Critical analysis of advertising and strategic media planning in FMCG Sector in India

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Effects of globalization on logistic management of multinational companies in Nigeria

M.Tech. (Operations Management)Abstract: Globalization process has been recognized as an important underlying force impacting global logistic service providers because it is an essential function in the transportation and logistics system, the actions of which appear in different parts of the logistics management processes. This study explored the effect of globalization on logistics management in Nigerian multinational companies. Data used in this study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Secondary data were obtained through literature reviews of related studies while primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire which was distributed to logistics management professionals in the Nigerian logistics industry. One hundred and fifty (150) questionnaires were sent to the respondents; one hundred and six (106) questionnaires were responded to and returned for analysis. This represented a response rate of 71%. Data obtained from the research study were analyzed using descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Findings from the descriptive analysis of the level of awareness of logistics activities in Nigerian industries revealed transport logistics as most aware form of logistics activities among the respondents while awareness level of fourth party logistics (4pl) and green logistics activities is low in the Nigerian industries. The study also revealed that respondents are more aware of technologies, cultural, political, global economic growth, and reductions of trade barriers as top factors that influence globalization in Nigeria. In addition, the decrease in transport process costs, encouraging customer service quality, and the increase in the wide network of resources are the top benefits of globalization in logistics management in Nigeria. Furthermore, access to new/effective information, efficiency in logistic chains transportation modes, and improvement in technology are the most important impacts of good logistics management in Nigeria. Lastly, cost effectiveness, advancements in technology, and quality operations are the most important factors to be considered for logistics management in Nigeria to take advantage of globalization. The research recommended that for globalization to benefit logistics management in Nigeria, efficient legislation and policies should be enacted to improve transport efficiency in order to reach new customers in new markets. Also, an increase in the economies of scale to reduce transport costs, would lead to a better sustainable growth of the Nigerian logistics industry

Selling Beauty : A Linguistic-Communicational Investigation of the Female Beauty Ideal in Advertising in an International Comparison

The advertising campaigns of large international beauty companies greatly influence the perception of beauty. They promote beauty ideals in their campaigns - which easily spread worldwide thanks to the mass media - and offer solutions on how to achieve them. The use of language and persuasive communication is a crucial tool in this process. By using language and communication strategies, marketers actively manage the perceptions of their target groups. In my work, I examine 493 advertisements as well as 153 international and 711 country-specific websites of international beauty companies to find out what the beauty ideal they promote worldwide looks like. In particular, the Western world's idea of female beauty influences global perceptions. Scientists refer to this phenomenon as the Western or the global beauty ideal. I examine what is meant by the term Western in this context and whether beauty companies tend to show the global, Western or a local ideal in their advertising. I also look for answers to the questions: how do the companies use communication measures and language to promote the beauty ideal? Do they design individual campaigns for their target markets with different local ideals, or do they apply the same approach globally? Is English the lingua franca for the campaigns or are local languages used? The results of my research show that the characteristics which attractiveness research and social science refer to as the global ideal of beauty are identical to the ideal of beauty promoted primarily in the United States and Northern Europe. The Western ideal thus includes the beauty characteristics of a few countries in the world. The global promotion of this ideal leads to the spread of North American and Northern European beauty standards throughout the world. The principles of persuasive communication, rhetoric, and advertising language are used in the design of marketing campaigns. In my study, I first analyze the advertising material from different regions to determine how the companies interpret the respective local beauty ideal. Based on this analysis, I then examine the dominant beauty ideal in all advertising materials belonging to the object of study and assess which linguistic concepts and communicative appeals are used to convey it. In doing so, I analyze, among other things, the rhetorical figures used - the communicative appeals of ethos (credibility), pathos (emotion), or logos (logic) - the use of English as a lingua franca, the differences in the beauty ideal and language use between print and online, or the interplay of text and image. The scope of 493 ads as well as 153 global websites and 711 country-specific websites is necessary for representative results, as I conduct a majority analysis based on percentages. The results of my study show that overall, the Western ideal is predominantly promoted. Online, this is done through the use of English as the lingua franca on the international websites and through the use of local languages on the country-specific websites. In the ads, English is also the language of choice to promote the Western ideal. The exception is the ads from countries that historically have a very strong national identity; here, the local beauty ideal is predominant. For this reason, it is also not possible to determine an exclusive marketing of the Western ideal for the advertisements, as is the case with the websites, but rather a distinction must be made based on the regions. For both the printed ads and the websites evaluated, the most common communicative appeal is the emotional one (pathos), followed on the websites by the one to logic (logos) and the one to the credibility of the sender (ethos). The communicative appeals and linguistic features used in both the ads evaluated and on the websites are not country-specific, but are used worldwide. The ideal of beauty is promoted through a sophisticated interplay of text and image, with targeted use of rhetorical figures and linguistic patterns to convey the intended message. The language and communicative appeals used to promote the ideal and the products are the same worldwide. Of course, my study only provides a snapshot. In the fast-changing advertising business, where new campaigns are reworked within a very short time and current as well as future megatrends always have a strong influence, a follow-up study will provide interesting insights into further developments. In my study, I already touch on the topic of the body positivity movement and diversity, which will play an important role in the representation of beauty in advertising in the future

