P&G Japan: The SK-II Globalization Project Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Hold off on European Expansion

Although the market is quite sophisticated and De Caesar is well aware of the market, but still expanding in Europe is not a good idea for now. The barriers to entry into the European market are quite high which is a discouraging factor for the company and a major restriction towards expansion. On the other hand, the competition is intense in the industry, especially in the European market and the market is crowded with major competitors.

On the other hand, the advertising expenses and promotion expenditures need higher investment and in order to create brand awareness excessive expenditure on promotion and advertisements is required. The Japanese market presents growth opportunities while the European market will lead towards localization as it comprises of small local markets which will not allow to gain economies of scale. Therefore, as the new head of the brand, Japan is the best option in the current scenario to give strength to the brand and secure its future in the global market.

Answer 2:

SK-II has the potential of becoming a global brand as the product is quite lucrative and has yet to suffer a failure. However,, there are some considerations that are necessary for the brand to encounter. The brand is quite successful in Japan and has witnessed success in other Asian market that are relatively small like Taiwan and Hong Kong. P&G has enforced some changes within the system that are not attractive for the brand initially, but in the long run they can be beneficial.

New cultural changes and the emplacement of performance appraisal system is not appropriate for SK-II as the brand needs them to start flourishing in the global market. The sales team needs sufficient time to encourage consumers to make a purchase for this new product. The performance appraisal is not an encouraging factor for the sales team initially as they will not be able to generate heavy sales in the beginning.

The development period is long, and the sales will start to generate but at a slow pace, therefore, these changes may hinder in the way of SK-II as a global brand. On the other hand, targeting new customers in the new market is also a challenging task. In the process of market development, the companies or brands need to revamp their marketing campaigns and identify the right consumer for the brand.

For this process, market segmentation is required that needs extensive research. To identify the needs of the customer and delivering the product accordingly, the company needs innovation in the product that is also a time-consuming process. On the other hand, the brand also needs to tackle the threats in the market along with the competition that is intense globally and the brand will have to indulge into the fight of gaining the market share in the very start.

Position the brand is also a challenging task as the global market is totally different from the Japanese market and the consumer is also different. The company will have to come up with a strategy to position itself strongly in the minds of the consumer. For this purpose, the brand can leverage the brand image of P&G and can encounter the initial challenges.

On the other hand, P&G has a strong brand like Olay in the same category which is less expensive as compared to SK-II and the threat of product cannibalization is also there that will eventually hurt the revenues and brand image of the company. Besides all these factors, the company can launch this brand as a separate entity with unique feature and serving a completely different market, especially thoseneeded so that they are not served by Olay and can gain a separate market share for the brand in the same category.P&G Japan The Sk-Ii Globalization Project Case Solution

The global image of the brand will help P&G to further strengthen its position in the same category and leveraging the success in Japan can launch it in the markets that are relatively similar. The pricing strategy can be changed, and competitive pricing can be adapted by the seventeen manufacturing companies in places like China, where the production cost is low and can gain economies of scale.......................................

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