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INTRODUCTION

About the marketing strategy This strategy sets out how Tourism Tyne and Wear, New castle Gateshead Initiative and the Tyne and Wear local authorities and our partners will work together to attract more leisure visitors for holidays, short breaks or day trips to destinations in Tyne and Wear. Introduction to Marketing: Definition of Marketing: Philip Kotler The marketing guru has said Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and group obtain what they need and want through creating, offering and changing products of value with others. American marketing association Addressed marketing is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer to user. Cundiff and still Marketing is the business process by which products are matched with market and through which transfers of ownership are affected. In the words of Hansen Marketing is the process of discovering and translating consumers needs and wants into product and services and specifications, creating demand for these products and services and then in term expanding demand.
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By all these definitions we can derive that marketing is compressive term that includes all resource and set of activities necessary to direct and facilitate flow of goods and services from producer to consumer in the process of distribution. Objectives of Marketing: At the end of all marketing activities is the satisfaction of human wants and derive profits from them. The following are the most significant objectives of marketing. Intelligent and effective application of modern marketing: Today economic changing growth rate, relatively high inflation, high interest rates, rapid technological change and new aggressive rivals challenge marketing firm to adopt and respond to change for survival and prosperity. To develop the market field: Marketing is the most dynamic field where change rules the roost. Change is continuing pre occupation among marketers. To develop and implement guiding policies for better results: Innovative marketing guiding policies and their effective implementation to assure better results. To find sources for further information concerning the market problems: The world of business in moving on the basis of countless decisions, marketing decisions are more complex and intricate having impinging impact on the very fortune of a company. To take appropriate and opportune action in the course of working. The marketing information system designed by the marketing organization helps in identifying the problem, investigating analyzing it and interpreting the problem for the final decision.
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Functions of Marketing: Marketing involves certain activities to make the goods from producers to consumers. It consist of operations and an operation may be performed several times either by a producer, middleman, till the commodity finally reaches in the hand of consumers. 1. Functions of exchange Exchange implies the transfer of goods and services money or moneys worth. Exchange brings about change in the ownership of goods. It is a two-way process invading two separate but supporting activities viz, buying and selling. Selling: Selling is the sum total of all those activities that push the commodities to the buyers or consumers at a profitable price. It is the process that involves personal and impersonal efforts made in persuading the prospective customers to buy a commodity or service. Product planning and development: Product planning is the planning or forecasting what consumers want in terms of quantity, quality, time, place, price, where as, product development refers to making available such goods to meet the requirement of consumers as demanded by them. Demand Creation: It includes such special efforts to induce and persuade the prospective users to purchase the products of the seller only. Negotiation: Negotiation as to terms of quality, quantity, price of the product time and mode of transport payment etc are to be made with prospective buyers. Contractual: Once the terms and conditions are settled between buyers and sellers a final contract would be entered into, where legally, ownership of goods passes on from seller to buyer.

Buying: Buying is another function of exchange that refers to all such activities involves in the assembling of goods under a single ownership and control. Its immediate purpose is to bring commodities together where they are wanted for use in production for final consumption.

This buying function has following four elements: Planning Assortments: Buyers are to study their own market condition in order know the types quantity and quality of goods that are required by final users. Contractual: It is clothed with the selection of various sources of supply, keeping in touch with them, to get the goods quickly reasonably and regularly. Negotiation: Buyers and sellers negotiate the terms and condition of price quantity, quality and time of delivery, transport & payment. Contractual: It is the last phase that binds the parties of exchange by means of a contract where the titles to the goods more from seller to buyers. 2. Functions of Physical supply These are the functions that are related with creation of place and time utilities, they are: Transportation: Transportation is the physical means to move the goods and people from a place to another. It is essential spoke in the wheel of market. It is responsible for the creation of time utility Storage: Storage is equally important that is creates time utility. The products are to be preserved from time of production to the time of consumption. It is the base of consumers to get the goods as and when required.

3. Facilitating Functions These are the function that facilitates the process of exchange. Financing: Finance is the base for all marketing activities. It makes the exchange process smooth and acts as lubricating oil to the wheel of marketing. Risk-bearing: Market risk are inherent so long the process of exchange continues many risks are involved in marketing which brings about changes in ownership, place etc Market information: The much desired success of marketing depends on correct and timely decisions. These decisions are based on market information. It includes all facts, estimates, opinion, views, regarding the market Standardization: Standardization helps on tackle certain major problems of marketing. It is related with the division of commodities into distinct groups standardization involves establishment of certain criteria to which the goods must confirm. 7Ps of Marketing: In popular usage, "marketing" is the promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. However, in professional usage the term has a wider meaning which recognizes that marketing is customer centered. Products are often developed to meet the desires of groups of customers or even, in some cases, for specific customers. E. Jerome McCarthy divided marketing into four general sets of activities. His typology has become so universally recognized that his four activity sets, the Four Ps, have passed into the language.

The four Ps are:

Product: The Product management and Product marketing aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants.

Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts. The price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or service, e.g. time, or attention.

Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company.

People: People refer to the customers, employees, management and everybody else involved in it. It is essential for everyone to realize that the reputation of the brand that you are involved with is in the people's hands.

Process: It refers to the methods and process of providing a service and is hence essential to have a thorough knowledge on whether the services are helpful to the customers, if they are provided in time, if the customers are informed in hand about the services and many such things.

Physical (Evidence): It refers to the experience of using a product or service. When a service goes out to the customer, it is essential that you help him see what he is buying or not. For example- brochures, pamphlets etc serve this purpose Physical distribution refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example, point of sale placement or retailing. This fourth P has also sometimes been called Place, referring to the channel by which a

product or service is sold (e.g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families, business people), etc. These four elements are often referred to as the marketing mix. A marketer can use these variables to craft a marketing plan. The four Ps model is most useful when marketing low value consumer products. Industrial products, services, high value consumer products require adjustments to this model. Services marketing must account for the unique nature of services. Industrial or B2B marketing must account for the long term contractual agreements that are typical in supply chain transactions. Relationship marketing attempts to do this by looking at marketing from a long term relationship perspective rather than individual transactions. As a counter to this, Morgan, in Riding the Waves of Change (Jossey-Bass, 1988), adds "Perhaps the most significant criticism of the 4 Ps approach, which you should be aware of, is that it unconsciously emphasizes the insideout view (looking from the company outwards), whereas the essence of marketing should be the outsidein approach". Even so, having made this important caveat, the 4 Ps offer a memorable and quite workable guide to the major categories of marketing activity, as well as a framework within which these can be used. Evolution of Marketing: Marketing has evolved from the time man existed on earth. Following are the phases of development of marketing

Barter system Production Orientation Sales Orientation Marketing Orientation Consumer Orientation

Management Orientation Social Orientation


Fig. 1 Barter system: The goods are exchanged against goods without any other medium of exchange like money. Production orientation: This was the stage where producers, instead of buying concerned with customer preference concentrating on the mass production of goods for the purchase of profit. Sales orientation: This stage witness major changes in all the spheres of economic life. The selling activity becomes the dominating factor without any efforts for the satisfaction of the consumer needs. Marketing orientation: Customers importance was satisfied but only as a means of disposing of goods produced competition become more stiffer.
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Consumer orientation: Under this stage only such products are bought forward to the markets which are capable of satisfying of taste and expectation of consumer satisfaction. Management orientation: The marketing function assumes the managerial role to co-ordinate all the interacting business with the objectives of planning, promotion and distribution. Social orientation: The companies are not only cares for consumers but also for social welfare. Thus, social welfare becomes the added dimension to the companies.

MARKETING STRATEGY OF FMCG PRODUCTS:


Barring a few, notable exceptions, rural marketing in India is still about a van campaign, a badlymade commercial, a few painted walls and the occasional participation in village haats and melas. But then, "rural" means different things to different people: from 500,000 people for consumer durables, to less than 50,000 for fast-moving consumer goods. Still, it is heartening to note the increasing awareness of the importance of rural markets - or, at least, of companies wanting to move beyond urban boundaries. According to estimates by the Rural Marketing Agencies Association of India, the total budget for rural marketing is only about Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion), compared to the over Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion) allotted to mass media. This is grossly inadequate to cover the huge potential for different products in rural markets. Of course, clients' reluctance to spend big money for bigger results in rural markets is because there are no standard performance yardsticks for judging the efficacy of the rural marketing efforts.

The TRPs and NRS/IRS data help you determine the efficacy of TV and press marketing. But there is no study to tell you what is the ideal cost per contact or what is the ideal number of eyeballs or footfalls for different rural activities. But only consider the huge successes of some regional brands, especially in the FMCG sector, which are giving the multinationals a run for their money. Companies like Cavin Kare (Chik Shampoo, Meera Herbal Powder, Fairever Cream and so on), Anchor (100 per cent vegetarian toothpaste), Ghadi detergent powder and Power soap are proof that regional brands can become brands to reckon with. And don't forget Nirma, the most enduring example of a brand that began as a regional player and is now a giant. What did these products do that was so different? Most of them identified a segment that was vacant in terms of product and area of operation. They all started in small, concentrated markets, appealing to the local ethos and aspirations of the targeted area. Their communication, be it a simple radio spot or a wall painting or a theatre film, touched a chord in the target audience. And, most importantly, their policies were flexible and they could adopt to fast changing marketing situations. What should companies do to step up their payback from rural marketing efforts? Here are some steps that should help. People power Total commitment from top leadership, keeping in mind that rural marketing is a long-term relationship, is imperative - the successes of Hindustan Lever [ Get Quote ] and ITC are proof of this statement. But even more important is the need for a dedicated task force.