The Virtual Customer

Communication and information technologies are adding new capabilities for rapid and inexpensive customer input to all stages of the product development (PD) process. In this article we review six web-based methods of customer input as examples of the improved Internet capabilities of communication, conceptualization, and computation. For each method we give examples of user-interfaces, initial applications, and validity tests. We critique the applicability of the methods for use in the various stages of PD and discuss how they complement existing methods. For example, during the fuzzy front end of PD the information pump enables customers to interact with each other in a web-based game that provides incentives for truth-telling and thinking hard, thus providing new ways for customers to verbalize the product features that are important to them. Fast polyhedral adaptive conjoint estimation enables PD teams to screen larger numbers of product features inexpensively to identify and measure the importance of the most promising features for further development. Meanwhile, interactive web-based conjoint analysis interfaces are moving this proven set of methods to the web while exploiting new capabilities to present products, features, product use, and marketing elements in streaming multimedia representations. User design exploits the interactivity of the web to enable users to design their own virtual products thus enabling the PD team to understand complex feature interactions and enabling customers to learn their own preferences for new products. These methods can be valuable for identifying opportunities, improving the design and engineering of products, and testing ideas and concepts much earlier in the process when less time and money is at risk. As products move toward pretesting and testing, virtual concept testing on the web enables PD teams to test concepts without actually building the product. Further, by combining virtual concepts and the ability of customers to interact with one another in a stock-market-like game, securities trading of concepts provides a novel way to identify winning concepts. Prototypes of all six methods are available and have been tested with real products and real customers. These tests demonstrate reliability for web-based conjoint analysis, polyhedral methods, virtual concept testing, and stock-market-like trading; external validity for web-based conjoint analysis and polyhedral methods; and consistency for web-based conjoint analysis vs. user design. We report on these tests, commercial applications, and other evaluations.Center for Innovation in Product Development and the MIT Center for eBusines

