Case Study Description of Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste
In October 2013, Colgate-Palmolive Company, the world's leading oral care company, was about to launch its new ColgateA? Maximum Cavity Protectiona?? plus Sugar Acid Neutralizera?? toothpaste in Brazil. Oral care category accounted for 46 percent of Colgate's $17.4 billion sales worldwide in 2013. The new toothpaste was clinically proven to reduce and prevent cavities more effectively than toothpaste with the same level of fluoride alone. All major industry players, including Procter & Gamble, GlaxoSmithKline and Colgate itself, had long ago launched products with the maximum amount of fluoride allowed by Health authorities. Yet cavities remained a significant threat to public health in many countries, both developing and developed. As Suzan Harrison, Colgate's president of Oral Care, prepared to launch CMCP+SAN in Brazil, the world's third largest oral care market, her executive team was divided over the product's positioning and pricing. Should it be positioned as a basic product to maximize reach for its health benefits or as a premium product for consumers who sought superior cavity protection?
Swot Analysis of "Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste" written by John A. Quelch, Margaret Rodriguez includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cavity Toothpaste facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development, Social responsibility, Sustainability and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cavity Toothpaste, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cavity Toothpaste operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cavity Toothpaste
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cavity Toothpaste
Strengths Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cavity Toothpaste in Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cavity Toothpaste is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cavity Toothpaste to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cavity Toothpaste to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Cavity Toothpaste is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by John A. Quelch, Margaret Rodriguez can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Innovation driven organization
– Cavity Toothpaste is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cavity Toothpaste is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cavity Toothpaste in the sector have low bargaining power. Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cavity Toothpaste to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Cavity Toothpaste has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cavity Toothpaste digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cavity Toothpaste has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Learning organization
- Cavity Toothpaste is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Cavity Toothpaste is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cavity Toothpaste has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Cavity Toothpaste has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cavity Toothpaste to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Cavity Toothpaste
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cavity Toothpaste does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste are -
Need for greater diversity
– Cavity Toothpaste has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cavity Toothpaste has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste HBR case study mentions - Cavity Toothpaste takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste, in the dynamic environment Cavity Toothpaste has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cavity Toothpaste has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cavity Toothpaste needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cavity Toothpaste has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Cavity Toothpaste even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cavity Toothpaste, firm in the HBR case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John A. Quelch, Margaret Rodriguez suggests that, Cavity Toothpaste is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cavity Toothpaste is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Cavity Toothpaste 's lucrative customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cavity Toothpaste has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cavity Toothpaste to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Cavity Toothpaste to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cavity Toothpaste has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cavity Toothpaste to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste case study. Cavity Toothpaste can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cavity Toothpaste to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cavity Toothpaste can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Cavity Toothpaste can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cavity Toothpaste to increase its market reach. Cavity Toothpaste will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Cavity Toothpaste can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cavity Toothpaste can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cavity Toothpaste has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cavity Toothpaste to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cavity Toothpaste can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cavity Toothpaste in the consumer business. Now Cavity Toothpaste can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cavity Toothpaste can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cavity Toothpaste can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cavity Toothpaste can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste are -
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cavity Toothpaste can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Cavity Toothpaste needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Cavity Toothpaste business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cavity Toothpaste has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cavity Toothpaste needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cavity Toothpaste can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cavity Toothpaste with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cavity Toothpaste can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste .
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste, Cavity Toothpaste may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Environmental challenges
– Cavity Toothpaste needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Cavity Toothpaste can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Cavity Toothpaste will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Increasing wage structure of Cavity Toothpaste
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Cavity Toothpaste.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Cavity Toothpaste needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