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Rural marketing efforts need special mindsets, which many of the urban-oriented management graduates who are at the helm of affairs at most organisations do not possess. A separate marketing and sales vertical headed by people with passion and commitment to rural marketing and supported by a field team that can face the rough and tough of the vast country-side with courage and conviction is a must. The best bet is to recruit students from specialised institutes such as the Indian Institute of Rural Management, or at least, management graduates who have studied the subject as an elective. Many of these are students from small towns, people with fire in their bellies who want to prove themselves in big companies and have no issues about working in smaller markets. Pay them well remember, you pay peanuts, you get only monkeys - and discuss the path their careers are likely to take in the organisation. And send them out in the field only after thorough training. Ensure the consistency of the team involved in any project, until the completion of a specific task. Recently, we were involved with two big clients. In both cases, the teams that briefed us in the initial stages and participated enthusiastically in the campaign, were shifted out midway, in keeping with their companies' policy of shifting and promoting people. The teams that succeeded felt no ownership of the campaigns they had not initiated. What started as a great rural marketing initiative has been relegated to the dustbin... the fate of many rural marketing initiatives in the country.

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Goals are good Early on in the campaign, define your objective: is it a tactical effort to achieve increased sales in specific areas during a specific time, or do you want to build a strong equity for your brand in rural India? Our experience with FMCG companies is that they are more interested in the first choice. Most of them have previously appointed vendors who implement the company's ideas blindly, be they van campaigns or below-the-line activities. There is very little effort to tailor whatever communication is made in such efforts, to suit the local audience or fit it with the overall campaign efforts in the mass media. This invariably leads to less than satisfactory results in terms of awareness of the brands and longterm impact of the efforts in the targeted markets. If you are interested in the second alternative, a comprehensive brand building strategy in rural India, with both short term and long term goals, is a must. Know your customers A good place to begin is studying the mindset of your customers, so you can create a customised plan of action. All too often, clients insist their knowledge of their customers (based on studies of urban India) is enough on which to base an action plan. Our experience shows that the attitudes, aspirations and fears of rural customers, with regard to products and brands, is very different from their urban counterparts.

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Research can give you invaluable ideas for new product development as well as new methods of reaching your target audience. The refrigerator with standby power for 12 hours, pressure cookers with two handles and a radio with key-winding mechanism are all the result of research. More and more companies turn to the local haats to sell their products. While haats offer opportunities to target consumers from several villages at one place, and to that extent make your effort cost-effective, ensure that the people who patronise these haats are the kind who will buy your brand. For instance, we recently conducted a survey among some haats in Tamil Nadu, with some interesting results. The haatswere popular with the poorest agricultural labourers who consciously buy the duplicate, spurious products that are sold in these bazaars, since they can't afford the real thing. It is estimated that FMCG companies lost more than Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) to spurious products, mostly sold through such local haats and bazaars. Ensure availability Most anecdotes about rural marketing centre on the distribution aspect - the humongous task of physically reaching your product to over 600,000 villages, most of them without motorable roads. But it's not really as nightmarish as it is made out to be, at least keeping in mind the present goals of marketing companies in rural India. We've all heard about the shampoo sachets that are available in even the smallest villages. How does that happen? It's a direct result of rising aspirations, fuelled by television commercials. The consumer demands the product from the local shopkeeper, who then buys the products from the nearest feeder markets.

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Which means if you can ensure distribution to the feeder markets in towns or villages with populations of 10-15,000, you've already taken the first step towards reaching your target customer. Studies also indicate that rural consumers prefer to shop for durables such as televisions, automobiles and appliances in the nearest big town or city. So, if your products are in towns with populations of 50,000, you're closer to the rural consumer than you would have thought.

MARKETING STRATEGY ADOPTED BY HUL


Price cut or hike is not a long-term growth strategy. Pricing, in fact, is now passe, insists Sudhanshu Vats, category head, home care. Our strategy for growth, now is focused on product innovation, new consumer and retail trends and aggressive marketing and promotions, he said. This comes even as Unilever is scouting for a potential buyer for its laundry business in the US. A worker stacks Hindustan Unilever products in a store in Mumbai HUL says it is quite upbeat about the segment and says the laundry segment is one of its key growth areas. We have done key innovations across the product portfolio and it is working for us, says Vats. We successfully migrated from Rin Supreme to Surf Excel and Wheel Smart Srimatiwhich was rolled out in 2006is also on the right track.
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HULs market share in the laundry segment grew to around 37.8% in the quarter ended June from 35.5% in the same period last year, according the market research firm ACNielsen. However, this time, the increase was not at the expense of price war with its multinational rival Procter & Gamble Co. P&G also gained 0.5 percentage points, up to a 7.6% share. Nirma Ltd, the Ahmedabad-based manufacturer, however, saw its market share dip by 1.7% percentage points to 13.5%. Wheel, a value brand that, according to Vats contributes around 50% of HULs laundry segment revenues, increased its market share by 2 percentage points in the same period, with a total share of about 18%. According to ACNielsen, the laundry industry in India was worth Rs7,908 crore in 2006 and rose 8.4% over 2005. HUL doesnt report its laundry revenues separately but puts them under the soaps and detergent category. In 2006, HULs soaps and detergents segment contributed around Rs5,596 crore to the companys total sales of Rs12,103 crore. Laundry has been an attractive segment in the past and is likely to keep growing in the near future. The recent price war between companies led to erosion in their profitability but now, the industry is stabilizing, says Unmesh Sharma, an analyst at Macquarie Securities here. According to Vats, the laundry business is witnessing a surge in demand from cities and HUL is focusing on Tier I and II cities to tap that demand.

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Consumers today are buying more clothes, says Vats. Trends suggest that the usage of detergents has gone up as a result. Also, with premium quality of clothes, people want to use better and branded products. Still, analysts remain cautious. Some of HULs recent moves, such as promotional campaigns and advertising, seem right, says Macquaries Sharma. Still, it is too early to say what result their new strategies will yield.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

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To analyze the influence of rival companys strategies on the performance of Hindustan Unilever Limited To analyze the various strategies adopted by the company to gain competitive advantage To identify the marketing strategies and policies of Hindustan Unilever Limited

SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE


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This project is applicable on the on the area of FMCG. This is widely awaited, in order to frame out marketing strategies for different production this sector.

IMPORTANCE
To will help in identifying the product of HUL in FMCG sector. This study would be helping HUL to frame its different promotion schemes. It would help to analyze the current position of HUL and then to sector marketing channels for the same.

COMPANY PROFILE

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The Hindustan Unilever Ltds(HUL) Inc has taken the opportunity to offer us a broader view of FMCG category. The Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HLL) is Indias no.1 FMCG is able to share with their market insights based upon unparalleled breath of consumer goods experience. Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) has grown from strength to strength with new technologies being introduced to make the HLL consumer goods business, one of the most efficient in the world. The companys history dates back to 1931 when Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). These three companies merged to form Hindustan Lever Limited in November 1956. Effective July 19, 2007 the company has changed the name to Hindustan Unilever Limited. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a subsidiary of Unilever, is a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company based in India. The company focuses on efficient delivery to consumers with an improved supply chain, brand building initiatives and innovation, which has helped the company to sustain its leadership position in the overall FMCG category in India. Hindustan Unilever is Unilever's main operating business in India. It is the country's biggest consumer goods company, and far and away the leading advertiser. HUL inhabits virtually every sector of the consumer goods market, including several not occupied by Unilever in other markets such as preserves and bakery products, and is also one of the countrys top five exporters. In addition to FMCG products it is the country's biggest exporter of tea. It is generally acknowledged
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to be one of India's best-run businesses, although performance slowed dramatically between 2000 and 2004, prior to restructuring. Unilever, which sells soap to more than 500 million Indians, may see global revenue growth slow in 2010 as Procter & Gamble Co. and ITC Ltd. step up marketing in Asia's third-biggest economy. The world's second-largest consumer products maker has relied on accelerating shipments of Surf Excel detergent in India to make up for sluggish sales in Europe.Now Cincinnati- based Procter & Gamble is stocking Indian stores with Olay skin- care products after nearly halving the local prices of Ariel and Tide detergents in 2004. Asia and Africa, which make up about a third of Unilever's worldwide sales, will see their share of the company's growth fall to 2 percent in 2010 from 3.3 percent in 2007, according to Brusselsbased brokerage Petercam SA. Revenue from the two continents rose 11.4 percent in the first nine months of last year, helping offset 1.9 percent growth in Europe and 4.2 percent in North and South America. Unilever's overall sales growth will slow to 4.9 percent in 2010 from an estimated 5.3 percent in 2007, according to the median of five analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Hindustan Unilever A 75 Year Commitment 15,000 employees 1,200 managers 2,000 suppliers & associates 75 Manufacturing Locations 45 C&FAs, 4,000 Stockists Total Coverage 6.3 Mln Outlets
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Direct Coverage 1 Mln outlets Population of INDIA: 1027 Mln 5,545 Towns 2.5 Mln outlets 6,38,000 Villages 5.0 Mln outlets HISTORY OF HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LTD It was in the summer of 1888 that Unilever of England first marketed Sunlight soap in India. This was followed by brands like Pears and Vim. Vanaspati was launched in 1918 and Dalda came to the market in 1937. In 1931, Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). These three companies merged to form HUL in November 1956. A number of prominent companies came into the HUL fold as result of Unilevers international acquisitions. These included Brooke Bond (1984), Lipton (1972) and Ponds (1986). In 1993, Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO) merged with HUL. Two years later, HUL and yet another Tata company, Lakme Limited, formed a 50:50 joint venture, Lakme Lever Limited. Subsequently in 1998, Lakme Limited sold its brands to HUL and divested its 50 per cent stake in the joint venture to the FMCG giant.
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HUL formed a 50:50 joint venture with the US-based Kimberly Clark Corporation in 1994, Kimberly-Clark Lever Ltd, which markets Huggies diapers and Kotex sanitary pads.

HUL has also set up a subsidiary in Nepal, Nepal Lever Limited (NLL), and its factory represents the largest manufacturing investment in the Himalayan kingdom. In a historic step, HUL picked up 74 per cent of the equity of Modern Foods from the Indian government.

In 2002, HUL acquired the government s remaining stake in Modern Foods. FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), formerly known as Hindustan Lever Limited, employs 36,000 people, including over 1,350 managers. It is one of the earliest MNCs to have entered India

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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Managing Direc tor

General Mana ger

Vice President

Marketing

Manufacturin Sales g

Finance

Distribution

FIG.2

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PRESENT STATUS Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. They endow the company with a scale of combined volumes of about 4 million tonnes and sales of Rs.10,000crore. HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognised as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the Government of India.

