Sarah, Put yourself in the shoes of a Colgate-Palmolive employee.

Pretend that you are an

employee and that you are writing a report for your boss. In this manner, your report should become more specific on how you can help your boss market a specific product under the prevailing micro and macro environments. Use as many business models to justify your response.

Introduction The exterior factors that determines the companys operations either directly or indirectly is known as the business environment. Marketing environment is a constituent of business environment that influences the companys capability to encourage and execute operations on the market. The companies in FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry must be aware and cope with changes that takes place in the marketing environment, as it has hugely affects how marketers change and develop their own marketing strategies. These companies interact with two types of environments which are the microenvironment and macro environment.

Microenvironment factors interact directly with the company and creates pressure that bring into being certain behaviour of the company. The microenvironment can be classified into internal micro-environment and external micro-environment. The internal micro-environment is made up of the departments within the company, the firms management structure and the organisations strategies and objectives. The companys ability to serve its customers can be affected by the characteristics of the firms internal micro-environment. External micro-environment comprises the external factors that affects directly to the company and exerts influence such as the company itself, competitors, customers, publics and suppliers. On the other hand, macro environment analyses the general business climate as it pertains to the organisation, but has nothing to do with the organisation itself. The macro environment is mainly concerned with major issues and forthcoming changes in the environment. PESTLE is an acronym for Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors, this model is used to analyse the macro environment of a company.

This should be a brief introduction to the company and the product (you can put a more detailed explanation of the company and product in the Appendix). However, what I am really looking for is an introduction (in other words, the background) to the issues facing the company in l Colgate-Palmolive Company Put this in the Appendix. You should be more specific on which Colgate-Palmolive you are speaking about. Are you speaking about the worldwide operations or their Malaysian operations? Remember, the more specific your answer is, the better it is. History Colgate-Palmolive started as a family business in 1806 when William Colgate opened a candle, soap and starch company called William Colgate & Company. In 1857, Samuel Colgate, his son, reorganized the company as Colgate and Company and introduced perfumes soap and perfumes in 1866 (Our company: history, 2012). Colgate first introduces toothpaste in jars in 1873 and by 1896 the toothpaste was sold in a collapsible tube. In 1928, Colgate merges with Palmolive-Peet becoming Colgate- Palmolive-Peet Company and by 1953, the companys official name became Colgate-Palmolive Company. Current Status Colgate-Palmolive Company serves people in more than 200 countries with consumer products that make lives more enjoyable and healthier. (Colgate-Palmolive Company, 2010) It is a $15.6 billion global company which focuses on strong international brands in its core business in Home Care, Oral Care, Personal Care and Pet Nutrition. Colgate has a defined strategy to raise market shares for core products like bar and liquid soap, deodorants/ antiperspirants, dishwashing detergents, fabric conditioners, household cleaners, specialty per food, toothbrushes and toothpaste. You can give a general overview of their product portfolio in your Appendix.

However, for the main body of your text, pick a single product and focus on it. If it is toothpaste, stick to toothpaste throughout. Also, bear in mind that Colgate Palmolive has many toothpaste brands. You can show their brands in your appendix, but focus on one in your main text. You can show the target markets (say in Colgate Palmolive Malaysia) using what I discussed on market segmentation. You can use perceptual maps, vis--vis their toothpaste competition. Objectives Use the SMART objective format, as discussed in class. You may make assumptions and justifications on it. The remainder of your paper should strive to meet your objectives.

Vision Statement The vision statement is their three fundamental values which are caring, global teamwork and continuous improvement which is also part of everything the company does. (Our company: living our values, 2012). Mission Statement The mission statement is to provide Colgate with a significant competitive advantage by reducing total delivered cost, extending technology resources and developing excellence in purchasing, logistics and sourcing processes. (Global procurement and mission and goals, 2012). Management and Organisation This comes under the Appendix Colgate-Palmolive Company has four core businesses which are Home Care, Oral Care, Personal Care and Pet Nutrition. The executive management team is made up of five members. (Our company: executive management team, 2012).

