Consumer Goods Companies Research Articles

Multi-path Intelligent Planning Method Based on Grid Division and Value Calculation

For agricultural products and fast-moving consumer goods companies, the realities of too many retail terminals and limited human resources are the main problems faced by market visit tasks. Therefore, planning multiple paths for the sales man to obtain higher commercial value is a concern of the company. In this paper, for reducing the scale of data calculations, the large dataset is divided into several small datasets by meshing method, and then the path planning operation is conducted in the divided small datasets. Two path planning methods are proposed in this paper, Point’s distance-first path traversal method (PDF) and Point’s value-first path recursive method (PVF). Experiments show that algorithm PDF gives the distribution of points in the path is more intensive and the overall length of the path is shorter. And algorithm PVF gives the distribution of points in the path is more dispersed and the total value is higher.

The influence of profitability, size, and growth on the capital structure in consumer goods companies

Capital structure is a very important element needed by companies to conduct the com-panies’ operational activities. Companies must determine whether to use internal funds first or external funds to finance investment in getting an optimal capital structure. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the variables of profitability, size and growth on the capital structure in consumer goods companies. Multiple regression anal-ysis is used to analyze the data in this study. Data analysis is conducted on consumer goods companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange period 2012-2016. Based on the analysis, it is found that profitability, size, and growth have an effect on capital structure in consumer goods companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange 2012-2016.

Impact of Divestment Decisions on Shareholders' Wealth

In 2000, Procter & Gamble (P&G) had more than 200 brands in its portfolio. The U.S. based fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company was growing by leaps and bounds. In the decade that followed, P&G continued its expansion spree through organic and inorganic growth. With revenue of $84 billion in 2012, P&G was the largest FMCG company in the world. The dividend payout to the shareholders was a regular feature for more than five decades. The company had numerous popular brands in its portfolio. These wonderful figures, however, masked a bitter truth. The company's innovation funnel had dried up, and consumers were shifting to low priced alternatives. Unilever, P&G's arch- rival, was increasing its stranglehold in the developing world. P&G decided to become a lean and agile organization through divestments. The company cut costs and improved processes to improve productivity. P&G revisited its diversification strategy and decided to focus on its core and profitable brands. The objective of this study was to examine whether P&G's divestment strategy added value for the company's shareholders. The study used the standard event study methodology to examine the impact of six divestment announcements made by P&G between 2014 and 2016 on shareholders' wealth. The findings of the study suggested that shareholders' of P&G benefitted when the company divested its pets food business. The market reaction was negative when P&G divested its immensely popular Duracell brand. However, no significant abnormal returns were witnessed when P&G sold its Zest and Camay brands to Unilever.

Five Steps Behind: How Ethnography Based Strategy Can Fuel Ingredient Innovation in the Early Stages of the Value Chain

Global fast moving consumer goods companies are faced with significant challenges on all fronts as start‐ups challenge brands, retailers’ private labels challenge margins and technology giants like Amazon and Alibaba challenge the entire business model. To survive in this environment, FMCGs must, among other things, grow on the basis of meaningful product innovation — innovation that is often outsourced to their ingredient suppliers. Based on four client engagements, this paper outlines how the existing relationship between ingredient suppliers and their customers further down the value chain is currently defined by a deterministic dynamic that results in incremental and marginal innovation and a risk for said suppliers that their products become mere commodities. We argue that by employing ethnography based innovation strategy, ingredient suppliers can establish their own opinion of the market from the vantage point of their technologies and establish a new, meaningful and human‐centered innovation direction that the whole company can unite behind. The approach helps re‐ignite dried‐up project pipelines through the new insights coming directly from the research, but it also creates more demand, as the combination of technological expertise and end‐consumer insights can make the ingredient supplier a valued advisor to their customers on the end‐consumer problems their technology can help solve. Ethnographic researchers that embark on providing such insights to ingredient suppliers must prepare to argue for the value of this type of data with scientists and practitioners trained in the natural sciences and must expect to play a key role in translating the data into actionable and measurable consumer benefits. Successfully implementing this type of research and its implications can change the relationships between suppliers and customers and eventually be a key to breaking the vicious cycle that often separates human understanding from technological innovation.