The mission that inspires HUL's over 15,000 employees, including over 1,300 managers, is to "add vitality to life." HUL meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever, which holds 51.55% of the equity. The rest of the shareholding is distributed among 380,000 individual shareholders and financial institutions.

HUL's brands - like Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond's, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, Kwality Wall's are household names across the country and span many categories - soaps, detergents, personal products, tea, coffee, branded staples, ice cream and culinary products. They are manufactured over 40 factories across India. The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers and associates. HUL's distribution network, comprising about 4,000 redistribution stockiest, covering 6.3 million retail outlets reaching the entire urban population ,and about 250 million rural consumer.
HUL has traditionally been a company, which incorporates latest technology in all its operations. The Hindustan Unilever Research Centre (HLRC) was set up in 1958, and now has

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facilities in Mumbai and Bangalore. HLRC and the Global Technology Centres in India have over 200 highly qualified scientists and technologists, many with post-doctoral experience acquired in the US and Europe.

HULS NEW GROWTH STRATEGY After having fought a bitter price battle for market share with its rivals, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Indian subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever Plc, is now working on a new growth strategy for its laundry business. Price cut or hike is not a long-term growth strategy. Pricing, in fact, is now passe, insists Sudhanshu Vats, category head, home care. Our strategy for growth, now is focused on product innovation, new consumer and retail trends and aggressive marketing and promotions, he said. This comes even as Unilever is scouting for a potential buyer for its laundry business in the US. HUL says it is quite upbeat about the segment and says the laundry segment is one of its key growth areas. We have done key innovations across the product portfolio and it is working for us, says Vats. We successfully migrated from Rin Supreme to Surf Excel and Wheel Smart Srimatiwhich was rolled out in 2006is also on the right track. HULs market share in the laundry segment grew to around 37.8% in the quarter ended June from 35.5% in the same period last year, according the market research firm ACNielsen. However, this time, the increase was not at the expense of price war with its multinational rival Procter & Gamble Co. P&G also gained 0.5 percentage points, up to a 7.6% share. Nirma Ltd, the

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Ahmedabad-based manufacturer, however, saw its market share dip by 1.7% percentage points to 13.5%. Wheel, a value brand that, according to Vats contributes around 50% of HULs laundry segment revenues, increased its market share by 2 percentage points in the same period, with a total share of about 18%. According to ACNielsen, the laundry industry in India was worth Rs7,908 crore in 2006 and rose 8.4% over 2005. HUL doesnt report its laundry revenues separately but puts them under the soaps and detergent category. In 2006, HULs soaps and detergents segment contributed around Rs5,596 crore to the companys total sales of Rs12,103 crore. Laundry has been an attractive segment in the past and is likely to keep growing in the near future. The recent price war between companies led to erosion in their profitability but now, the industry is stabilizing, says Unmesh Sharma, an analyst at Macquarie Securities here. According to Vats, the laundry business is witnessing a surge in demand from cities and HUL is focusing on Tier I and II cities to tap that demand. Consumers today are buying more clothes, says Vats. Trends suggest that the usage of detergents has gone up as a result. Also, with premium quality of clothes, people want to use better and branded products. Still, analysts remain cautious. Some of HULs recent moves, such as promotional campaigns and advertising, seem right, says Macquaries Sharma. Still, it is too early to say what result their new strategies will yield.

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FIVE PS OF MARKETING Product Satisfaction suffices. But delight dazzles the average company will compete for customer by conforming to her expectation consistently. But the winner will surpass them by constantly exceeding her expectation, delivering to her door step additional benefits which she would never have imagined possible. Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) offer such product. The wide variety products offered by the company include: The companys popular products include:

Bathing soaps: Lux, Lifebuoy, Liril, Hamam, Breeze, Dove, Pears and Rexona

Laundry items: Surf Excel, Rin and Wheel

Skin care: Fair & Lovely, Ponds and Vaseline

Hair care: Sunsilk and Clinic

Oral care: Pepsodent and Close up

Deodorants:
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Axe and Rexona

Colour cosmetics: Lakme

Ayurvedic: Ayush

Tea: Brooke Bond and Lipton

Coffee: Bru

Foods: Kissan, Annapurna and Knorr

Ice cream: Kwality Walls .

Pricing Make no mistake. Second P of marketing is not another name for blindly lowering prices and relying on this strategy alone to increase sales dramatically. The strategy used by Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) is for matching the value that customer pays to buy the product with the expectation they have about what the production is worth to them. Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) has launched various products which cater to all customer segments. So every customer segment has different price expectation from the product. Therefore
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maximizing the returns involves identifying right price level for each segment, and then progressively moving through them. Physical Distribution Place BRAND ISNT THE ONLY ANY MORE . Marketers and finance manager need a new term to evaluate their business: Distribution Equity. It takes much more time and effort to build, but once built, distribution equity is much together to erode. The fundamental axiom of Indian consumer market is this: You can set up a state-of the-art manufacturing facility, hire the hottest strategies on the block, swamp prime television with best Ads, but the end of it all, you would be know of selling your products. The cardinal task before the Indian market is managing is to shoe-horn its product on retail shelves. Buyers are paying for distribution equity not brand equity and market shares. Why does the company need distribution equity more anything in India? With technology and competitive pressure slash in it is becoming increasing difficult for marketers to retain a unique product differentiation for ling period. In a product and price parity situation, the brand that sells more is the one that reaches the highest number of customers. India The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers and associates. HUL's distribution network, comprising about 4,000 redistribution stockists, covering 6.3 million retail outlets reaching the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural consumers.television has already primed and population for consumption, and the marketer who can get to the to the consumer ahead of competition will give a hard to overtake lead. But getting their means managing wildly

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different terrains-climate, language, value system, life style, transport and communication network. And your brand equity isnt going to help when it comes to tackling these issues. Own distribution network consist of clearing and forwarding (C&F) agents & distribution stockiest. This network of distribution can either contact wholesalers and which in turn retailers or the distributors can contact to the retailers directly. Once the stock product reaches retailers, the prospective customers can have access to the product. Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) distributes the product in the manner stated above. Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) distribution network has expanded. Beside use of improved logistics, Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) is also attempting to improve the distribution quality. To address the issue of product stability, it has installed visi colors at several outlets. This helps in maintaining consumption in summer when sales usually drops due to the fact that the heal effects product quality and thereby off takes. Looking at the low penetration of few products, a distribution expansion would itself being incremental volume. The other reason is arch rival Procter & Gamble Co. reaches more than a million retailers. This increase in distribution is going to be accompanied by reduction in channel costs. Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) marketing costs, at 18% of total costs, is much higher than Procter & Gamble Co. The company is looking to reduce this parity level. At Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL), they believe that selling FMCG is it like selling soft drinks. Promotion If an advertisement is to communicate effectively, the receiver must at least half want it to, and be prepared too take step toward the sender. Effective advertising is rarely hectoring or loudly
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explicit. It often both attracts and generates arm feelings. More often than not, a successful campaign has a stronger element of the unexpected a quality that good advertising shares with much worthwhile literature. To penetrate into the inner recesses of her memory, communication must first ensure exposure, grab her attention evoke her comprehension, grab her acceptance and then extract retention competing with thousands of other units of communication trying to do the same. Finding showed that the adults felt too conscious to be seen consuming a product actually meant for children. The strategic response address the emotional appeal of the band to the child within the adult. Naturally, that produced just the value vacuum that Hindustan Unilever Ltd(HUL) was looking to fill. Thereafter it was the job of the advertising to communicate customer the wonderful feeling that he could experience by re-discoursing the careful, unself conscious, pleasure seeking child within himself a graft these feeling onto the Ad campaign like hasso to khul k hasso for close up, cream bathing bar for dove soap and daag ache hai for surf excel have been sure shot winner with the audience. It has also launched Pureit, a home water purifier which supplies drinking water without boiling/need of electricity , As well as outdoor and radio ads, ad agency contract has created communication for cinemas and even ATM machines for the brand. All ICICI s ATM a message flashes on the screen as soon as customer insert his ATM card. Something familiar is planned for phone-book as well. In cinemas, Hindustan Unilever(Ltd)has a message on-screen just before the lights are dimmed to give them a chance to get their product There will also be after dinner sampling in restaurants to begin with, 30 catteries in Mumbai have been selected.
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Ad spend in 2000 was about 14% of sales and the management said that plans to maintain as spend at this level in the current year also. Ad since any discussion today would be incomplete without mention e word, the management plans to tap this new channel of marketing. Beside the company website (i.e. www.unilever.com), that the company has launched, it had also entered into various marketing relationship with other portals, specially targeted during festivals and events such as Valentines day, etc. Its a combination of spiffing up its key brand, researching and improving the newer products that havent taken off, supported with high ad spends that Hindustan Unilever(Ltd) hopes will see it emerges stronger after the current slowdown, as well as expand the market.

Positioning In the 1970s consumers were ready to pay more for more, and luxury goods flourished. In the 1980s, consumers began to demand more for same, and the discounting era grew strong. Todays consumer demanding more for less, and the winner will be that super value marketers. Some of todays most successful companies recognize those customers are more educated and able to recognize true customer value Positioning is simply concentrating on an idea or even a word defines that company in the mind of the consumer. It is more efficient to market one successful concept to one large group of people than 50 product or service ideas to 50 separate group repositioning is a must when customer attitude have changed and product have strayed away from the consumers long standing perception of them Hindustan Unilever(Ltd) is an anchor in sea of consumer products. As a variety of competitive claims assails her senses, today customer uses complicated decision making process to assess the
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alternative before making a purchase. Since Hindustan Unilever(Ltd) is more clearly associated with a particular set of attributes in terms of benefits and prices, the quicker becomes her search process. Positioning of individual product: 1) Lifebuoy is one of Unilevers oldest brands with more than a hundred-year history, as www.unilever.com informs. Lifebuoy has become more than just a red bar of soap today the brand provides hygiene and health solutions for families 2) Fair & Lovely, a hot-selling fairness cream, which promises a lighter skin tone for many of Indias complexion-conscious consumers.

