netrashetty
Netra Shetty
Allegheny Technologies, Inc. NYSE: ATI is a specialty metals company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the United States. Allgheny Technologies is one of the largest and most diversified specialty metals producers in the world with revenue of $3.0 billion in 2009. ATI's key markets are aerospace and defense, oil & gas, chemical process industry, electrical energy, and medical. Products are titanium and titanium alloys, nickel-based alloys and superalloys, grain-oriented electrical steel, stainless and specialty steels, zirconium, hafnium, and niobium, tungsten materials, forgings and castings.In a rapidly changing and competitive business environment, it is not easy to predict:
future trends in consumer tastes and preferences
competitors' actions
market conditions.
Creating new products or making changes to existing brands can be expensive. It involves making investment decisions now, in the hope of making a return later. Weighing up future returns against an investment is a crucial part of a manager's job.
It always involves an element of risk, because the future is never certain. Managers' previous experience, together with market research information helps them to predict future events and outcomes. However, all business activities involve some element of risk. There is often said to be a link between risk and return. The more you risk, the higher the likely returns (or profits). However, a balance must be struck.
It follows from this that decisions about a brand, (e.g. whether to develop it, maintain it, allow it to decline, or even kill it off) involve much discussion. In deciding to develop a brand, managers have to decide how much investment to make and to forecast the likelihood of a successful outcome.
Brand managers aim to develop a long-term strategy to meet a range of objectives such as:
growing market share
developing a unique market position
creating consumer or brand loyalty
generating a targeted level of profit.
This case study describes a major investment in Kellogg's Special K. It illustrates how the company's investment in new product development served to strengthen a global brand.
In the modern business world a company needs to innovate to remain successful. By using sustainable principles Corus can develop a lasting competitive advantage.
Corus was formed in October 1999 through the merger of British Steel and the Dutch company Koninklijke Hoogovens. It is a public limited company, headquartered in London and quoted on the London Stock Exchange and the Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris Euronext Exchange. It manufactures metals including 17 million tonnes of steel a year in Europe and the USA, and employs around 50,000 people. Corus is listed on the FTSE4Good Index and the Dow Jones sustainability indices.
Corus earns 30% of its revenues from construction and is an important sector for the company. Corus is a recognised international brand in the construction industry providing innovative metal-based products not only to the European but also the global construction market.
Embracing sustainable thinking has for a long period played an important role in new product development. This Case Study shows how Corus has set about evaluating opportunities and developing products that minimise the use of wasteful resources, whilst meeting the needs of the future.
With annual sales of more than £4.5 billion, Kellogg's is the world's leading producer of cereal products and convenience foods, such as cookies, crackers and frozen waffles. Its brands include Corn Flakes, Nutri-Grain and Rice Krispies.
Kellogg's is a global organisation. Its products are manufactured in 19 countries worldwide and sold in more than 180 countries. In an uncertain world where the organisation's strategy is to focus on products and brands that are either the market leader or in a strong second position the company believes that this focus upon core and successful products enables it to provide consistent and reliable returns and rewards for its stakeholders.
The need for change
When a company like Kellogg's is investigating a change in its marketing it can consider four elements. These are known as the marketing mix or 4Ps:
Product
This element relates to how the company offers meets the changing needs and wants of customers. The growth in healthier lifestyles creates opportunities for Kellogg's to increase the number of products for this segment.
Price
The amount a company charges for its product is important in determining sales. Superbrands like Kellogg's can charge a premium because of the strength of the brand and product quality.
Place
Where customers can purchase the product is also an important factor in determining sales. If a brand like Special K is not stocked in supermarkets where most purchases are made, sales will be lost.
Promotion
Communicating the availability of a product is essential for sales to be made. Kellogg's uses above the line promotion like TV advertising as well as below the line promotion like on-pack promotions and sampling.
In considering Special K, the company concentrated on changing the product through new variants. Although Special K was already a well-established brand, its full potential had never been reached. It was viewed as a stand-alone product, and Kellogg's had not created any variants or brand extensions to develop the core product.
Managers can decide when to make key changes to a core product by analysing its position within the product life-cycle. Life-cycle analysis accepts that products have a finite life, and analysts chart a product's performance through several phases, from its launch through various phases of growth until it reaches maturity and eventually decline.