Retailing with 3D Printing

Given the promise of three‐dimensional (3D) printing, also known as additive manufacturing, some innovative consumer goods companies have started to experiment with such a technology for on‐demand production. In this study, we consider two adoption cases of 3D printing in a dual‐channel (i.e., online and in‐store) retail setting, and evaluate its impact on a firm’s product offering, pricing, and inventory decisions. Our analysis uncovers the following effects of 3D printing. First, 3D printing at the factory has the substitution effect of technological innovation for online demands, as 3D printing replaces the traditional mode of production. Such technology substitution not only leads to increased product variety offered online, which allows the firm to charge a price premium for online customers, but also induces the firm to offer a smaller product variety and a reduced price in‐store. There is an additional environmental benefit when more customers are steered from the in‐store channel to the online channel. Second, when 3D printing is used in‐store as well, in addition to the substitution effect, the firm also achieves a structural effect due to the fundamental change in the supply chain structure. Since the in‐store demand is served in a build‐to‐order fashion, the firm achieves postponement benefits in inventory management. The environmental benefit is the most significant in this case. Moreover, using 3D printing in‐store will require a new supplier–retailer relationship. We find that cost‐sharing contracts can coordinate the supply chains where 3D printing is used in‐store and the supplier controls the raw material inventory.

MARKETING & DISTRIBUTION OF HUL: ITS RURAL ORIENTATION

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), formerly known as Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), is the largest consumer products company in India. The name HUL came into vogue in late June 2007. The Head office of the company is located in Mumbai. There are in all 41,000 employees of different categories working in the company. The company is headed by a non-executive Chairman (presently Mr. Hareesh Manwani. HUL is number one Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Company in India.

UNDERSTANDING YOGASUTRA: A FRAMEWORK FOR ECOLOGICAL VIRTUE ETHICS

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), formerly known as Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), is the largest consumer products company in India. The name HUL came into vogue in late June 2007. The Head office of the company is located in Mumbai. There are in all 41,000 employees of different categories working in the company. The company is headed by a non-executive Chairman (presently Mr. Hareesh Manwani. HUL is number one Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Company in India.

Anju Pharmaceuticals: riding the herbal wave

Subject area Marketing management, consumer behaviour, digital marketing. Study level/applicability This case can be used for students studying marketing management courses and also for elective courses on consumer behaviour, digital marketing and strategic management in an MBA programme. Case overview This case is about Anju Pharmaceuticals which dealt in the manufacture and sale of ayurvedic/herbal products such as Panchsudha, Zalim Lotion, Ruz, Vama, Mekado etc. in Madhya Pradesh, India. Started in the year 1983, the company had still not been able to make a mark in the market. For quite some time now Mitesh, the third-generation proprietor of the company, was continuously reading articles which discussed how there has been a positive shift in the consumer preferences for products having herbal ingredients. Indian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies such as Patanjali, Dabur, Marico were banking on herbal components in their various key products such as toothpaste, shampoo and hair oil to expand their market share and some of these Indian companies seemed to be growing faster than bigger multinationals including Hindustan Unilever and Procter & Gamble. With the changes in consumer perception towards herbal products, Mitesh was hopeful that if he could gear up his distribution it would result in improving the bottom-line of the company. He had also started receiving queries from interested clients for third-party manufacturing and packaging of the ayurvedic products under the desired brand name. Mitesh was very much aware that to improve his bottom-line, just relying on efficient distribution would not suffice and he would need to come up with strategic alliances and newer ways of doing the business rather than just following what had been the norm for the last few years. The idea of becoming a third-party manufacturer somehow did not excite Mitesh because he felt that by going in for third-party manufacturing he would never be able to establish the brand identity of Anju Pharmaceuticals. He wanted his company to ride the FMCG herbal wave but how and at what cost were the big questions facing him. Expected learning outcomes After the successful completion of this case, the readers would be able to accomplish the following: gain insights into the problems faced by small businesses when they want to scale up their business. Get insights into the challenges/difficulties of adopting e-commerce by a small organization. Be aware of the changing consumer preferences for herbal and ayurvedic products and how companies are gearing up to cash on to the changing market opportunities. Comprehend the problem situation. Suggest ways of taking advantage of the current scenario to expand and grow the business. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.

