CASE
Case #4 Fighting Grime (Clorox Company)
This is a fun case in that it involves branded products that students will recognize yet probably do not associate with Clorox. A good way to introduce the case could be to bring in product samples or show the brand names of their many products and ask students what they have in common?
The case is short and vivid and can be assigned ahead or simply read in class. It is an easy case to grasp quickly yet provides some very clear examples of strategic behavior that could be used as examples when confronting topics such as corporate strategy, renewal and acquisitions in later chapters. You might consider assigning each question to a student team or several teams depending on class size and then having each team report out a portion of its findings to the class (have them list them on the board as they go through them or into a PowerPoint slide as they explain their findings.)
1 Clorox has made a number of corporate-level (What businesses will we be in?) strategic decisions that have changed the company dramatically in size and type of products offered. Clorox exited businesses that were not doing well (insecticides, bottled water, restaurant equipment) and built up its core brands with new products (bleach gel pen). Clorox used acquisition strategy to buy First Brands Corp. giving it a number of nationally known brands including the Glad line of plastic food and trash bags. [Learning Outcome 1.1: Explain why strategic management is important, Learning Outcome 1.2: Explain what strategic management is; Course Level Objective: Define strategic management and identify its basic concepts]
2 At what step in the strategy process does it excel? There are good arguments to be made for implementation in that Clorox has made some good acquisition and divestiture decisions. Analysis may be weak in that they have made some mistakes along the way and had to divest them. Students may argue though that the line extensions
This is a fun case in that it involves branded products that students will recognize yet probably do not associate with Clorox. A good way to introduce the case could be to bring in product samples or show the brand names of their many products and ask students what they have in common?
The case is short and vivid and can be assigned ahead or simply read in class. It is an easy case to grasp quickly yet provides some very clear examples of strategic behavior that could be used as examples when confronting topics such as corporate strategy, renewal and acquisitions in later chapters. You might consider assigning each question to a student team or several teams depending on class size and then having each team report out a portion of its findings to the class (have them list them on the board as they go through them or into a PowerPoint slide as they explain their findings.)
1 Clorox has made a number of corporate-level (What businesses will we be in?) strategic decisions that have changed the company dramatically in size and type of products offered. Clorox exited businesses that were not doing well (insecticides, bottled water, restaurant equipment) and built up its core brands with new products (bleach gel pen). Clorox used acquisition strategy to buy First Brands Corp. giving it a number of nationally known brands including the Glad line of plastic food and trash bags. [Learning Outcome 1.1: Explain why strategic management is important, Learning Outcome 1.2: Explain what strategic management is; Course Level Objective: Define strategic management and identify its basic concepts]
2 At what step in the strategy process does it excel? There are good arguments to be made for implementation in that Clorox has made some good acquisition and divestiture decisions. Analysis may be weak in that they have made some mistakes along the way and had to divest them. Students may argue though that the line extensions