A product's life cycle may last only a few months (e.g. with a fad, or craze) or, as with Special K, for many years. Although it was a successful product, Kellogg's recognised the opportunity to stretch the brand by investments that would:
revitalise it
extend and further develop its growth phase
help to delay the onset of the maturity phase.
Kellogg's was convinced that such investment would help to maintain the brand's strength in a rapidly changing market place.
future trends in consumer tastes and preferences
competitors' actions
market conditions.
Creating new products or making changes to existing brands can be expensive. It involves making investment decisions now, in the hope of making a return later. Weighing up future returns against an investment is a crucial part of a manager's job.
It always involves an element of risk, because the future is never certain. Managers' previous experience, together with market research information helps them to predict future events and outcomes. However, all business activities involve some element of risk. There is often said to be a link between risk and return. The more you risk, the higher the likely returns (or profits). However, a balance must be struck.
It follows from this that decisions about a brand, (e.g. whether to develop it, maintain it, allow it to decline, or even kill it off) involve much discussion. In deciding to develop a brand, managers have to decide how much investment to make and to forecast the likelihood of a successful outcome.
Brand managers aim to develop a long-term strategy to meet a range of objectives such as:
growing market share
developing a unique market position
creating consumer or brand loyalty
generating a targeted level of profit.
This case study describes a major investment in Kellogg's Special K. It illustrates how the company's investment in new product development served to strengthen a global brand.
In the modern business world a company needs to innovate to remain successful. By using sustainable principles Corus can develop a lasting competitive advantage.
Corus was formed in October 1999 through the merger of British Steel and the Dutch company Koninklijke Hoogovens. It is a public limited company, headquartered in London and quoted on the London Stock Exchange and the Amsterdam-Brussels-Paris Euronext Exchange. It manufactures metals including 17 million tonnes of steel a year in Europe and the USA, and employs around 50,000 people. Corus is listed on the FTSE4Good Index and the Dow Jones sustainability indices.
Corus earns 30% of its revenues from construction and is an important sector for the company. Corus is a recognised international brand in the construction industry providing innovative metal-based products not only to the European but also the global construction market.
Embracing sustainable thinking has for a long period played an important role in new product development. This Case Study shows how Corus has set about evaluating opportunities and developing products that minimise the use of wasteful resources, whilst meeting the needs of the future.
With annual sales of more than £4.5 billion, Kellogg's is the world's leading producer of cereal products and convenience foods, such as cookies, crackers and frozen waffles. Its brands include Corn Flakes, Nutri-Grain and Rice Krispies.
Kellogg's is a global organisation. Its products are manufactured in 19 countries worldwide and sold in more than 180 countries. In an uncertain world where the organisation's strategy is to focus on products and brands that are either the market leader or in a strong second position the company believes that this focus upon core and successful products enables it to provide consistent and reliable returns and rewards for its stakeholders.
The need for change
When a company like Kellogg's is investigating a change in its marketing it can consider four elements. These are known as the marketing mix or 4Ps:
Product
This element relates to how the company offers meets the changing needs and wants of customers. The growth in healthier lifestyles creates opportunities for Kellogg's to increase the number of products for this segment.
Price
The amount a company charges for its product is important in determining sales. Superbrands like Kellogg's can charge a premium because of the strength of the brand and product quality.
Place
Where customers can purchase the product is also an important factor in determining sales. If a brand like Special K is not stocked in supermarkets where most purchases are made, sales will be lost.
Promotion
Communicating the availability of a product is essential for sales to be made. Kellogg's uses above the line promotion like TV advertising as well as below the line promotion like on-pack promotions and sampling.
In considering Special K, the company concentrated on changing the product through new variants. Although Special K was already a well-established brand, its full potential had never been reached. It was viewed as a stand-alone product, and Kellogg's had not created any variants or brand extensions to develop the core product.
Managers can decide when to make key changes to a core product by analysing its position within the product life-cycle. Life-cycle analysis accepts that products have a finite life, and analysts chart a product's performance through several phases, from its launch through various phases of growth until it reaches maturity and eventually decline.
A product's life cycle may last only a few months (e.g. with a fad, or craze) or, as with Special K, for many years. Although it was a successful product, Kellogg's recognised the opportunity to stretch the brand by investments that would:
revitalise it
extend and further develop its growth phase
help to delay the onset of the maturity phase.
Kellogg's was convinced that such investment would help to maintain the brand's strength in a rapidly changing market place.
Last edited: