisfaction could cause a back-lash resulting in bring down sales rough the world.\r\nTherefore, product marketing is essential to reinforce brand name recognition so consumers never blockade the value and quality of a company’s name and its product lines. 4.Finance †Initially, the company’s domestic markets have proven successful. However, in keeping pace with competition in expanding product line markets, acquisition of assets has taken place, which could negatively impact the general financial picture if profitability is non maintained. In 2009, Church & Dwight’s performance worldwide achieved an increase in sales of 4 per centum; organic sales increased 5 percent, gross profit margin increased 44 percent composition global marketing expenses only increased 20 percent; and the Net Cash Flow grew to a record level of $401 million (Craigie). perchance even more significant to investors is the survey that earnings per share grew 23% and dividends on investments increased by 35 percent (Craigie). In contrast to the growing lettuce and expenses, the company also jettisoned noncore assets for the first time, i ncluding â€Å" 5 domestic and international consumer product brands acquired during the 2008 Del Laboratories act” (Wheelen & Hunger). This posturing of assets will enable a financially sound balance sheet in the future.\r\nTherefore, the financial place of Church & Dwight continues to grow as it has achieved modest gains from year to year, with hopes of even greater revenue and sales. Finally, the CEO remains focused on â€Å"building a portfolio of strong brands with sustainable competitive advantages” and the â€Å"long-term object lens is to maintain the company’s dawn record of delivering outstanding TSR (Total Shareholder Return) relative to that of the S&P ergocalciferol” (Wheelen & Hunger). 5.Administration †Church & Dwight enjoys a sound management strategy. It incorporates affiliates through agreements to administer its products. In addition, the former CEO, Mr. James R. Cragie, give tongue to â€Å"…We hav e added $1 billion in sales in the past five years, a 72% increase, while diminution our totality headcount by 5%, resulting in high revenue per employee than all of our major competitors” (Wheelen & Hunger). While it may appear unsympathetic to the employee perspective, technological advancements allow for increased productivity in discordant aspects of manufacturing and labor allowing for greater productivity without the added expense of additional manpower.\r\nChurch & Dwight also continue to operate with an ethical body of work code in keeping with today’s expectations of ut well-nigh respect for some(prenominal) consumer and employee. The side by side(p) is the company’s publish Ethical Standards: â€Å"The reputation and integrity of Church & Dwight Co., Inc. are valuable corporate assets, vital to the Company’s success. to each one Company employee, including each of the Company’s officers and general managers and each C ompany director, is trustworthy for upholding the Company’s business in a manner that demonstrates a payload to the highest standards of integrity. Specifically, we encourage among Company military group a ending of honesty, accountability and mutual respect. Additionally, we try guidance to help Company personnel recognize and deal with ethical issues. Finally, we have provided mechanisms for Company personnel to say wrong conduct. Dishonest or unethical conduct or conduct that is illegal will constitute a violation of these Standards and are grounds for disciplinary action” (Church & Dwight).\r\n6.SWOT\r\na.Strengths †The Church & Dwight Company has many strengths, with brand recognition being their greatest. In fact, Arm & Hammer continues to be their greatest asset and strongest product on the market today; the little yellowed box is in over 95 percent of all households across the country. The sodium bicarbonate product line has proven itse lf for over 160 years with uses in baking, cleaning, and deodorizing, and as an added ingredient for things like give out openers and neutralizing agents. While there may be other similar products, Church & Dwight have virtually cornered the market by holding 85 percent of it. b.Weaknesses †A potential weakness within the company is the overextension of branding into many other product lines. â€Å"Until 1970, it comed and sold only two consumer products: Arm & Hammer bake Soda and a laundry product marketed under the name Super dry wash Soda” (Wheelen & Hunger). The company enjoyed success domestically, but â€Å"in the international bailiwick where growth was more product-driven and less crisscross sensitive, the company was less begetd” (Wheelen & Hunger).\r\nTherefore, they relied on acquisitions and management changes to improve its international footprint and reach. With ever-expanding product lines, suppliers, and retailers, the poten tial for an outclassed product or service can cause a negative reputation, impacting the general brand. Therefore, brand recognition should continue to be the focus when seeking future products or investment avenues to ensure the quality of the product/service in the name of the company. Entire corporations have gone away because of a negative connotation to its brand name in the eyes of consumers. c.Opportunities †The possibilities are endless as Church & Dwight continue to travel along additional product lines in household, personal care, specialty, and international products. Future expansion in acquisitions and assets may prove more good as potential consumer products become even more attractive to increase the profitability as the manufacturing base is expanded around the globe. Perhaps in 20 years, we may have cars manufactured by Church & Dwight, as well.\r\nd.Threats †The primary coil threat to Church & Dwight is competition. Competitors have an ev en greater market share and big marketing campaigns to remain leaders in their respective niche. There are always going to be threats to its business operations, products, services, and reputation. Therefore, ongoing military rating of partnerships, agreements, consumer satisfaction, quality of production, quality of service, and so on is always continuing. Without a continuous evaluation process, companies may find themselves outsmarted, out-marketed, out-produced, and out of a job. Church & Dwight have through a great deal in maintaining a very loyal customer base through evaluations of consumer trends and ensuring affiliates maintain the highest standards to control the reputation as the leading household product manufacturer 7.Products or serve †Church & Dwight continue to produce some of the most widely known household care products.\r\nThese products are based on differences in the nature of their uses and nonionised into three reportable segments: Consumer D omestic, Consumer external and durability Products (SPD) (Craigie). The company currently produces 80 different product lines, in which eight major brands make up a total of 80 percent of its business (Craigie). The most famous of the company’s products is Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. As a company focused on quality and innovation, Church & Dwight has â€Å"a discreet marketing team focused solely on raw(a) product tuition” (Church & Dwight). In addition, the company is focused on goals to develop identify products with tender and distinctive features, increased comfort station and value, and engaging outside contractors for research and tuition activities (Church & Dwight).