HINDUSTAN UNILEVERS MARKET SEGMENTATION Market place for any product is comprised of many different segments of consumers, each with different needs and wants. Markets segmentation can be defined in a number of ways such as: Demographic variables (e.g. Consumers are groups, gender, material states income etc) The lifestyle of consumers (i.e. their interests and activities) the benefits which consumers look for in a product or on the occasions when the product might be consumed. Hindustan Unilever(Ltd) takes into account all these factors when producing a range of products. It targets different segments within the market, such as the: Break segment products which are normally consume as a snatched break and often with tea and coffee.

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Impulse segment these products are often purchase on impulse, used these and then. They include product such as close up. Take home segment this describes product that are normally purchased in supermarkets, taken home consumed at a later stage.

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The Real Taste of Rejuvenation After having fought a bitter price battle for market share with its rivals, Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Indian subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company Unilever Plc, is now working on a new growth strategy for its laundry business. Price cut or hike is not a long-term growth strategy. Pricing, in fact, is now passe, insists Sudhanshu Vats, category head, home care. Our strategy for growth, now is focused on product innovation, new consumer and retail trends and aggressive marketing and promotions, he said. This comes even as Unilever is scouting for a potential buyer for its laundry business in the US. HUL says it is quite upbeat about the segment and says the laundry segment is one of its key growth areas. We have done key innovations across the product portfolio and it is working for us, says Vats. We successfully migrated from Rin Supreme to Surf Excel and Wheel Smart Srimatiwhich was rolled out in 2006is also on the right track. HULs market share in the laundry segment grew to around 37.8% in the quarter ended June from 35.5% in the same period last year. According to ACNielsen, the laundry industry in India was worth Rs7,908 crore in 2006 and rose 8.4% over 2005. HUL doesnt report its laundry revenues separately but puts them under the soaps and detergent category. In 2006, HULs soaps and detergents segment contributed around Rs5,596 crore to the companys total sales of Rs12,103 crore.

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Laundry has been an attractive segment in the past and is likely to keep growing in the near future. The recent price war between companies led to erosion in their profitability but now, the industry is stabilizing. COMPETITIVE STRATEGY As Competition Heats Up, Indias Top Consumer-Products Company Woos Affluent Shoppers With Global Brands Like Dove, While Cooking Up Its Foods Biz The middle-aged Briton strolling the aisles and checking out the products doesnt attract much notice from other shoppers in Mumbais Hypercity, the India hypermarket chain. Thats how Douglas Baillie likes it. Baillie, the managing director of Hindustan Unilever, Indias premier consumer-products company, wants to see how his products are stocked, what consumers are buying, and how shoppers are reacting to competitive brands. Its primary market research at its most elemental, and its best done incognito. Hindustan Unilever has traditionally relied on small traders and mom-and-pop corner stores to retail its products. But Indias recent retail boom has created large stores and malls, so the company wants to make sure its in with the new marketing crowd. Hence Baillies Hypercity visits, and the calls he makes on the headquarters of the big retail chains. This is quite a change for Hindustan Unilever, whose executives used to have emissaries make obeisance at Lever house in downtown Mumbai. I cant imagine any head from Lever House ever visiting other company offices like this, says an amazed Damodar Mall, chief executive of innovation and incubation at Pantaloon Retail, Indias largest retailer and a former manager at Hindustan Unilever.

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Facing Competition From P&G And Others The reason for this new found egalitarianism is that the $3 billion Hindustan Unilever is facing serious competition. The company, which is practically synonymous with India, makes everything from detergents, soaps, and shampoos to soups, sauces and tea, and dominates most of those categories. Yet early this year, Finnish handset maker Nokia (NOK) dislodged it as the multinational with the highest revenues in India, after ringing up India-based sales of $3.5 billion. Now Hindustan Unilever is under siege from aggressive Indian and foreign competitors such as Procter & Gamble (PG), Nivea, and LOral. In the last year, ACNielsen data shows, Hindustan Unilevers lead in hand soaps, including the popular Lux, is down from 55.2% to 54%. Favorite detergent brands like Surf Excel and Rin are barely hanging onto their 37% share. Hindustan Lever tea brands like Brooke Bond and Lipton have dipped from a combined market share of 29.2% to 24.3%. All this has taken a toll on Hindustan Unilevers operating margins, down from 21% a few years ago to just 11.84% now. Thats why the company is wooing consumers in big retail stores. These
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newly affluent shoppers present the best hope for the companys future in India. According to retail consultant KSA Technopak, organized retail, currently just 3.5% of Indias total $336 billion retail market, will grow to 28% by 2017.

Hindustan Unilevers managers hope their revenues from big retail will increase from 5% today to over 25% in 2012. It is a big game for us, says D. Sundaram, Hindustan Unilevers finance director. Hindustan Unilevers strategy is to market its premium products through the hundreds of megastores springing up across India. That dovetails with parent company Unilevers new global realignment of products.Parent Unilever will develop the brands and streamline product offerings across the world, while its subsidiaries will sell the products.

This means that all of Unilevers brands will be available across global markets, fitting in quite nicely with Indias turn towards more international products being sold in supermarkets. Yet this is still a dramatic change for Hindustan Unilever which, not long ago, was the most successful and profitable company in the Unilever group, the crown jewel whose managers had free rein to develop and build brands suitable for the local market. The takeover of Hindustan Lever by Unilever became evident in March, 2006, when Baillie, a Zimbabwe-born British national, became the first foreigner in four decades to head the

Indiancompany. From Local Player To Multinational Overnight the change sent shock waves through India. For many decades most Indians thought Hindustan Lever was a local company, not a multinational, and the cream of Indias management

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graduates made their careers there. Then in February, 2007, the company, then known as Hindustan Lever, was rechristened Hindustan Unilever to reflect its parentage. Baillie first had to sort out some past problems. For instance, in 2002 the company adopted Unilevers global strategy of focusing on just 30 power brands instead of the total basket of 110 more local brands. While the strategy aimed to conserve management energy, it also left the field wide open for competitors to attack Hindustan Unilever in the niche soap and detergent markets where its smaller brands held sway.
And there was some stiff competition from rival Procter & Gamble; a 2004 price war with P&G in the detergent business forced Hindustan Unilever to slash prices on its premium brand Surf Excel. The effect: The companys sales and operating profits stagnated at $2.5 billion for five years while operating profit plunged 37%, to $274 million in 2004. Last year operating profits reached $357 million, thanks to price increases. But the rich margins of the past have not returned.

Tougher To Hold On To Market Share

Baillie says he intends to get the company back into the competitive growth zone and do this in a manner that we can consistently deliver. He also wants to expand the foods business in conjunction with the parent, where foods bring in half the revenues globally. In India, the companys home and personal care businesses account for 80% of revenues and 85% of profits at Hindustan Unilever, while the companys track record in foods has been dismal. Indeed, it has phased out more food productswheat flour, confectionery, frozen breadthan it has launched. Hindustan Unilever executives are realistic about the new era in which it now operates. Nitin Paranjpe, executive director in charge of the home and personal care business, admits that its now tougher to hold on to market share. If India is a great story, we arent the only ones seeing it.
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Rivals like P&G and Nivea have also copied Hindustan Unilevers best innovation: the small shampoo sachets it pioneered in the 1980s, which sold for less than 2 cents each and which expanded the market for Hindustan Unilever products among Indias rural masses. Currently, 80% of Indian shampoo sales come from sachets. But today even LOreal has sachets of its Fructis shampoo. In June, the Tata Groups beverage company Tata Tea overtook Hindustan Unilever as Indias largest selling tea brand. According to ACNielsen, Tata Teas market share increased from 16.7% in March, 2006, to 19.9% in July, 2007, while Hindustan Unilever slipped from 26.1% to 19.5%. Tata Tea is exultant. Managing Director Percy Siganporia says the gain is a dream comes true for us. FUTURE COMPETITIVE STRATEGY 2010 Expectations P&G, the world's largest consumer-goods maker, will continue to gain share in the next five years in India, according to Ali Dibadj, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein in New York, who rates the stock ``outperform.'' Hindustan Unilever Ltd., 52 percent owned by the London- and Rotterdambased parent, lost ground in shampoo, bath soap, toothpaste and tea in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with the year earlier, according to the company. Its share of the shampoo market declined by more than a percentage point to 47.7 percent, the company said. ITC, the largest Indian cigarette maker and partly owned by British American Tobacco Plc, is also making inroads. It started selling more brands including Fiama Di Wills shampoo and Superia soap last year as the government raised tobacco taxes. `Profitable' Cigarettes

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The tobacco maker ``has a very profitable cigarettes business which will help it to invest and expand its personal- care portfolio,'' said Anand Shah, an analyst at Angel Broking in Mumbai, who has a ``neutral'' rating on the stock. ``It has the ability to take losses in this segment as long as it grows its sales. This strategy will still satisfy investors.'' Rising prices of raw materials have made it more difficult for consumer-goods makers to pass on higher costs. The price of palm oil, used to make soaps and foods, has surged 70 percent in the past year. ``Given the competition, profitability will continue to be under pressure,'' said Macquarie Securities Ltd. analyst Unmesh Sharma, who has an ``underperform'' rating on Hindustan Unilever. He expects the stock to drop to 180 rupees ($4.57) in the next year from 190.9 rupees. The company has a market value of about $11.8 billion. India is Unilever's biggest market in Asia, generating about 6 percent of annual sales. It has sold soap in the country since 1888 and controls about half of the sales of products such as skin creams, bathing soaps and shampoo. HUL-UNIQUELY POSITIONED TO CREATE VALUE Our strategy Competitive strengths Innovation and R&D capabilities to straddle the pyramid Versatile distribution network Strong corporate responsibility and governance Strong local and talent base Strategy
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Grow ahead of the market by leading market development activities. Leverage positive impact of growing Indian economy on consumer spending. Grow a profitable foods and top end business. Grow the bottom line ahead of the top line. Strong commitment to sustainable development.

