Example research essay topic: Ice Cream Competitive Advantage - 2,757 words

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Unielever Company As the companies are constantly looking for growth, they seek for directions in which they can expand. Combination of market and product development can result in increases profitability for the company. The better business components are chosen, the more income company has. The composition of the corporation as well as business components depend on the size of activities in each market area covered.

There are corporations that are equally active in all chosen directions, whereas other corporations focus attention on one-two products. Determining the priorities is very important part of corporate strategy that decides which activities or brands should be the focus of future growth. Lets examine Unielever Corporation applying one of the most well known portfolio matrix: the Boston Consulting Group Matrix based on strong analysis of the market. The BCG Matrix is based on two types of variables: the first measures the attractiveness of the business (business growth to determine the attractiveness), the second variable measures the relative market share (to determine the competitive strength).

Unielever is the worlds leading producer of ice cream with ice cream brands under the Heart logo, including Cornetto, Magnum, Carte dOr and Solero, are sold internationally. Breyers, Ben & Jerry's, Klondike and Popsicle are leading North American based brands. Ben & Jerry's is also sold in Europe. (Unielever Annual Report F- 20 2002 9) The Market Share The ice cream and frozen desserts industry is an important sector of the United Kingdom dairy industry. The UK is the worlds sixth largest ice cream market, accounting for around 3. 2 % of global consumption, behind the US, China, Japan, Germany and Russia. (Key Note Report 2005, p. 18) According to Unielever Website, Europe accounts for 50 % of Unielever's business. (web - page 2 (info 2003) According to Unielever Annual Report 2002 (p. 4), Unielever European Market Shares 2003 are as follows: - Out of home: 41 % of portioned ice creams and 10 % of non-portioned ice creams - In home: 29 % of portioned ice creams and 30 % of non-portioned ice creams. Besides, Unielever is clear European market leader (Unielever Annual Report 2002 p. 5). Unielever total market share increased for 6. 9 % compared to 2002.

Its market share is 26 % versus Nestles share of 13 %, and PLs share of 9 %. Besides, the company has announced plans for a? 96 m investment in ice-cream marketing and development over the next three years, including the opening of 1, 000 kiosks on beaches and in shopping centres throughout the world (UK Activity Report, Unielever n. p. ). According to recent statistics in Key Note 2005 Report (p. 42), In 2004, two-thirds of take-home ice cream sales (by value) were generated by brands produced by Unilever Ice Cream & Frozen Food Ltd (Walls) or Richmond Foods. Besides, In the wrapped impulse sector, Unielever accounts for around 52. 7 % of sales value in 2004 versus Richmond Foods 22 % (including Nestles 16. 2 %), Mars 8. 3 % and Fredericks (with the Cadbury brand) 2. 2 %. The data shows that the company is well developed and profitable.

The company manages to utilize its assets to create profits, to pay short-term debt, as long as long-term debt, to generate sufficient earnings. Brands The brand portfolio of the company includes almost 30 different brands worldwide, including Wall's, Algida, Ola and many more. But all sell the company's international blockbusters, such as Magnum, Cornetto, Solero and Viennetta brands which are known and trusted by millions of consumers around the world (Unielever Website, n. p. ).

According to Unielever Website, the company employs 265000 people globally. Besides, it is the largest advertiser in the United Kingdom and 3 rd largest in the world. Ice Cream Brands (Unielever Website, n. p. ): Ben & Jerry's Frisco (Denmark) Langnese (Germany) Miko (France) Eskimo (Austria) Good Humor - Breyer's (USA) Eskimo (Czech Rep) HB (Ireland) GB Glace (Sweden) Algida (Greece) Algida (Italy) Algida (Hungary) Ola (Portugal) Ola (Belgium) Pierrot Lusso (Switzerland) Honda (Mexico) Heart Brand Hero Ola (Netherlands) Ribbon (Brazil) Bresler (Chile) Streets (Australia) Tio Rico (Venezuela) Unielever's leading brands are as follows: Magnum, Carte DOr, Cornetto, Solero and Viennetta (Unielever Annual Report 2002 p. 8). The company shows great improvement in comparison to previous years performances Unielever Annual Report 2002 p. 11: According to the Key Note 2005 Report, the UK market for ice cream and frozen desserts was worth? 1. 35 bn in 2004 (p. 11). Ice creams: i.

e. Magnum Premium tubs: i. e. Ben & Jerry's (Key Note 2005 Report p. 22) Magnum brand occupies high share of individual ice creams sold in multipack's (total share of 33. 9 % in 2004 (in. Magnum and other chocolate sticks). Filled cones (such as Cornetto) accounted for a further third.