Microenvironment affecting the company Internal micro-environment

Too general. Be more specific on how the microenvironment affects the specific toothpaste product you have selected. Show Colgate-Palmolives ability to perform under these circumstances, in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. You may even use a SWOT analysis here if you like. Colgate organisational objectives and their performances Colgate is dedicated to improving as individuals and as teams every day in everything it does. By better understanding consumers and customers expectations and continuously working to innovate and improve products, services and processes, Colgate will become the best. In more than hundred countries, Colgate has been recognised as the best toothpaste for its diversity. Departments within the company There are fourteen departments within the Colgate Company. They are the CFO, emerging markets, Europe, development and supply, technology, Hills pet nutrition, Colgate-Greater Asia, customer development, global oral care, legal and secretary, ethics and compliance, corporate communication, human resources and social responsibility. (Colgate-Palmolive, no date). Firms management team Colgate Company has nine board members and nineteen committee members from four different departments which are the audit department, finance department, nominating and corporate governance department and personnel organisation department. (Governance: board of directors, 2012). External micro-environment Company

The company itself can affect its ability to serve its customers due to the cohesion between different departments, the bedrock that it runs on and the internal working of the company. The major factor of Colgates current success and strong business results is the outstanding personal leadership of employees at all levels of the organisation. Colgate produce leaders through a formal, multifaceted process that consists of an understanding of how each employees work contributes to the companys general objectives, occasional one-on-on feedbacks, setting of personal goals and thorough communication of Colgates strategies by integrating Colgates global values of caring, global teamwork and continuous improvement. (Colgate-Palmolive Company, 2010) Competition Competition is the most essential factor when dealing with FMCG products, as it does not take much for customers to switch brands which set the manufacturers at a disadvantage. According to Palmer and Hartley (2002, p.192) the process of branding is the heart of the companys effort to remove themselves from fierce competition between generic products. Through adding value that will attract customers, firms are able to provide a base for expansion and product development and to protect themselves against the strength of intermediaries and competitors. Crest, Sensodyne, Arm & Hammer, Close Up, Aim, Pepsodent, Jason, Peelu are competitors of Colgate in the toothpaste industry (Covelli, 2011). In 1997, Colgate Total toothpaste was introduced in the U.S. and rapidly became the market leader. Moreover, Colgate purchased Toms of Maine, a market leader in the United States in 2006 to penetrate the fast-growing Naturals segment. Customers The centre of all the activities in a business is always the customers needs and wants. Colgate has provided a whole range of toothpaste that are differently priced and promoted as well as targeting different groups of consumers. Colgate has several target groups for its toothpaste products. For instance, MAX FRESH targets youth, ACTIVE SALT targets elderly people, COLGATE SENSITIVE aims at people with sensitive gums and KIDS TOOTHPASTE for small children. Publics

Publics refer to any group that has an interest or impacts the companys ability to achieve its objectives in terms of marketing microenvironment. For instance, environmental and minority groups which are citizen-action publics can question the actions of a company and place them under the public spotlight. Media publics can publish articles of interest through newspapers and magazines concerning the company and editorials that may affect the customers opinions. Moreover, the company can be affected by the government publics when they pass legislations and laws that can restrict the company actions. Colgate is dedicated to run its business in an environmentally manner. Between 2002 and 2010, Colgate has reduced manufacturing related greenhouse gas emissions by 21 percent, wastewater loading by 31 percent and water use by 44 percent (Colgate-Palmolive Company, 2011). Colgate people have worked to cut down the companys environmental footprints from innovative energy-efficient manufacturing to water use efficiency technologies and new cleaning method. Suppliers One of the key components of external micro-environment is suppliers. They supply the company with the resources they need to fulfill their business activities. (Micro environtal factors, no date). Examples of the companys suppliers are capital supplier, human resource supplier, machine supplier, raw material supplier and technology supplier. (Sudip, 2009). Goods and services that are produced and market by Colgate-Palmolive require thousands of suppliers globally. When making a procurement decision, the company always considers the availability, price, quality, services and other factors. Colgate is dedicated to extend its responsibility of upholding to high standards across its value chain to their suppliers. Macro environment affecting the company Too general. Be more specific on how the macroenvironment affects the specific toothpaste product you have selected. Show Colgate-Palmolives ability to perform under these circumstances