Competitive Strengths

Fig:3- Corporate Social Responsibility-Aiding In The Development Of The Country

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Shakti Three shakti initiatives Shakti entrepreneur; currently~44000 women cover 1,25000 villages. Shakti vani: one-to-many communication for category growth ishakti: customized interaction with remote consumers.

Impact of community business and social impact can go together. partnerships with diverse stakeholders. HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED - COMPARATIVE BUSINESS ANALYSIS Hindustan Unilever Limited Formerly known as Hindustan Lever Limited. The Group's principal activities are to manufacture and market consumer products. The Group operates through seven segments: Soaps and Detergents, Personal Products, Exports, Beverages, Foods, Ice Creams and Other. The products include home and personal care products, foods and beverages, industrial and agricultural products. Home and personal care products consists of personal and fabric wash,
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household, oral care, skin and hair care, deodorants, perfumery, colour cosmetics and baby care. Foods and beverages includes tea, coffee, cooking fats and oils, bakery fats, ice creams, tomato products, fruit and vegetable products, rice, salt, atta and rawa, marine products and mushrooms. Industrial and agricultural products includes specialty chemicals, bulk chemicals, fertilisers, animal feeds, seeds, plant growth nutrients, processed-tri-glycerides and agri commodities, yeast, leather, footwear and carpets, thermometers and plantations. This analysis compares Hindustan Unilever Limited with three other companies in closely related industry sectors. The company focuses on efficient delivery to consumers with an improved supply chain, brand building initiatives and innovation, which has helped the company to sustain its leadership position in the overall FMCG category in India. Its brands are spread across 20 consumer product categories. Hindustan Unilever markets consumer goods throughout India. The company faces competition from international, local and regional players. RURAL- THE BIG INDIAN ROMANCE Rural population larger than europe(800 million) Low growth in agriculture;however rural income are growing faster with 70% population here,income growth is crucial. Structural changes in the economy which are affecting this are: Disintermediation in the agricultural market price discovery mechanism has benefited farmers. Government grants and subsidies.employment grants-Rs 40000cr

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Table: 1

Did Hindustan Unilever Get Its Rural Pitch Right? A new book from Wharton School Publishing is critical of Hindustan Unilevers advertising strategy in India. HUL missed an opportunity for increased marketing productivity when they repositioned, retargeted, and relaunched Lifebuoy, write Leonard M. Lodish, Howard L. Morgan and Shellye Archambeau, the authors of Marketing that Works. Though the company was extremely innovative the way it handled the rural communications plan was very traditional, they add. The company basically worked with one agency, Ogilvy and Mather (O&M), and screened some options to roll out one option that everyone was happy with, reads an observation in a chapter titled entrepreneurial advertising that works. A better strategy, according to the authors, would have been to develop a number of different communications executions using different creative sources and then testing them as part of the early rollout.

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Advertising strategy came for mention when the company reported the second quarter results, a few days ago. Mr D. Sundaram, Director (Finance & IT), HUL, said: We have been phasing our advertising spends depending on the launches and relaunches of brands. The advertising spends have not been linear for the company, he added. The companys advertising and promotional spends during the quarter fell to Rs 336 crore, from the earlier Rs 345 crore. Lifebuoy is one of Unilevers oldest brands with more than a hundred-year history. Lifebuoy has become more than just a red bar of soap today the brand provides hygiene and health solutions for families, says the site, in a paragraph on innovation. Differentiating soap products on the platform of health takes advantage of an opening in the competitive landscape for soap, reads a quote in the book from C.K. Prahalads The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid . HUL, through its innovative communication campaigns, has been able to link the use of soap to a promise of health as a means of creating behavioural change, and thus has increased sales of its low-cost, mass-market soap, Prahalad notes. The O&M strategy, as explained by Mr Lodish et al, targeted 10,000 villages in nine states where HUL stood to gain the most market share They spent a lot of effort in designing low cost ways of communicating with their rural target. The authors are of the view that government workers who have been interacting with villagers might have come up with some excellent ideas; or the villagers themselves might also be able to generate very effective communications vehicles. So, why didnt HUL try alternative campaigns when rolling out its initiative? Probably the biggest reason is that they always did their communications the same way even for innovative

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programs, wonder the authors. As a big company, many times it is difficult to change the procedures without creating significant political problems. The HUL example, which is one of the many discussed in the book, concludes by stating that globally very progressive and innovative firms can also benefit from being more entrepreneurial and less traditional in how they manage their advertising and communication. JOINT VENTURE Hindustan Unilever Sets Up Joint Venture With Smollan Holdings Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) has decided to set up a Joint Venture (JV) with Smollan Holdings of South Africa and the JV will be operational from January 1, 2008. The strategic tie-up aims to build long term capabilities and bring in-store execution focus in servicing the Companys Modern Trade customers. The new company has been named as Hindustan Unilever Field Services Private Limited (HUFS) and will work exclusively on behalf of HUL in Modern Trade channel only. The operations will begin with the existing Modern Trade in-store execution team of HUL moving into HUFS. Smollan Holdings is one of the leading in-store execution and field services companies internationally. It has leading edge capabilities in servicing Modern Trade focused on shelf filling, logistics for merchandising materials and in store execution. Modern Trade in India is growing and evolving very rapidly and our strategy for winning in this growing retail market is to win at point-of-purchase with our shoppers & by delivering best-inclass service to our Modern Trade customers. This JV will bring in world class execution excellence in the market and build the right capabilities to deliver the companys marketing strategy in Modern Trade.

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Other Acquisition Hindustan Unilever has acquired several Indian FMCG companies so far. This includes:

Tata Oil Mills Company Brooke Bond Lipton India Modern Foods

It acquired Kissan brand from UB group; Dollops ice cream brand from Cadbury India; Lakme cosmetics brands from Tata. It has also launched Pureit, a home water purifier which supplies drinking water without boiling/need of electricity. Hindustan Unilever Network is the direct selling channel of the company. It has about 350,000 consultants, all independent entrepreneurs, trained and guided by HLN's expert managers and trainers. NEW INITIATIVE Bringing High-End Dove To India Baillie is fighting back. Over the past six months, Hindustan Unilever launched a high-end range of Ponds skin care and Dove hair care products from Unilevers international portfolio. These premium brands retail not in neighborhood small stores but in supermarkets and hypermarkets, where Indian customers love to touch and feel products. Hindustan Unilever is also milking one of its top brandsFair & Lovely, a hot-selling fairness cream, which promises a lighter skin, tone for many of Indias complexion-conscious consumers. The advertising campaign, which suggests that regular use of the cream helps women gain confidence and makes them eligible for marriage, has made the brand a winner. That has spawned

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a host of competitive fairness creams, soaps, and sunblock lotions. But Hindustan Unilevers brand is still tops. Baillie is also getting aggressive on foods, focusing on the Knorr brand of soups and curry mixes ideal for the Indian market. Analysts believe the companys current strategy of concentrating on premium products and marketing them in the large retail stores is a winning one. Sumeet Budhraja, consumer analyst at Mumbai brokerage First Global Securities, says that Hindustan Unilever could have addressed a lot more categories, but they are more focused and regaining their aggressiveness. He points to the demand for safe drinking water in India, which Hindustan Unilever exploited with the launch of water purifier Pureit in 2005, at one-third the price of established Indian brands such as Aqua guard. These efforts have delivered some promising results, and Baillie is pleased with the modest turnaround. In the quarter ended June, 2007, the companys sales grew 13%, with net profit up 29.6%. Reason enough to keep patrolling those store aisles. SERVICE TO SOCIETY
HUL believes that an organisation's worth is also in the service it renders to the community. HUL is focusing on health & hygiene education, women empowerment, and water management. It is also involved in education and rehabilitation of special or underprivileged children, care for the destitute and HIV-positive, and rural development. HUL has also responded in case of national calamities / adversities and contributes through various welfare measures, most recent being the village built by HUL in earthquake affected Gujarat, and relief & rehabilitation after the Tsunami caused devastation in South India. In 2001, the company embarked on an ambitious programme, Shakti. Through Shakti, HUL is creating micro-enterprise opportunities for rural women, thereby improving their livelihood and the standard of living in rural communities. Shakti also includes health and hygiene education through the Shakti Vani Programme, and creating access to relevant information

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through the iShakti community portal. The program now covers 15 states in India and has over 31,000 women entrepreneurs in its fold, reaching out to 100,000 villages and directly reaching to 150 million rural consumers. By the end of 2010, Shakti aims to have 100,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering 500,000 villages, touching the lives million people. HUL is also running a rural health programme Lifebuoy Swasthya Chetana. The programme endeavours to induce adoption of hygienic practices among rural Indians and aims to bring down the incidence of diarrhoea. It has already touched 70 million people in approximately 15000 villages of 8 states. The vision is to make a billion Indians feel safe and secure. of over 600

If Hindustan Unilever straddles the Indian corporate world, it is because of being singleminded in identifying itself with Indian aspirations and needs in every walk of life.

PRODUCT PROFILE
HULs business activities are divided into four broad areas: Home and personal care
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personal wash, fabric wash, home care, oral care, skin care, hair care, deodorants and talcs, colour cosmetic Foods tea, coffee, branded staples, culinary products, ice creams, Modern Foods ranges New Ventures Hindustan Lever Network, Ayush ayurvedic products and services, Sangam, Pureit water purifiers. Exports

HPC, beverages, marine products, rice Bathing soaps: Lux, Lifebuoy, Liril, Hamam, Breeze, Dove, Pears and Rexona

Laundry items: Surf Excel, Rin and Wheel

Skin care: Fair & Lovely, Ponds and Vaseline

Hair care: Sunsilk and Clinic

Oral care: Pepsodent and Close up

Deodorants: Axe and Rexona

Colour cosmetics: Lakme

Ayurvedic:
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Ayush

Tea: Brooke Bond and Lipton

Coffee: Bru

Foods: Kissan, Annapurna and Knorr

Ice cream: Kwality Walls .