IDENTIFYING AESTHETIC PREFERENCES FOR BEAUTY TYPES IN WOMENS APPEARANCE AMONG EAST ASIAN CULTURES

This study investigated aesthetic preferences for beauty types in women’s appearance among the East Asian cultures of Korea, China, and Japan through two-mode semantic network analysis with a cross-cultural viewpoint. Based on the results, this study proposed practical implications for appearance management industries and global consumer goods companies.

Aileron lighting: the sales promotion question

Subject area Marketing. Study level/applicability MBA/Postgraduate. Case overview The case describes the situation faced by a sales manager of a commoditized product in a tough and competitive market. Aileron Consumer and Lighting Group (ACLG) was among the top ten fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in the country while also being among the fastest growing companies in India and had a diverse portfolio ranging from trade lighting to commercial and institutional lighting. Sunil, the sales manager, after his training found himself in the Budhwar Peth market in Pune, Western India where he was expected to find a way to increase sales of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). The product was undifferentiated and the competition was extremely strong with large allocations to advertising and dealer support. Sunil realized that his only hope for achieving his sales targets was to organize a sales promotion. His team and he came up with three options for sales promotions – two trade promotions and one consumer promotion. Sunil had to make the right choice of sales promotion for his market and the situation he found himself in. Expected learning outcomes This case is well-suited for courses in sales and distribution management, marketing channels, sales promotions or promotion management. It can also be used in courses dealing with marketing strategy or integrated marketing communications. This case allows the instructor to discuss sales channel and sales promotion issues faced by sales managers in an Indian context. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 8: Marketing.

Analysis of consumers` innovation efficiency: changes of the consumption patterns in the Ukrainian society over the last 25 years

This paper reviews the transformation of Ukrainian consumption patterns since 1991 and the impact this change had on Ukrainian consumers. The authors research the market forces and the influence those forces had on the consumer behavior. Also, the authors conclude that these market forces resulted in transforming consumer behavior and consumption patterns. In this paper presents a conceptual analysis of the possible choices of market models and the implications of the Ukrainian society. Scientific findings demonstrate that users in Ukraine often play the main role in the creation of new conceptual products. But at the same time, there is a paucity of literature on this problem. The authors report a very high level of novelty by these consumers. The outcomes also reveal that innovating users can be distinguished from some non-innovating ones. Finally, innovation by users can be a significant basis of new product thoughts and ideas for consumer goods companies.

Patanjali: an Indian FMCG on growth path

Subject area Strategy. Study level/applicability MBA. Case overview On 20 May 2016, the Management team at Patanjali Ayurved Limited (PAL), an Indian fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, had assembled in their Haridwar office, India, to discuss their future growth plans. The team was in a celebratory mood, as their internal reports suggested the annual revenue forecasts for the year 2016-2017 to be INR 10bn, an increase of 100 per cent as compared to the previous fiscal year 2015-2016 that recorded annual revenues of INR 5bn. PAL incorporated in 2006 and co-founded by Acharya Balkrishna operated in four business segments of foods, personal care, home care and Ayurved products. The products sold under the brand name Patanjali were single-handedly promoted by Swami Ramdev (hereafter referred as Ramdev), a popular Yoga practitioner and preacher amongst the Indian masses, as well as PAL’s co-founder. Ramdev recommended PAL’s products in his yoga sessions on television and yoga shibirs which had led to huge positive “word-of-mouth” publicity for their brand Patanjali. Their fast-paced growth in less than a decade had generated a disruption in the Indian FMCG sector, resulting in a negative impact on the sales of established multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Colgate-Palmolive, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), ITC Limited (ITC), besides the domestic players such as Dabur India Ltd. and Emami Ltd. This had led their FMCG competitors to launch plans to strengthen their product portfolios so as to provide a tough competition to PAL. The management team at PAL, though confident of achieving their annual revenue targets, were apprehensive of this new competition from the big players of the FMCG sector. Were they capable of continuing their success story? Going forward what strategic steps would ensure them a sustainable growth and a market leader position? The mood turned reflective as the team pondered on some of these questions. Expected learning outcomes The case is structured to enable discussion on: conducting and understanding a general environment analysis and industry and competitive analysis and critically evaluating the firm’s strategic positioning and scope in a competitive environment. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy.

A Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Company and Business Intelligence Strategy Development

The paper used the case study approach to report on how a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company developed their Business Intelligence strategy. Many companies are aware of the benefits that Business Intelligence brings to the corporation— however struggle to have an appropriate or well defined strategy. The authors document in the paper how the company experienced limited benefits with their initial Business Intelligence implementation— however, the subsequent development of a Business Intelligence strategy allowed the firm to redress initial project short-comings across several business areas. The company's Business Intelligence strategy included elements that directly addressed governance and resource management, business technology alignment, innovation and skills capability. The research investigated the experiences of a global FMCG company regarding their Business Intelligence use and the findings may not be generalizable.

The mediating role of supply chain collaboration on the relationship between technology, trust and operational performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the link between trust, technology and supply chain collaboration and their impact on firms’ operational performances.Design/methodology/approachBased on extant literature, a hypothesized model was developed and tested using structural equation modelling (i.e. AMOS). A survey was conducted to collect data from the supply chain managers of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies (more precisely in the food and beverage sector) in Thailand.FindingsThe study findings suggest that through an ongoing relationship, trust evolves and is shaped over time and can form a competitive capability that may not be easy for competitors to replicate. Both trust and technology are found to have significant impact on supply chain collaboration and on firms’ operational performances.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the major limitations of the study is that the data were obtained from one single economy, which restricts its generalizability across other economies. The study was a cross-sectional and descriptive sample of the FMCG industry at a given point in time. A more stringent test of the relationships between trust, technology, supply chain collaboration and operational performance requires an in-depth case study or longitudinal study.Practical implicationsThe findings will enable supply chain managers in the FMCG industry to understand the strategic role of trust and technology in building supply chain collaboration that leads to superior operational performance.Originality/valueThe paper clearly confirms that trust and technological capabilities are significantly associated with supply chain collaboration and operational performance. Most of the earlier supply chain collaboration research streams are based on developed economies where supply chain collaboration challenges are predictable, while the current study conducted is based on a developing economy setting. This study facilitates the author’s understanding of the challenges in managing supply chain collaboration within a developing economy.

PENGARUH KARAKTERISTIK ORIENTASI TEKNOLOGI TERHADAP KUALITAS PRODUK DAN PERBEDAAN KUALITAS PRODUK PERUSAHAAN CONSUMER GOODS DI SURABAYA

The aim of the study is to examine the effect of technology Orientation characteristics (commitment R & D, technology acquisition and technology application) and dummy variable to product quality of Consumer Goods Companies in Surabaya. The population of the study is all Consumer goods (food and beverage companies), which are operated until the end of 2010, and located in Surabaya Industrial Estate Rungkut (SIER), the companies also joined in GAPMMI of East Java branch and received facilities from East Java Board of Investment. This research employs complete enumeration since the number of population is relatively small (29 food and beverage companies), where as the analysis tool is multiple linier regression analysis with independent variable which are quantitative and qualitative (dummy variable). Multiple linier regression is used to analyse the effect of technology orientation characteristics that reflect three factors on product quality. Dummy variable is used to analyse the differences of product quality of Consumer Goods campanies with go public status and without go public status. The test results shows either simultaneously or parsial, indicates that the variable of technology Orientation characteristics consisting of commitment R & D, technology acquisition and technology application have a significant effect on product quality of Consumer Goods companies. And the result also show that product quality of consumer goods companies with go public status is higher than product quality of the consumer goods companies without go public status.

Optimizing the Distribution System of Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company Using Sweeping Methods with Discrete Event Simulation Approach

FMCG is considered as one of the industry with the highest competition in the world. To win this industry, customer satisfaction becomes the main thing. In this paper, authors will simulate a system of distribution of goods from PT X TBK which has 3 categories, namely M1 (biscuit), M2 (powder) and M3 (liquid). The distribution system has a problem on time delivery of goods which have a wide variety of obstacles, mainly on routing. There are 8 trucks with different routes and different utilization. There's trucks with over hour work and trucks with long idle time. The routing also causes problem for unused truck weight and volume capacity, where cost could possibly be reduced. Through Discrete event simulation and sweeping method, authors try to solve the problem by modelling the existing system and then find the solution to improve the distribution system and reaching the model objective.