Political

Political factors play a very important part for the businesses existing in the country. As Colgate and its associates do business in many different countries, each country does have their own antitrust laws and it is Colgates policy to comply with these laws. For instance, trade restrictions under the U.S. Commerce Department regulations, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the related Executive Orders and U.S. Treasury Department and the Trading with the Enemy Act that are enforced by the U.S. Colgate-Palmolive Company changes how they operate due to the different government policies in each country. Economic The economic environment is another significant macro environment that affects the decisions made by the company. Colgate- Palmolive could suffer from a material adverse effect due to the ongoing instability in the global financial markets and the economic downturn in markets. If the global financial markets were to worsen and the financial institutions that support the company were to declare bankruptcy or become insolvent, Colgate-Palmolive will have less borrowing capacity or unhedged against certain foreign currency exposures or interest rate. Furthermore, there may be business disruptions for some of their contract manufacturers, suppliers or trade customers due to the tighter credit markets which may impact the companys business. (ColgatePalmolive Company, 2008). Socio-cultural Social and cultural factors such as attitudes, beliefs, lifestyle, opinions and values of the society affects the decisions made about the product as the company has to take into account the cultural and religious factors of the consumers in that country for the company to survive in the industry. This is because consumers will repulse the product that go against or cannot be accepted by their cultural or religious background. For Islamic countries such as Pakistan or Saudi Arabic, there are certain ingredients in toothpaste that are banned hence Muslims do not use those toothpaste. That is why Colgate toothpaste which is sold in USA and Pakistan or Saudi Arabia has different taste and ingredients. This is because there are customers who are sensitive towards dental care and others who take it lightly. Colgate is committed to contributing to the overall quality of life through consumer products, therefore they always reaffirm the value of a clean and healthy environment. They are dedicated to manufacturing, packaging and selling quality products that

meet or exceed health and safety rules and regulations as well as persist to invest in innovations that protect the environment. Technological Many international companies today are increasingly more dependent on the opportunities afforded by instant global communication. For Colgate-Palmolive, the ability to reinforce core values cheaply and easily has made the task of global unity seem much more tangible. Accessing and sharing company information seem perfunctory activity with the effective usage of the email and intranet system. (Colgate-Palmolive seeks tomorrows global leader: Searching for success in the international arena, 2004). Colgate is able to sustain its many brands with technologically sophisticated products due to strong research and development capabilities and alliances in order to meet consumers home, oral and personal care as well as pet nutrition needs. In 2006, the Company spends $241.5 million in research and development activities, while in 2007 and 2008 the Company spends 247.0 million and 253.1 million respectively. (ColgatePalmolive Company, 2010) Legal Colgate has a Code of Conduct which promotes the highest ethical standards in all its business dealings. The Code of Conduct has been used as a guide for their daily business interaction which reflects their standard of proper behaviour as well as corporate values since 1987. In order to ascertain its comprehensiveness, the Code of Conduct frequently reissued and updated. All Colgate people has to practise the Colgate Code of Conduct which are the directors, employees, officers and its subsidiaries around the world as well as suppliers as the Code is a condition in order to do business with Colgate. Members of Colgate Legal are considered as integral members and strategic business partner of the management team as they help drive global business initiatives and assist in solving business/legal issues. Colgate Legal provides advice and knowledge in the international business arena and in wide-ranging fields of specialty from corporate acquisitions to product trademarks and patents. (Work with us: careers at Colgate, 2012). Environmental

In many businesses, the environment plays a large part especially businesses with production facilities. If any changes in the environment occur, many businesses will be affected by the change. For example, if a natural disaster like a tsunami were to occur, businesses in many industries will be affected as the supply of raw materials for many industries can be destroyed by the tsunami. Colgate has designed programs to ascertain their facilities and operations meet or exceed the standards established by applicable environmental rules and regulations. In 2010, the environmental control facilities capital expenses costs $24 million. (Colgate-Palmolive