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BRANDS

HUL s brands are household names across the country. They include: Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond s, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Closeup, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna and Kwality Walls.

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TOPIC DETAIL
Although formulating a consistent strategy is a difficult task for any management team, making that strategy work implementing it throughout the organization is even more difficult (Hrebiniak, 2006). A myriad of factors can potentially affect the process by which strategic plans are turned into organizational action. Unlike strategy formulation, strategy implementation is often seen as something of a craft, rather than a science, and its research history has previously been described as fragmented and eclectic (Noble, 1999b). It is thus not surprising that, after a comprehensive strategy or single strategic decision has been formulated, significant difficulties usually arise during the subsequent implementation process. The best-formulated strategies may fail to produce superior performance for the firm if they are not successfully implemented, as Noble (1999b) notes. Results from several surveys have confirmed this view: An Economist survey found that a discouraging 57 percent of firms were unsuccessful at executing strategic initiatives over the past three years, according to a survey of 276 senior operating executives in 2004 (Allio, 2005). According to the White Paper of Strategy Implementation of Chinese Corporations in 2006, strategy implementation has become the most significant management challenge which all kinds of corporations face at the moment. The survey reported in that white paper indicates that 83 percent of the surveyed companies failed to implement their strategy smoothly, and only 17 percent felt that they had a consistent strategy implementation process. It is thus obvious that strategy implementation is a key challenge for today s organizations. There are many (soft, hard and mixed) factors that influence the success of strategy implementation, ranging from the people who communicate or implement the strategy to the systems or mechanisms in place for co-ordination and control. How can we better understand these issues and their importance for successful strategy implementation? In this article, we try to respond to this
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question by analyzing existing research on the factors that influence strategy implementation . We have conducted an analysis in the most widely used literature databases to identify key factors influencing the process of strategy implementation, to surface current areas of agreement and disagreement, as well as missing evidence and resulting future research needs. Our study also examines the ways in which strategy implementation has been researched so far, in terms of the applied research methods and the examined strategy contexts. It will consequently also reveal under-exploited methods or contexts. The structure of this paper is as follows: First, we analyze definitions of strategy implementation and compare them with other synonymous and related terms (in section 2). Then, we describe the methodology that we have used to conduct our literature review and define its scope (section 3). The next part of the article, section 4, contains the actual review of literature, focusing on the main results of prior studies. In that section we present a discussion of nine major factors that affect strategy implementation. Section four also contains a review of existing models and frameworks of strategy implementation. In the fifth section of the article, we discuss the implications of our findings as well as their limitations. We present a conceptual framework that organizes the current research findings. We also discuss directions for future research in the domain of strategy implementation and how they may be pursued. In the sixth and final section, we discuss the limitations of our own approach and summarize open research questions regarding strategy implementation that have surfaced at various points in our literature analysis. In this section, we will review the 60 identified studies and analyze their research context, their main results, theoretical bases, the research methods used as well as the analytical techniques employed. Examined organizational levels and organizational types are two elements of the research context. As the core of our literature review, the results section compiles nine factors that
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influence strategy implementation success, as well as several frameworks or models that aggregate or relate relevant factors to each other. We then briefly discuss the theoretical bases of the reviewed studies. Finally, the research methods and analytical techniques will be reviewed to see which methods are still underutilized in the context of strategy implementation. 4.1 Research Contexts We classify research contexts into two dimensions: the examined organizational levels and the considered organizational types. Organizational levels designate the locus of strategizing, i.e., whether a study focuses on functional strategies (i.e., marketing, HR, R&D), SBU-level strategies or corporate strategies. Organizational types refer to the kind of organization that is studied, i.e., whether it is privately held or state-owned and whether its operating scope is regional or rather multinational. Organizational Levels In the context of strategy implementation research, five organizational levels can be distinguished. They are: corporate level, strategic business unit (SBU) level, functional level, operational level and mixed levels (such as corporate and SBU level, SBU and functional level, inter-functional levels, corporate-SBU-functional levels, etc.). Surprisingly few researchers focus on the implementation of corporate level strategies, such as Wernham (1985) and Schmidt & Brauer (2006), while many examine SBU level strategies (Gupta & Govindarajan, 1984; White, 1986; Govindarajan, 1988; Govindarajan, 1989; Govindarajan & Fisher, 1990; Skivington & Daft, 1991; Roth & Schweiger & Morrison, 1991; Floyd & Wooldridge, 1992b; Waldersee & Sheather, 1996; Nilsson & Rapp, 1999; Chimhanzi & Morgan, 2005; Olson & Slater & Hult, 2005; Schaap, 2006; Brenes & Mena & Molina, 2007). The same holds true for functional strategies: We have found eight studies that focus on the implementation of such strategies, namely Rapert & Lynch & Suter (1996), Sashittal & Wilemon (1996), Piercy (1998), Noble (1999a), Noble & Mokwa (1999), Chimhanzi (2004), Qi (2005), Viseras & Baines & Sweeney (2005). Most of these studies, however, focus on marketing strategy (such as Sashittal

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& Wilemon, 1996; Piercy, 1998; Noble & Mokwa, 1999, Chimhanzi, 2004). There are few studies dedicated to the implementation of other functional strategies (this is clearly an area of future research). The only other study of functional strategy implementation that we have been able to identify is Viseras, Baines and Sweeneys study (2005) in the context of manufacturing strategies. This study focuses on the key success factors in the project management for the implementation of strategic manufacturing initiatives. Few studies focus on the actual operational level of strategy implementation, such as Bantel (1997), Homburg & Krohmer & Workman (2004). Bantel (1997) analyzes the effects of two key aspects of product strategy (product leadership and product/market focus) on performance, and on two aspects of strategic implementation (stakeholder input and employee empowerment). This study also emphasizes the relationship between product strategy and several strategic implementation variables. Homburg, Krohmer & Workman (2004) point out that market orientation plays a key role for the successful implementation of a PPD (premium product differentiation) strategy. There are some studies which cannot be classified into the above categories. Consequently, we classify them into a group called mixed level studies: Gupta (1987), Beer & Eisenstat (2000) and Hrebiniak (2006) have carried out research on corporate and SBU-level strategy. Walker and Ruekert (1987) analyze three levels of strategy corporate, SBU and functional. Higgins (2005) even focuses on four types of strategies: corporate, business, functional and process. Process strategies, the last type, normally cut across functions and are aimed at integrating organizational processes across the organization in order to make them more effective and more efficient. Slater and Olson (2001) analyze marketings contribution to the implementation of business strategy. The mixed studies category also includes articles that focus on the role of project management for strategy implementation. Okumus (2001), for example, focuses on the implementation of a yield

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management project and a key client management project in two hotels. Peng and Litteljohn (2001) investigate three hotel chains implementing a strategic initiative on yield management. Grundy (1998) examines the synergies among project management and strategy implementation and reviews strategy tools that may help in project management. Finally, there are many studies that are not sufficiently explicit regarding their scope concerning strategic levels. Examples of such ambiguous studies are Bourgeois and Brodwin (1984), Nutt (1986, 1987, 1989), Noble (1999b), Lehner (2004), Higgins (2005), Harrington (2006), and Schaap (2006). We can draw multiple conclusions based on our analysis of the treatment of organizational levels in prior studies of strategy implementation. We note that among the five strategy levels the SBU-level (14 articles), the functional- level (8 articles) and mixed levels (9 articles) have received more attention than the other two levels, corporate (2 articles) and operational (2 articles). Many studies (25 articles) do not even indicate at which level their discussion of strategy implementation is located. Two calls to action result from these findings. First, the implementation of corporate strategies is an under-researched area (perhaps with the exception of post-merger integration research that we have excluded in our review) and should be given more research attention. Second, future strategy implementation research should pay attention to explicitly indicate the level of analysis. Within the functional level, another finding revealed that marketing is the prevailing domain, compared with other functional areas (such as manufacturing, R&D, HR, accounting etc.). In terms of promising future research on strategy implementation, we can observe that there are very few studies that have examined the inter-relationships of functional and business strategies. One such study focuses on marketings contribution to the implementation of business strategy (Slater & Olson, 2001). Another study has examined the mutual influence of functional departments relationships on strategies, which seems a highly relevant area to improve our understanding of strategy
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implementation: Chimhanzi (2004) has examined the impact of marketing and HR interactions on marketing strategy implementation. Organizational types Organizational types, as stated earlier, refer to the characteristics of organizations: if they are private or state-owned, local or multinational. As far as ownership forms are concerned, strategy implementation studies discuss both, state-owned and privately held companies. Wernham (1985), for example, explores the reality of strategy implementation in a U.K. nationalized company, British Telecom (BT). Alexander (1985) surveys 93 private sector firms through a questionnaire. Qi (2005) issues questionnaires to the head offices of 800 private companies in the UK. Noble s (1999a) study spans several types of organizations a national airline, a major financial services firm, a leading packaged goods company, a provider of emergency fire and medical services, and a leading firm in the imaging technology industry. Some of the researched companies focus on their domestic markets, while others are multinational corporations. Rapert, Velliquette and Garretson s (2002) study on strategy implementation takes a nationwide sample of 1000 CEOs of general service hospitals, which are members of the American Hospital Association (AHA); Roth & Schweiger & Morrison (1991) and Kim & Mauborgne (1991, 1993) study global strategy; Okumus (2001) investigates two international hotel groups; Forman and Argenti (2005) select five multinational companies as samples, namely Accenture, Dell, FedEx, Johnson & Johnson, Sears. In conclusion, the subjects of strategy implementation studies are not only state-owned corporations, but mostly private corporations, not only local firms but also multinational firms. However, there have been no studies comparing similarities and differences of strategy implementation among private corporations and state-owned corporations, or among local firms and multinational firms. We thus do not know which specific differences exist regarding strategy implementation in these various forms organizations. This clearly is another interesting avenue for future research.