Family tubs such as Walls Blue Ribbon is the main branded player among retailers own labels that traditionally dominate sales, accounting for over 70 % of sales value in 2004 (p. 23). BCG Matrix (Market Share/Market Growth Matrix) Industry Growth rate High Low High STARS Magnum (With sales of around? 60 m at retail selling prices (rsp) in 2004, it is the overall market leader (p. 47) ) Cornetto with sales of around? 33. 1 m at retail selling prices (rsp) in 2004) Family tubs such as Walls Blue Ribbon worth? 19. 5 m Carte DOr with sales of around? 33 m at retail selling prices (rsp) in 2004) Ben & Jerry's ice cream range (Ben and Jerry's Website n. p. ) QUESTION MARKS Walls Carte DOr Crema Di Mascarpo Slim Fast (a lower-fat product) Walls Big Milk, contains 70 % milk (targeted specially for children) Red Berries variant of Solero. Dublin Mudslide (Irish cream liqueur ice cream with chocolate chip cookie pieces and a coffee fudge swirl). Unielever supported the launch by a? 2. 5 m marketing spend, including cinema and press advertisements (p. 51). Magnum Intense Solero Exotic Magnum Touch, Aroma, Sound, Taste and Vision Low CASH COWS Carte DOr Fruit & Fresh (The launch of Fruit & Fresh was also the main driver of growth in the Belgian market, where sales increased by more than 20 % in both volume and value terms in 2003. (p. 30) ) Ben & Jerry's Cornetto filled cones (such as Love Potions a series of amorous ice creams in flavours such as Cappuccino and Forest Fruits (p. 27) Viennetta, with sales of? 21 m Solero worth? 19. 5 m in 2004 DOGS Cornetto Soft Ben & Jerry's luxury brands Walls Magnum Deadly Sins Walls Solero Get fruit Walls Viennetta Ice Cream Relative Market Share The general interpretation of BCG Matrix (Market Share/Market Growth Matrix) is as follows: STARS: High Industry Growth/High Relative Market Share.

QUESTION MARKS: High Industry Growth/Low Relative Market Share CASH COWS: Low Industry Growth/High Relative Market Share. DOGS: Low Industry Growth/Low Relative Market Share Stars usually generate considerable income. The company needs to invest more funds for future growth of brand. Question Marks: The brands that can become cash cows or stars. The company needs to define strategy and either to invest more funds or to think about dis investing. Cash Cows are the brands or products that generate considerable cash flow.

The companys usual strategy is to take the funds in order to feed either question marks or the stars. Dogs are usually the brands that dont generate considerable profit. The company need to re-examine its marketing / management strategy and, probably, to consider withdrawing. Competitive Advantage Being quite a long time in ice cream and frozen desserts business Unielever Company has gone through falls and rises. But in spite of continues struggle with competitors, the company manages to remain one of the biggest companies in the UK market for ice cream and frozen desserts. It succeeds in it due to continuing search for new technologies and respectful attitude to the consumer.

Company is constantly looking for new ways of producing healthier and tastier to the consumers health ice cream and frozen desserts and its credo is not to make advantage at the price of the customers health. Following this idea, company on the one hand develops new technologies of ice cream and frozen desserts production. Currently the company is working on ice cream diet products in its Walls ice cream portfolio, as well as extending its Slim-Fast brand into the category with Chocolate & Caramel Sticks and vanilla-flavored mini tubs in 2004 (Key Note Report 2005, p. 13). Also Unielever Company has developed and introduced ways to reduce fat and carbohydrates while still providing ice cream and frozen desserts that are beloved by its consumers. Unielever Company has invented or improved many of the technological innovations that have helped reduce the average fat and carbohydrates yields of ice cream and frozen desserts in Slim-Fast brands. Unielever Corp gains competitive advantage by creating numerous brands, keeping prices reasonably low, and thereby decreasing purchasing power of consumers.

Using innovations and new brands as well as constantly developing marketing strategies helps the company to find new ways and to improve business. According to Unielever Company, it can help raising cash that can be used to provide liquidity to the managers or to fund further growth In order the firm is successful it is important that interests and expectations of both sides (customers and the company) are coincide. Generally speaking, a firm is interested in getting more profits, and a customer in getting qualitative and not expensive production. Nowadays with still growing concern about health, both a company that operates in the UK market for ice cream and frozen desserts and a consumer are interested in more healthy ice cream and frozen desserts production, as consumer wants to reduce to a minimum the harmful effect to his health and expects that a company will produce more healthy ice cream and frozen desserts, and a company, in the conditions of growing competition and fitness campaigns, doesnt want to lose its customers, as everybody working with the company from an employee to a shareholder doesnt want to loose their profit. Unielever Company was one of the first to realize this and introduced a number of ice-creams and desserts in its Slim Fast and fitness lines. Unielever Company also produces posters and brochures containing the information about their highly recognized brands.