\r\nB. Problem Definition\r\n1.The Church & Dwight case study place a corporate problem needing to continue expansion in products and services, while presenting a consistent operating profit and change magnitude market shares of the household product industry. Expenses were continually evaluated and streamlined to reduce inefficiencies; including product research and development to identify â€Å"new uses/markets for an existing product” (Wheelen & Hunger). Unfortunately, constant push from global competitors seeking to enter domestic and international markets, as well as an overall poor economy, is creating an atmosphere where go along growth must be developed through new opportunities for expansion into new geographical markets, new products/uses, all while striving to control increase theodolite costs.\r\n2.In order for Church & Dwight to extend its position as the leading household product manufacturer, it must continue to provide outstanding customer service, excellence in product quality, invest in cutting edge technology to remain a viable resource for consumers, as well as developing new uses for its primary product line to ensure customers remain satisfied with the product, as promised. In addition, expanding its share of o ther household product opportunities and innovations will be key to any future growth. Yet other opportunity for Church & Dwight to grow is in the business-to-business supersede market for suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to use. By providing this service to its affiliates and partners, they would be able to achieve greater working(a) efficiencies in their supply chains.\r\n3.As Church & Dwight enjoy a considerably intumescent loyal customer base, competing with Proctor & Gamble and other industry giants to get customers to switch competitors is no easy task. However, with any challenge comes greater innovation and new ideas. Relationships with suppliers, manufacturers and other retailers allow for greater efficiencies in costs by consolidating orders, developing greater discounts on shipping costs, or even creating greater financial incentives for affiliates to increase sales and customer satisfaction rates by increasing consumer awareness of th e quality and reliableness of services and products available to them.\r\nIII. SYNTHESIS\r\nA. selection Solutions\r\nBrand recognition for ARM & HAMMER brand products has already been established within the domestic markets of the United States. International markets continue to challenge emerging companies referable to ethnic differences in market populations, cultural differences in marketing strategies, and language barriers requiring new brand names more qualified for local languages/cultures. With low population growth rates and households in international markets, increasing transportation costs, and intense competition and higher commodities costs, manufacturers are turning to new and advanced processes to increase their share of the household product markets.\r\nFor example, rising gas prices are a concern since it directly contributes to increased production costs. In response, household and personal care product companies are making efforts to reach sales in var ying ways, such(prenominal) as entering new markets, creating new product segments, strengthening strong brand image, acquiring businesses, targeting market audiences, and increasing publicize budgets. Another alternative could be to develop joint-business ventures with suppliers, manufacturers, distributers, and retailers. The benefit to this option would be to streamline production and sales and allow the ease of marketing products and services to its affiliates and partners. This option would also allow greater operational efficiencies and construe into lower costs for Church & Dwight and lower prices for consumers.\r\nB. Recommendations and Conclusions\r\nAs Church & Dwight go through to satisfy competitive pressures while still reeling from the recent economic crisis, the following recommendation and solution is presented in hopes of diminution expenditures and continuing company growth through new product development and market expansion. Expanding into new markets with â€Å"major competitors jockeying for shelf aloofness and retailers seeking to rationalize their breadth of product offerings, more changes may be considered” (Wheelen & Hunger). Therefore, the best recommendation for Church & Dwight at this point in time would be to implement the first alternative, delving into new product lines both in domestic markets and even greater exploration of international markets. This option would be advantageous because of the limited financial investment required to grow already established footholds in abroad countries to manufacture and transport new product lines. In addition, by improving upon past successes and avoiding past mistakes, a sound marketing campaign could attract additional consumer merchandise to its existing retailers and product outlets.\r\nArm & Hammer also has premier brand recognition within the United States, which would look to use its large customer base to compete against Proctor & Gamble or Co lgate-Palmolive, and Clorox. Finally, to satisfy any shortcomings in this solution, it is further recommended that Church & Dwight initiate an aggressive marketing strategy incorporating exotic experts in business and marketing development to identify focus groups to better learn cultural differences and expectations in product innovations.\r\n sense why a specific culture or race chooses one brand over another is key to identifying potential aspects of a new product line that would be warmly received in another country rather than only pushing an American-made product brand on a culture that has no experience with the product or whose name may have a derogatory signification in their language. This option could also allow Church & Dwight to market potentially less expensive alternatives to Proctor & Gamble or other foreign corporations specializing in household products in another country or region. This recommendation provides a potential solution to increase sales while growing market share and staying ahead of the competition.\r\nReferences\r\nChurch & Dwight, Co. Inc. (web). Churchdwight.com. Retrieved on April 8, 2012 from http://www.churchdwight.com/index.aspx Craigie, J. R. (February 24, 2010). Church & Dwight co., inc. 2009 annual report: Churchdwight.com. Retrieved on April 8, 2012 from http://www.churchdwight.com/PDF/AnnualReports/2009-CDH-Annual-Report.pdf Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2012). Strategic management and business policy toward global sustainability. (13th ed., pp. 19-20). new-fangled York, NY: Pearson Hall.\r\n'