Three essays on marketing dynamics

This thesis comprises three essays on marketing in a dynamic context. The firrst essay focuses on optimal dynamic marketing budget allocation problem and proposes a novel decomposition algorithm that allows forward-looking fi rms to optimize their customer lifetime value (CLV) using simultaneously customized and mass marketing interventions. In addition to showing the performance of the algorithm by using numerical simulations, we provide an empirical application for a manufacturer of kitchen appliances. The second essay deals with sales uncertainty problem from a strategic marketing point of view. We model and forecast time-varying retail sales and marketing mix volatility. In particular, we examine within-brand and between-brand e¤ects and trace the impact of marketing mix actions on sales growth volatility through volatility impulse-response functions. For the analysis, we use the data from six fast moving consumer product categories sold by Dominick s Finer Foods. The third essay centers on the analysis of trends in advertising media channels in the US. Using country-level annual time series data, we investigate whether there is a long-run equilibriumrelationship among ten different advertising media channels. The main contributions of this thesis can be summarized as follows: In the fi rst essay, the contributions of our study are three-fold: (i) we solve the high dimensional stochastic dynamic programming (SDP) problem for a large number of customers through our decomposition algorithm, (ii) our model accommodates cus- tomized and mass marketing interventions simultaneously, (iii) we treat the CLV as an output rather than a tool for optimal dynamic marketing budget allocation plan- ning. The simulation results as well as the empirical application of the model show that the proposed decomposition algorithm works well as the number of customers increases in the model. Thus, marketing managers can use the model to determine the level of the price, how much money they should spend on each customer and on general advertising to maximize their CLV even if they have a high number of customers. In the second essay, our contribution is that we investigate time varying volatility which has been ignored in the sales response literature. The focus in the marketing literature has been given on the expected sales, but on volatility which is not a desired outcome. Using multivariate time series methodology, we nd that lower price and promotional growth rates lead to less volatility in sales growth. Brand managers can use price and promotional actions as useful tools to curb sales volatility, and thus smoothing out the bullwhip effect at the retail level. Academic research on advertising at the country-level is less extensive compared to the company-level studies. In the third essay, we empirically investigate whether the entries of new advertising media (TV, yellow pages, cable and internet) affect the incumbents expenditure level in the form of creating fundamental change in the long-run evolution. We model the dynamic interrelationship among ten di¤erent advertising media channels in the U.S. by using multivariate time series econometrics. Our results show that internet and cable media cause substantive shift only on the evolution of newspapers and outdoor, respectively whereas TV and yellow pages entries create fundamental change in the spending levels of all incumbents,except for direct mail. We also nd that the long-run elasticity between total advertising expenditures and the GDP is negative implying that total advertising has counter- cyclical behavior. Furthermore, in the long-run, an increase in internet investment results in a decrease in newspapers as well as magazines investment.