Company, 2010). Colgate is dedicated to carry out its business in an environmental friendly manner. The Company showed obligation to reduce environmental impact by doing more than just reducing waste and recycling papers in more than 60 of their manufacturing operations worldwide. Colgate people plans to meet or exceed the goals after setting their 2002 to 2010 goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, water use and wastewater loading which is defined as chemical oxygen demand. The Colgates people have worked to decrease the companys environmental footprint from innovative energy-efficient manufacturing processes to water use efficiency technologies and new cleaning method. Changes in macro environment affect marketing decision Economic It is important to always consider the consumers buying ability when making a marketing decision. The consumers buying people relies on their earning ability, price of a product as well as their debt and saving facilities. Changes in consumers income due to the increase in rate of inflation and unemployment causes consumers buying ability to decrease. However, if prices of the products increase in the future, consumers tend to buy products and store them. Therefore, multinational companies offer higher remuneration to people looking for jobs. These people then get employed and raise their income which results in higher rate of cash flow. Colgate has 39000 employees and is dedicated help to work as well as to thrive. Colgate people attend programs that cultivate diversity and inclusion, career development, training and work-life balance that helps them to stay healthy and feel appreciated as well as recognised for their efforts. Colgate employees remain in the Company for an average of thirteen years although they work in an economy where people frequently change their jobs. Colgate has nine global consumer

innovation centres that drive innovation based on insights into consumer behaviour, habits and desires. Technological The constant change and development in the technological environment has helped many multinational companies to expand and progress as well. It is through the advancement of technology that Colgate is able to communicate with its people around the world ease as well as invent new toothpaste product. Colgates new product which is Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief toothpaste provides instant and lasting relief from the pain due to sensitive tooth. This product driving widespread market share gains for Colgate in the fast-growing sensitivity sector. Innovation widens away from new products to business functions at Colgate-Palmolive Company. For example, Colgate developed an online proprietary tool that assists in organising the timing and consistency of the Companys marketing messages across all media channels. Conclusions & Recommendations Companies in FMCG industry such as Colgate must prioritise and monitor its microenvironment and macro environment in order to survive in the competitive business world. Nevertheless, it is hard to predict future development and changes accurately. (PEST analysis, 2010). It is necessary for every company to change as they cope with the ever changing global market place in order to survive. Any company would be able to promote growth and development as well as improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the company if changes are well supervised. Show whether or not Colgate Palmolive is able to meet its objectives (as per the SMART objectives you are supposed to define). Show the tangible and intangible benefits when showing your recommendations. Write as though you are writing for your boss.

References (2004) Colgate-Palmolive seeks tomorrows global leader: Searching for success in the international arena, Strategic Direction, 20 (6), pp.18 20, Emerald [Online]. Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=02580543&volume=20&issue=6&articleid=869457&show=html (Accessed: 25 February 2012). Colgate-Palmolive (no date) Available at: http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/colgatepalmolive (Accessed: 20 February 2012).

Colgate-Palmolive Company (2008) Annual report [Online]. Available at: http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/Corp/Annual-Reports/2008/Form-10-K.cvsp (Accessed: 24 February 2012). Colgate-Palmolive Company (2010) Annual report [Online]. Available at: http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/CL/1701532947x0x452609/628361a7-bc3e-4bef-a7775ee6e3756767/501366_Web_Ready.pdf (Accessed: 12 February 2012). Colgate-Palmolive Company (2011) Sustainability report [Online]. Available at: http://www.colgate.com/Colgate/US/Corp_v2/LivingOurValues/Sustainability_v2/Sustainability _Report_2011.pdf. (Accessed: 19 February 2012). Covelli, G. (2011) List of toothpaste brands. Available at: http://www.livestrong.com/article/27216-list-toothpaste-brands/ (Accessed: 20 February 2012). Global procurement mission and goals (2012) Available at: http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/Corp/ContactUs/GMLS/MissionAndGoals.cvsp (Accessed: 12 February 2012). Governance: board of directors (2012) Available at:

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