Cadbury Schweppes

Résumé du document

Cadbury Schweppes is one of the world's largest beverage and confectionery company, with over 50 different brands, manufacturing plants in 25 countries, sales in a further 165 and a market extension that covers countries all over the world, such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Japan, several countries in Africa and the USA. The company is a result of a successful merger in 1969 of two big British household names.
Historical background has been an important basic element for the development of the enterprise and has influenced significantly the strategic management philosophy and the company's values after the merger. Indeed Cadbury itself claims "we are proud of our heritage, whose origins go back more than 200 years and... our purpose and values capture the heritage of our past recognizing at the same time the demands of the future". Therefore the first part of our case study will be an analysis of the company's history, focusing particularly on the comparison between "Cadbury" (before 1969) and "Cadbury Schweppes".

Extraits

[...] Logically, it seems necessary not to forget to deal with the soft drinks industry, in which Cadbury Schweppes operates. It includes certain brand owners acting as licensors of branded product. This is for example Dr Pepper and Seven up, which made the company the third largest carbonate soft drinks group by sales volume in the United States. Having a more analytic view of Cadbury Schweppes competitive position, we can say that it has a competitive advantage as it is present in various markets and has a large panel of partners everywhere in the world. [...]

[...] In the fourth part of the case study, the evaluation of these options has been carried out in order to decide which ones Cadbury Schweppes should follow. Indeed, the best solution for the firm would be to combine market penetration, product development and market development, insisting mostly on the latter two. Besides, horizontal and lateral diversification should be avoided, even though vertical diversification is an option that Cadbury Schweppes should consider. To conclude, the main challenge for Cadbury Schweppes is now to successfully achieve the sale of its beverages and the reorientation of its activities on its core business, confectionery, as this will constitute a crucial change for the firm. [...]

[...] This will be based on three main aspects: Business and Strategic Philosophy (Company / Brand values; Technology developments and innovation, Marketing Strategies), Relevant Theories of Strategic Management and the Role of National and European Governments in company's development. The second part will consider Cadbury Schweppes' current business environment by applying to it Porter's forces analysis” model. The analysis will provide the company's position within the international market, its strengths and challenges to be faced in the next future. Following we will identify, by the use of Ansoff Matrix, the options whereby Cadbury Schweppes would be able to increase its market shares. [...]

[...] For example, the industry of diet products (slim fast, dry fruits ) is also currently growing, certainly attracting customers who used to buy Cadbury Schweppes products. Cadbury Schweppes has obviously answered this trend by adapting its products and by working with other bodies to educate and inform people. In 2004, the World Health Organization called for governments, businesses -such as Cadbury Schweppes- and other stakeholders to promote healthier diets, nutrition and exercise in participating in the Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health. [...]

[...] This means when the product arrives in the growth stage, Cadbury Schweppes has already thought about launching a new one, keeping in mind to target the same consumers.[22] Consequently, the old product is updated or replaced by a new one which is marketed to existing customers.[23] Cadbury Schweppes can use this strategy to achieve several objectives. Firstly, it is useful to increase its market shares. Moreover, this strategy could help Cadbury Schweppes to keep its status of innovator. Thus, the company could go into partnership with other businesses in order to launch new products. [...]