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INDUSTRY PROFILE
Fast Moving Consumer Goods(FMCG) FMCG are products that have a quick shelf turnover, at relatively low cost and don't require a lot of thought, time and financial investment to purchase. The margin of profit on every individual FMCG product is less. However the huge number of goods sold is what makes the difference. Hence profit in FMCG goods always translates to number of goods sold. Fast Moving Consumer Goods is a classification that refers to a wide range of frequently purchased consumer products including: toiletries, soaps, cosmetics, teeth cleaning products, shaving products, detergents, other non-durables such as glassware, bulbs, batteries, paper products and plastic goods, such as buckets. Fast Moving is in opposition to consumer durables such as kitchen appliances that are generally replaced less than once a year. The category may include pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics and packaged food products and drinks, although these are often categorized separately. The term Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) is used interchangeably with Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). Three of the largest and best known examples of Fast Moving Consumer Goods companies are Nestl, Unilever and Procter & Gamble. Examples of FMCGs are soft drinks, tissue paper, and chocolate bars. Examples of FMCG brands are Coca-Cola, Kleenex, Pepsi and Believe. The FMCG sector represents consumer goods required for daily or frequent use The main segments of this sector are personal care (oral care, hair care, soaps, cosmetics, toiletries), household care (fabric wash and household cleaners), branded and packaged food, beverages (health beverages, soft drinks, staples, cereals, dairy products, chocolates, bakery products) and tobacco.
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The Indian FMCG sector is an important contributor to the country's GDP. It is the fourth largest sector in the economy and is responsible for 5% of the total factory employment in India. The industry also creates employment for 3 m people in downstream activities, much of which is disbursed in small towns and rural India. This industry has witnessed strong growth in the past decade. This has been due to liberalization, urbanization, increase in the disposable incomes and altered lifestyle. Furthermore, the boom has also been fuelled by the reduction in excise duties, de-reservation from the small-scale sector and the concerted efforts of personal care companies to attract the burgeoning affluent segment in the middle-class through product and packaging innovations. Unlike the perception that the FMCG sector is a producer of luxury items targeted at the elite, in reality, the sector meets the every day needs of the masses. The lower-middle income group accounts for over 60% of the sector's sales. Rural markets account for 56% of the total domestic FMCG demand. Many of the global FMCG majors have been present in the country for many decades. But in the last ten years, many of the smaller rung Indian FMCG companies have gained in scale. As a result, the unorganized and regional players have witnessed erosion in market share. History of FMCG in India In India, companies like ITC, HLL, Colgate, Cadbury and Nestle have been a dominant force in the FMCG sector well supported by relatively less competition and high entry barriers (import duty was high). These companies were, therefore, able to charge a premium for their products. In this context, the margins were also on the higher side. With the gradual opening up of the economy over the last decade, FMCG companies have been forced to fight for a market share. In the process, margins have been compromised, more so in the last six years (FMCG sector witnessed decline in demand).

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Current Scenario The growth potential for FMCG companies looks promising over the long- term horizon, as the per-capita consumption of almost all products in the country is amongst the lowest in the world. As per the Consumer Survey by KSA- Techno Park, of the total consumption expenditure, almost 40% and 8% was accounted by groceries and personal care products respectively. Rapid urbanization, increased literacy and rising per capita income are the key growth drivers for the sector. Around 45% of the population in India is below 20 years of age and the proportion of the young population is expected to increase in the next five years. Aspiration levels in this age group have been fuelled by greater media exposure, unleashing a latent demand with more money and a new mindset. In this backdrop, industry estimates suggest that the industry could triple in value by 2015 (by some estimates, the industry could double in size by 2010).

In our view, testing times for the FMCG sector are over and driving rural penetration will be the key going forward. Due to infrastructure constraints (this influences the cost-effectiveness of the supply chain), companies were unable to grow faster. Although companies like HLL and ITC have dedicated initiatives targeted at the rural market, these are still at a relatively nascent stage. The bottlenecks of the conventional distribution system are likely to be removed once organized retailing gains in scale. Currently, organized retailing accounts for just 3% of total retail sales and is likely to touch 10% over the next 3-5 years. In our view, organized retailing results in discounted prices, forced-buying by offering many choices and also opens up new avenues for growth for the FMCG sector. Given the aggressive expansion plans of players like Pantaloon, Trent, Shoppers Stop and Shoprite, we are confident that the FMCG sector has a bright future India is rated as the fifth most attractive emerging retail market. It has been ranked second in a Global Retail Development Index of 30 developing countries drawn up by A T Kearney.

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A.T. Kearney has estimated India's total retail market at $202.6 billion, is expected to grow at a compounded 30 per cent over the next five years. The share of modern retail is likely to grow from its current 2 per cent to 15-20 percent over the next decade, analysts feel. The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy with a total market size in excess of US$ 13.1 billion. The FMCG market is set to treble from US$ 11.6 billion in 2003 to US$ 33.4 billion in 2015. Penetration level as well as per capita consumption in most product categories like jams, toothpaste, skin care, hair wash etc in India is low indicating the untapped market potential. Burgeoning Indian population, particularly the middle class and the rural segments, presents an opportunity to makers of branded products to convert consumers to branded products. India is one of the worlds largest producers for a number of FMCG products but its FMCG exports are languishing at around Rs 1,000 crore only. There is significant potential for increasing exports but there are certain factors inhibiting this. Small-scale sector reservations limit ability to invest in technology and quality up gradation to achieve economies of scale. Moreover, lower volume of higher value added products reduce scope for export to developing countries. The FMCG sector has traditionally grown at a very fast rate and has generally out performed the rest of the industry. Over the last one year, however the rate of growth has slowed down and the sector has recorded sales growth of just five per cent in the last four quarters. The outlook in the short term does not appear to be very positive for the sector. Rural demand is on the decline and the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has already downscaled its projection for agriculture growth in the current fiscal. Poor monsoon in some states, too, is unlikely to help matters. Moreover, the general slowdown in the economy is also likely to have an adverse impact on disposable income and purchasing power as a whole. The growth of imports constitutes another problem area and while so far imports in this sector have

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been confined to the premium segment, FMCG companies estimate they have already cornered a four to six per cent market share. The high burden of local taxes is another reason attributed for the slowdown in the industry At the same time, the long term outlook for revenue growth is positive. Give the large market and the requirement for continuous repurchase of these products, FMCG companies should continue to do well in the long run. Moreover, most of the companies are concentrating on cost reduction and supply chain management. This should yield positive results for them

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design: Research design is simply the framework or plan for a study, used as a guide in collecting and analyzing data. There are three types of Research Design:Types of Research: Exploratory Research Design:- The major emphasis in exploratory Research design is on discovery of ideas and insights. Descriptive Research Design:- The Descriptive Research Design Study is typically concerned with determining the frequency with which something occurs or the relationship between two variables. Casual Research Design:- A Casual Research Design is concerned With determining cause and effect relationship. For the study, Descriptive Research Design was undertaken as it draws the opinion of employees/ workers on a specific aspe Research Objective: To analyse the influence of rival companys strategies on the performance of Hindustan Unilever Limited To analyze the various strategies adopted by the company to gain competitive advantage To identify the marketing strategies and policies of Hindustan Unilever Limited

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SAMPLE DESIGN A sample design is a definite plan determined before any data is actually collected for obtaining a sample. Researcher must select a sample design, which should be reliable and appropriate for his report. SAMPLING METHOD: There are two methods of sampling: Probability Sampling: It is based on the concept of random selection of a controlled procedure that assures that each Population element is gives a non-zero chance of selection. Probability Sampling is of following types: Simple Random Systematic Cluster Stratified Double Non-Probability Sampling: Non probability sampling is non-random and subjective. That is each member does not have a known non zero chance of being included. Types of NonProbability Sampling Convenience Judgement Quota

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Researcher selects the sample as per their convenience. For this research work I have chosen Non- Probability Convenience Sampling because time limit for the completion of the work is limited and also managers and employees are not available all the time.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD


Data for the present study is collected from two sources: Secondary: - Secondary data is collected from published sources like Journals, Magazines, various newspapers and published books.

Secondary Data
Secondary data are the data that are already collected and are only analyzed by different sources these sources are as follows: Corporate magazine Manuals of various companies Books, journals, newspaper Employment exchange The secondary data would be collected from financial statement, journal of national repute, books of national and international author as well as the annual report of the company. In addition to this internet access will make the study more effective and meaningful.

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DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATIONS

Through the nineties, the FMCG markets grew at almost 15% per annum in value.Suddenly, in 2000, FMCG market growth stalled and then declined for the next four years. It is important to understand why this happened.The rapid opening up of the economy resulted in many new avenues of expenditurefor the consumers growing income. A sharp drop in interest rates from 18% to 8%led to explosive demand for consumer durables like white goods, two-wheelers andautomobiles. After all, one could drive out of a car showroom in a Maruti 800 with adown payment of only Rs. 2000. The home ownership market grew exponentially asthe average age of a home loan borrower dropped from 50 in 1999 to 30 in

2004.Mobile phone ownership and usage exploded due to its amazing lifestyle andconvenience be nefits as well as lower prices. Entertainment, Leisure and Travelsectors also boomed.The lure of new avenues of expenditure in products and services led to consumersrestricting their expanse on FMCG. It is not that they bathed less often or brushedtheir teeth less often or indeed washed their clothes less often. But they did downtradeto lower priced substitutes from higher quality brands. For example, a consumer buying six tablets of Lux in a month went to buying three of Lux and three cheaper brands. Or a consumer buying Surf Excel for her clothes mixed it with a cheaper powder. As a result of this shift in spending patterns, the FMCG market declined invalue in the last four years creating a major challenge for growth The new Hindustan Lever: Focused on FMCG In 2000, 75% of our sales came from FMCG businesses. The rest came from severalnon-FMCG businesses which were not profitable, and did not offer prospects for long-term leadership.
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Besides, they were a drain on the core FMCG business, both interms of resource and focus.They decided to disengage from all non-FMCG or commodity businesses. In all, wehave divested and discontinued 15 businesses including Animal Feeds, SpecialityChemicals, Nickel Catalyst, Adhesives, Thermometers, Seeds, Mushrooms etc. withsales of Rs.1,750 crores as in 1999.Today they are a focused on FMCG company with our branded business accountingfor over 90% of sales, consisting of 35 brands across 20 categories. These will be

their main engines of growth, with higher levels of resource concentration, be ittechnology, people talent or media spend. Building blocks of a strong Foods business In Foods, there is enormous growth potential in leading the evolution of consumers to branded and processed foods. Over the last few years they have focused on putting in place the building blocks of a strong Foods business. Historically their Foods businesswas fragmented and lacked scale. It was often commoditized with low margins. Theyrecognized that changing food habits would require considerable investment, whichthe current business simply could not afford. Therefore they divested the non-valueadded parts like Vanaspati. They have consolidated theuir portfolio and improved thegross margins by over 13% through product mix and cost reduction. They have alsocleared the supply chain of all old stock and geared up for fresh availability on shelf. Today, their Foods business has a healthy gross margin and a supply chain driven byfreshness. The Foods business will now invest for growth through relevant innovation. FMCG still offers enormous potential As the largest FMCG player it was up to them to reverse the downtrading to realize itstrue growth potential. They could achieve this by raising the bar and becoming worldclass in what their brands
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offered and how they worked. Nothing less would do.Penetration levels in several of the categories and consumption levels in all of thecategories is low by any comparison. Across the world, they are seeing a strongcorrelation between income levels and the size of FMCG markets. Over the next 10years, per capita income in India is likely to touch Chinas current levels. At thoselevels, the FMCG market will be over Rs.100,000 crores from a current value of Rs.40,000 crores. This is an opportunity that they have to seize. Today, their Foods business has a healthy gross margin and a supply chain driven byfreshness. The Foods business will now invest for growth through relevant innovation. FMCG still offers enormous potential As the largest FMCG player it was up to them to reverse the downtrading to realize itstrue growth potential. They could achieve this by raising the bar and becoming worldclass in what their brands offered and how they worked. Nothing less would do.Penetration levels in several of the categories and consumption levels in all of thecategories is low by any comparison. Across the world, they are seeing a strongcorrelation between income levels and the size of FMCG markets. Over the next 10years, per capita income in India is likely to touch Chinas current levels. At thoselevels, the FMCG market will be over Rs.100,000 crores from a current value of Rs.40,000 crores. This is an opportunity that they have to seize. Portfolio of Strong Brands Their main challenge was to reverse the downtrading in the categories and re-establishthe relevance of their brands in the mind of the consumer. In 2000, they had 110 brands, many undifferentiated and lacking scale. They chose to focus on 35 power brands covering all consumer appeal and price segments. They are already seeing the benefits. Six brands Brooke Bond,
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Lifebuoy, Lux, Fair & Lovely, Rin and Wheel have emerged as mega brands in the last five years, each with sales of more thanRs.500 crores Better Value The first step was to ensure that they offer world class quality and real differentiation backed by technology to give them the advantage over low priced competition. Theyhave invested over Rs.400 crores, or 5% of sales, in the last three years to upgrade the brands.In several cases they reduced prices to make the brands more affordable. Better quality and more affordable prices have increased the value to the consumer.They have also launched several low unit size and price packs for single use to makethe brands more accessible to all income groups. For example, they are the first tointroduce a branded toothpaste in a tube at Rs.5 and a branded quality shampoo in a bottle at Rs.5. Bigger Role in Consumers Lives Perhaps the most significant change has been to move the brands beyond

merelymaking functional claims to playing a bigger and deeper role in the lives of consumers. They had to move from selling a soap or a detergent to something far more important and central to the consumers life. How often have we heard someonesay, A soap is a soap is a soap! Or indeed, All detergents clean clothes as well.In the case of Lifebuoy, it was only when they associated it with the promise of health and protection against disease that it claimed a larger space in the consumersmind. It moved from being a mere soap to a health essential. Today Lifebuoy, their oldest brand, has grown at over 15% for the last three years. Similarly, in the laundry market, Surf Excel went well beyond the benefit of greatclean by saving two buckets of water with every wash. Imagine the importance of that benefit to consumers in
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cities, who often get running water for only a couple of hours a day. Surf Excel is one of their fastest growing brands today.Both Lifebuoy and Surf Excel have succeeded because they are relevant to two keyconcerns of the Indian housewife: family health and the scarcity of water.In addition to the growing consciousness of health, consumers today are looking for ways to look good and feel good so that they can get much more out of life. In short,consumers are seeking Vitality in their lives. Their portfolio of 35 power brands isuniquely positioned to offer nutrition, hygiene and personal care benefits and therebydeliver Vitality. Technology, the Key Differentiator Their brands and sound understanding of the local consumer are supported by a worldclass Research and Development capability. They have over 200 of the brightestscientists and technologists based in India.Their recent reorganization leverages the talent pool from across 16 global technologycentres, of which four are in India. In all, they have over 4,000 high quality mindsacross Unilever working relentlessly to provide new benefits that make a realdifference the consumers. Winning with Customers Hindustan Lever has historically had a strong bond with its customers. They havestrengthened this and reinvented the way they manage their distribution channels and their customers. The sales structure has been transformed to leverage scale and buildexpertise in servicing Modern Trade and Rural Markets. They have also de-layeredtheir sales force to improve the response times and service levels.Their customers are serviced on continuous replenishment. This is possible because of IT connectivity across the extended supply chain of about 2,000 suppliers, 80 factoriesand 7,000 stockists. They have also combined backend processes into a commonShared Service
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to

infrastructure, which supports the units across the country. All theseinitiatives together have enhanced operational efficiencies, improved the service to thecustomers and have brought us closer to the marketplace. Our Acorns: Investing in our Future In the pursuit of growth, they have also begun to nurture some acorns for the future.These are both new businesses and new ways of engaging with consumers.Their entry into Water Purifiers, through Pureit, shows great promise. Pureit delivers100% protection against all water-borne diseases. It provides water which is as safe as boiled water, without needing electricity or continuous tap water supply. At 17 paise per litre, it is extremely affordable for the common man. They have launched it inTamil Nadu and are fine-tuning all aspects of the business system before a phasednational launch.In urban India, Hindustan Lever Network (HLN) is their direct selling initiativeselling a special range of products. It already reaches 1,400 towns with over 3 lakhconsultants. Besides reach, HLN enables direct interaction with consumers andcustomises solutions for them to give them a complete brand experience Our People & Organisation They have restructured the company, integrating eight Profit Centres into twoDivisions Home and Personal Care (HPC) and Foods. The result is a simpler andleaner organisation, less hierarchical with fewer levels and greater empowerment.This has eliminated complexity and speeded up decision making. Today the companyis far more youthful in attitude and spirit. There is greater openness and transparency.

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The Transformation: Investment in the Future To ensure that Hindustan Lever remains competitive in the long-term, they

have madesignificant investments in product quality, pricing and marketing. As mentionedearlier, the investment in product quality alone has been in excess of Rs. 400 crores,or 5% of our sales.In addition there has been the cost of defending their market position. Recently aninternational competitor attacked their laundry business led by a price reduction of asmuch as 50%. They acted with speed and determination leveraging all their pastexperience in India and internationally. They have been able to fully protect their market leadership and share, albeit sacrificing shortterm profit. They made thisnecessary trade-off as market share is the best means of sustaining future profit. Over time, their stronger market positions will surely lead to greater long-term profit.Despite these significant investments to strengthen the long-term competitiveness andthe costs of defending the strong market position, they still remain one of the most profitable companies in the country.

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FINDINGS
Strength 1. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages.. 2. Due to its long presence in India has deep penetration 20 consumer product category, over 15,000 employees, including over 1,300 managers, is to "add vitality
to life."

3. The company derives 44.3% of its revenues from soaps and detergents, 26.6% from personal care products, 10.5% from beverages, and the rest from foods, ice creams, exports, and other products. 4. Low cost of production due to economic of scale. That means higher profits and / or more competitioners. Better market penetration. 5. HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognised as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the Government of India. Weakness 1. Continuous threat from other competitors. Opportunities 1. Increasing per capita national income resulting in higher disposable income. 2. Growing middle class and growing urban population. 3. Increasing gifts cultures.
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4. Increasing departmental stores concept impulse @ at cash counters. 5. Globalization. Threats 1. HLL's tea business has declined marginally, reason is that, cost pressure is likely due to rising crude and freight costs.

CONCLUSION
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This company project has demonstrated HINDUSTAN UNILEVERS MARKETING STRATEGIES AND POLICIES that has proved to be extensive through, and of great benefit to the company in furthering its competitive advantage. In this project it possible to see the success of Hindustan Unilevers in its indorse its strong potential to continue to do well.

FMCG secter hold a prime importance as the competition is increasing day by day. Different line of products are offering customers to choose according to their

gender,Demography,personality,income and other attributes.This sector has member of players which altimately shopes the buying decision products like- Lux,clinic plus,lifebuoy,ariel,pantene etc. are some of the main ingredients of FMCG sector.

SUGGESTIONS

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P&G P&G need to make their product affordable in Indian market so as to get quantity of sale benefit

P&G should enter into lower and product which has high potential with reference to Indian market

segment

They need to promote their product Ariel which is loosing market share in its


brands.

They need to promote their companies name along with the brand name. HUL They need to enter into lower segments of detergent. They need to take care regarding the competition with in its own

with the brand name.

They need to bring more awareness of the companies name along

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LIMITATIONS
While undertaking my study I was encountered with some limitations: Limited time was provided to complete the study. Cost involved in collecting the data was high. To fix an appointment with the dealers was also very difficult task and even after that many time people was not turn up for the appointment.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS:

Kothari C.R. , Research Methodology, 4th Edition 2002 Page 135.

Kottler Philip, Marketing Management, 10th Edition, Prentice- Hall of India Pvt. Ltd., 2001 Page 365. Thakur Devendra, Research Methodology, Deep & Deep Publication Pvt. Ltd. , 2005 Page 85.

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