A Manager-Customer Empirical Investigation Of The Subjective Performance Of Proactive Market-Oriented Consumer Goods Companies: Testing A Double-Mediation Model

This study investigates the mediating role of perceived branded product leadership and perceived customer value in the relationship between of proactive market orientation on performance (corporate reputation) in a consumer goods setting. A manager-customer approach is adopted: data was collected from 146 managers from 55 companies, and 425 customers that purchased their branded products. Results show that companies that practice a high level of proactive market orientation are perceived as leaders, which leads to higher levels of customer perceived value of their branded products and enhanced reputation. This research adds to the existing literature in considering customers’ perceptual assessments.

Sovereign Fund Selling, Market Volatility and Systemic Risk: Connections and Regulatory Possibilities

Sovereign wealth funds (SWF) have largely proven to be the gentle giants of the financial markets; they tend to be relatively patient, passive shareholders. In contrast to other activist hedge funds, when SWFs do engage with companies, they tend to work behind the scenes to maximize value for the long term. And yet, because they are funds owned by a sovereign, they often receive significant scrutiny, especially in developed markets, whenever they invest. To date, most of this scrutiny has occurred on the front end of investments, as host-country politicians and regulators question the motives of SWF investment in their markets. In some cases this scrutiny proves to be strict enough to encourage SWFs to look for other opportunities in other markets. As SWFs have continued to invest responsibly and regulators have become increasingly comfortable with SWF investment, the fear-mongering associated with SWF investment has decreased. Now, however, concerns have arisen not over how SWFs invest, but how they divest. Indeed, some reports seem to attribute depressed stock market prices and general market volatility to SWF divestment. A headline in Barron’s, for example, claimed that “Selling by sovereign wealth funds is a huge headwind for stocks,” and a headline for an article in the Financial Times declared that “Sovereign wealth funds drive turbulent trading.” Undoubtedly withdrawals from some SWFs — particularly Gulf SWFs — have had an impact on the markets, and particularly on stocks in which SWFs tend to overweight in their portfolios, such as stock in financial firms and some consumer goods companies. Perhaps the biggest impact has been felt by asset managers, which have seen their AUM deteriorate as SWFs withdraw funds.But how significant are SWF withdrawals from markets? Put in a slightly more pointed way, do SWF withdrawals create systemic risk for the markets? And if they do, what could be done about it? This brief analysis, prepared for the Universita Bocconi's Sovereign Investment Lab 2016 Annual SWF Report, attempts to work towards an answer to those questions, and in doing so, also attempts to provide some perspective on the larger debate in the appropriate role of SWFs in global capital markets.

Financial Performance of FMCG Companies in India:A Comparative Study

The present study examines the financial performance of selected fastmoving consumer goods (FMCG) companies in India. For the purpose of the study two leading FMCG companies, ITC and Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) have been selected. The study covers a period of eleven years from 2001-02 to 2011-12. The paper empirically examines and compares the financial performance of both the selected companies in terms of liquidity and profitability. For the accomplishment of the objective, various accounting ratios and statistical tools-like average, standard deviation and correlation.

Optimizing environmental and economic impacts in supply chains in the FMCG industry

In this paper, the environmental impacts of a supply chain of a Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company are considered. The environmental impacts are evaluated using the Eco-indicator 99. In the optimization of the tactical planning decisions both the environmental impacts and the total costs are considered using the ε-constraint method for identifying a set of Pareto-optimal solutions. For a case study containing 10 Stock-Keeping Units (SKUs), which was optimized with a 1% optimality tolerance, the environmental impacts could be reduced by 2.9% without increasing the total costs. A further reduction of environmental impacts of up to 6.3% was possible at an increase in total costs of 5.2%. An SKU decomposition algorithm was applied to optimize a larger case study containing 100 SKUs.