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Esta tesis está compuesta por tres ensayos sobre marketing en contexto dinámico. El primero está enfocado en el problema de la asignación óptima y de forma dinámica del presupuesto en marketing. En él se propone un algoritmo novedoso que permite a las rmas con visión de futuro, optimizar su valor para el cliente de por vida (CLV) uti- lizando simultáneamente intervenciones personalizadas y masivas de marketing. Además de mostrar el desempeño de dicho algoritmo por medio de simulaciones numéricas, apor- tamos una aplicación empírica relativa a un productor de aparatos de cocina. El segundo ensayo trata el problema de la incertidumbre de las ventas desde el punto de vista del marketing estratégico. Desarrollamos un modelo que permite predecir en el tiempo las ventas al por menor y la volatilidad del marketing mix. En particular, examinamos los efectos en las marcas y entre marcas e indagamos el impacto de las acciones relacionadas al marketing mix en la volatilidad del crecimiento de las ventas a través de funciones de impulso-respuesta. Para el análisis usamos datos sobre seis categorías de productos de consumo envasados que se venden con rapidez y a relativamente bajo costo, en el de- tallista Dominick s Finer Foods. El tercer ensayo se centra en el análisis de las tendencias presentes en los medios de comunicación publicitaria en los Estados Unidos de América. Utilizando datos anuales, investigamos si existe una relación de equilibrio de largo plazo entre diez medios de comunicación publicitaria diferentes. Las contribuciones principales de la tesis pueden resumirse así: En el primer ensayo las contribuciones giran alrededor de tres ejes: (i) nuestro algoritmo resuelve un problema de gran dimensionalidad al considerar un elevado número de clientes en un contexto de programación dinámica estocástica, (ii) nue- stro modelo considera simultáneamente intervenciones masivas y personalizadas de marketing, (iii) tratamos el CLV como un resultado y no como una herramienta para la plani cación óptima y dinámica del presupuesto en marketing. Tanto los resultados de la simulación como la aplicación empírica del modelo demuestran que el algoritmo de descomposición propuesto funciona bien, incluso cuando el número de clientes aumenta. Con esta propuesta, los gerentes de marketing pueden usar el modelo para determi- nar el precio, cuánto dinero deberían gastar en cada cliente y cuánto en publicidad general para maximizar su CVL aún cuando el número de clientes es elevado. En el segundo ensayo, nuestra contribución se centra en el análisis de la volatil- idad, elemento ignorado en la literatura sobre la sensibilidad de las ventas a las variables de marketing. La literatura de marketing ha otorgado un papel impor- tante a las ventas esperadas pero no se ha centrado en el los efectos adversos de la volatilidad de las ventas. Por medio del análisis de series temporales multivari- ante encontramos que tasas de crecimiento de precio y de promoción más bajas conllevan menor volatilidad en el crecimiento de las ventas. Los gerentes de marca pueden usar el precio y las acciones promocionales como herramientas útiles para reducir la volatilidad de las ventas y, por tanto, suavizar el efecto látigo a nivel de los minoristas. Hay pocos trabajos de investigación en relación a la inversión de publicidad por países comparado con el numero de estudios a nivel de empresa. En el tercer tra- bajo de esta tesis, empíricamente investigamos si las entradas de nuevos medios de comunicación (TV, páginas amarillas, cable e internet) afecta el nivel de inversión de los canales de publicidad tradicional, de forma radical en su evolución a largo plazo. En este trabajo, considerados un modelo de interrelación dinámica entre 10 medios de comunicación diferentes en los EE.UU. mediante el uso de la econometría de series temporales multivariantes. Nuestros resultados muestran que los medios de comunicación de Internet y de la TV por cable ocasionan un cambio estructural en la evolución de la inversión en periódicos y en medios al aire libre, respectiva- mente, mientras que el comienzo de la TV y las Páginas Amarillas crean un cambio estructural en los niveles de gasto de todos los otros medios, a excepción de la Pub- 6 licidad Directa. También encontramos que la elasticidad de largo plazo entre los gastos de publicidad totales y el PIB es negativo lo que implica que la publicidad total tiene un comportamiento anticíclico. Por otra parte, en el largo plazo, un aumento en los resultados de la inversión en Internet implica en una disminución de inversión en periódicos, así como en revistas.The financial support from both the department of Business Administration at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and the Ministry of Science and Innovation in Spain (research grant ECO2011-30198)

Supply management and procurement at a South African FMCG company : a practical example of developing a decision support tool for managing direct material cost

Thesis (MComm)—Stellenbosch University, 2016.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the functions within the supply chain of manufacturing companies is the procurement of direct materials that are needed for the production of products sold to consumers. Even though the process of purchasing materials was always required within the manufacturing process, it only recently gained attention on management level. Today, organisations set up centralised procurement functions that develop global sourcing strategies in order to align procurement processes, people and technology. The goal is to reduce total cost while maintaining high quality, availability and service levels. However, procurement functions are challenged by a number of risks during its global sourcing activities that can have major impacts on direct material cost. Johnson & Johnson is a major global player within the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry and acknowledged a significant sense of uncertainty relating to the identification and measurement of direct material cost drivers within their global procurement function. Even though Johnson & Johnson is aware that the economic environment has an impact on its procurement spend, it has a limited ability to measure and quantify these effects. Based on the case of Johnson & Johnson, this study’s objective was to develop a decision support tool that measures and analyses the impact of cost drivers on direct material cost. The aim was to develop a model that can be used by procurement professionals in industry in order to provide insight into the procurement cost structure and to identify opportunities that can lead to risk and cost reduction. A case study research design was followed, which included secondary and primary research to collect qualitative and quantitative data. The research methods included observations and input discussions at the company, as well as a comprehensive model development process, which was used in order to create the decision support tool. As the decision support tool was developed on the case of Johnson & Johnson, data were collected from the company in order to test the model and generate outputs. Following the individual process steps of the development process resulted in a highly structured and documented approach to develop the decision support tool. Two major cost drivers of procurement spend when conducting global sourcing were identified: fluctuating exchange rates and volatile commodity markets. Both of these cost drivers were analysed and included during the decision-support tool development process. As a result, a decision support tool is presented that provides functionality to measure the exposure and the potential impact value of the first-tier currency impact, second-tier currency impact as well as the inflation impact. Furthermore, “what-if” and scenario analyses provide a predictive view based on actual forecasts. As an additional output, the decision support tool provides detailed insight and transparency of the total procurement spend, providing important information for decision makers.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die funksies in die voorsieningsketting van vervaardigingsmaatskappye is die verkryging van direkte materiaal wat benodig word vir die vervaardiging van produkte wat aan verbruikers verkoop word. Hoewel die proses van materiaalaankope nog altyd binne die vervaardigingsproses nodig was, het dit eers onlangs op bestuursvlak aandag getrek. Vandag stel organisasies gesentraliseerde verkrygingsfunksies saam wat globale strategieë ontwikkel vir die verkryging van hulpbronne om sodoende verkrygingsprosesse, mense en tegnologie met mekaar in ooreenstemming te bring. Die doel is om totale koste te verminder terwyl hoë gehalte, beskikbaarheid en diensvlakke gehandhaaf word. Tydens die globale verkrygingsaktiwiteite word daardie funksies egter deur ’n aantal risiko-uitdagings in die gesig gestaar wat ’n groot impak op direkte materiaalkoste kan hê. Johnson & Johnson is ’n vername wêreldspeler binne die industrie vir vinnig bewegende verbruikersgoedere (VBVG) en herken ’n beduidende gevoel van onsekerheid wat verband hou met die identifisering en meting van direkte materiaalkostedrywers binne hulle globale verkrygingsfunksie. Hoewel Johnson & Johnson daarvan bewus is dat die ekonomiese omgewing ’n impak op hulle verkrygingsbesteding het, beskik hulle oor beperkte vermoë om hierdie effekte te meet en te kwantifiseer. Gegrond op die geval van Johnson & Johnson, was hierdie studie se doelwit om ’n besluitsteunhulpmiddel te ontwikkel vir die identifisering en meting van direkte materiaalkostedrywers. Die oorhoofse doel was om ’n model te ontwikkel wat deur verkrygingsberoepslui in die bedryf gebruik kan word om insig in die verkrygingkostestruktuur te voorsien, en om geleenthede te identifiseer wat na risiko en kostevermindering kan lei. ’n Gevallestudienavorsingsontwerp is gevolg wat primêre en sekondêre navorsing ingesluit het vir die versameling van kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe data. Die navorsingsmetodes het waarnemings en besprekings by die maatskappy sowel as die omvattende modelontwikkelingsproses ingesluit om hierdie besluitsteunhulpmiddel te skep. Aangesien die besluitsteunhulpmiddel op die geval van Johnson & Johnson berus, is data van die maatskappy versamel om sodoende die model te toets, en uitset te genereer. Die volg van die individuele stappe van die ontwikkelingsproses het gelei tot ’n hoogs gestruktureerde en gedokumenteerde benadering in die ontwikkeling van die besluitsteunhulpmiddel. Twee belangrike kostedrywers van verkrygingbesteding in die uitvoer van globale verkryging is geïdentifiseer: wisselkoersfluktuering en onbestendige kommoditeitsmarkte. Albei hierdie kostedrywers is ontleed en ingesluit tydens die ontwikkelingsproses van die besluitsteunhulpmiddel. Gevolglik word ’n besluitsteunhulpmiddel gebied wat funksionaliteit verskaf om die blootstelling en potensiële impakwaarde van die eerstevlakvaluta-impak, tweedevlakvaluta-impak, sowel as die inflasie-impak te meet. Verder verskaf “wat as”- en scenario-ontledings voorspellende beskouings wat op werklike vooruitskattings gegrond is. As bykomende uitset verskaf die besluitsteunhulpmiddel gedetailleerde insig en deursigtigheid van die totale verkrygingbesteding, en verskaf sodoende belangrike inligting vir besluitnemers

Proactive Environmental Strategies: Managing a Corporate Culture Shift toward Sustainability

The roles and responsibilities of Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) professionals have expanded over the last several decades. Initially focused solely on reducing a firm\u27s ecological impact, many EHS professionals are now tasked with managing a firm\u27s cultural shift towards sustainability. EHS professionals need to develop proactive environmental strategies that further interconnect the environmental, social, and economic performance goals of the firm. Using a concept analysis and integrative literature review approach, the research examines the evolving role of corporate environmental management and evaluates strategic management tools for environmental compliance, environmental performance, and corporate sustainability. The research reveals that the role of the EHS professional will continue to evolve towards corporate sustainability management, where EHS professionals must shift the perception of EHS professionals from compliance cops to change agents. EHS professionals can drive the cultural shift towards corporate sustainability and perception towards change agents when they are able to employ proactive environmental strategies as opportunities to improve a firm\u27s competitive advantage and enhance corporate social responsibility. Utilizing a baseline strategic management framework, EHS professionals can exercise the benefits of various corporate sustainability management tools through an integrated management systems approach to develop proactive environmental strategies that lead to a firm\u27s competitive advantage, corporate social responsibility and overall corporate sustainability