All these actions increase consumers trust to the company, which increases companys profits and helps it to be one of the first among its competitors. Strategic Goals and Objective Criteria for Evaluation Unielever Company has the following goals in developing and improving its production: Continued development of alternative ice cream and frozen desserts designs, such as fitness line ice creams Slim Fast and fitness lines, which offer reductions in fat and carbohydrates not achievable through traditional ice cream and frozen desserts designs. Continued general and specific innovations and developing new marketing technologies. Research into potential products having reduced fat and carbohydrates ratios, to achieve additional benefits among its competitors. The company should remember to follow two goals: To improve its products so as it suits to health organizations standards; When manufacturing new brands, to remember about flavor and aroma for customer to like and buy it. These are two criteria of evaluation of production, which help to produce consumer acceptable ice cream and frozen desserts.

If businesses learn to adapt to changes quickly and productively, soon enough the worlds economy will improve in terms of costs and production amounts as well as consumers will have more choice and ease needed to realize that choice. Just like any other company, Unielever Company uses the same sales channels such as product or service, place, marketing, orders, money, billing and collections, fulfillment, returns, customer service and technical support; however, all sales channels become much easier to implement and produce much faster outcomes as a result of being conducted both via Internet and via regular market. For that reason, Unielever strategies, if implemented correctly, can be a powerful tool in gaining new and keeping old customers by providing a faster service from anywhere. Unielever Company takes its Slim-Fast brand (the category with Chocolate & Caramel Sticks and vanilla-flavoured mini tubs) as a good example to show that a company can get benefit using new marketing strategies. Besides, the company runs a number of websites that provides the investors and potential retailers with a rational pricing.

In such a way, the new marketing strategies open a wide circle of possibilities for both commerce and e-commerce. E-commerce is a reality of our present. We can agree that Internet reaches plenty of countries and cities all over the world. There are no limits for e-commerce; probably it is the reason it has become so popular. E-commerce is by definition global.

As the UK market for ice cream and frozen desserts has taken shape over the last several years, the strategy of global positioning of big companies, such as Unielever, has changed. The phenomenal market growth stipulated development of Unielever company that didnt miss chance to get a benefit from that drive rapid market by developing new brands and marketing technologies. What about the management strategies? The company should focus its attention on strategic planning.

It has to examine all possible nuances to select the most suitable markets. It is also very important to find out key compliance issues that exist among the target buyers. The next important thing is to examine all variants to reduce risk and to learn the foreign marketing practices. Probably, Unielever Company can use the services of certified international lawyers with practical experience to cope with difficulties.

Unielever has to analyze geo-economical, political and cultural challenge that it will face in the future work. Strategic use of information resources is of supreme importance as well. Remember that every product (i. e. ice-cream or frozen desserts) has its life cycle that consists of concept, producing, promotion and Commencement of Service and, finally, the improvement. The last two steps are being constantly repeated.

The company should have a realistic idea to attract the buyers and potential investors without spending huge amounts of money in publicity and advertising. The promotion should be targeted and the specialization of Unielever Company should be the primary point in its business marketing plan. I consider that using new marketing strategies can increase the profitability and raise the yield of the company. Unielever Company's superior utilization of marketing technologies for both new and old brands generates competitive advantage for the company and posses sufficient barriers to enter for industry competitors.

Michael Porters five forces analysis suggests that there should be as few industry competitors as possible in order for a company to operate successfully and generate significant profits. Unielever Company follows this advice by constantly developing new brands and defining new strategies. Although it may seem that Unielever Company is simply going an extra mile for its customers, there is much more to this strategy than just customer loyalty. Unielever Company is showing an effective way of keeping unnecessary expenses out by minimizing them and adding more and more products and brands it offers to its customers.

Once again, effective marketing technologies are allowing Unielever Company to invest in analyzing its brands that will allow Unielever Company to remain the leading company operating in the UK market for ice cream and frozen desserts. Conclusion As markets become larger, they create more room for competition and increased competition, in its turn, brings down prices for consumers and other businesses. Furthermore, with introduction of new marketing strategies and new brands, there is an increase in information and choice, which helps increase efficiency of both supply and demand. When competition increases, companies themselves become more efficient.

They try out new technologies and methods to reduce costs and increase productivity. Unielever Company is one of UK largest ice cream giants, which offers consumers reasonable quality for low prices. Quantitative techniques as well as BCG Matrix were used to show profitability and success of Unielever. The report gives us both qualitative and quantitative sense of how the management strategy is working.

By effectively implementing marketing strategies, Unielever is able to keep its prices low, while making the company stronger, more successful, and widely known throughout the world. Bibliography: Baxter, J. (2005). Key Note Report. Ice Creams & Frozen Desserts. Market Report Plus 2005. Tenth Edition April 2005.

ISBN 1 - 84168 - 802 - 9 Ben and Jerry's Website. Retrieved November 10, 2005. web Unilever Annual Report & Accounts and Form 20 -F 2002 Unilever Website. Retrieved November 10, 2005. web UK Activity Report 2003, Unielever

Research essay sample on Ice Cream Competitive Advantage