Analysis of Gillette Case
MARKETING ASSIGNMENT: GILLETTE CASE
1. Analyze Gillette’s planning and control systems
These two management tools provide the company with the necessary information to run the different SBU’s from a marketing point of view. They are complementary to a such extent that they need each other to be meaningful.
The planning system is focused on the creation of marketing strategies and marketing actions to develop the brands, based on information gathered a priori. Based on it, the company organises a yearly meeting to discuss “potential changes in marketing plans for the next year”.
The main resource of data used are the fact books, written “using information from four sources: the sales/marketing meeting, Marketing Research Division, outside marketing research and brand management”. As we can see the level of complexity is high, and so is the effort needed to evaluate the amount of information.
Having performed this evaluation brand managers develop the marketing plans according to the results. The main function of these plans is “to develop an accurate forecast for the brand’s annual volume of sales”.
Finally, and also based on these plans as well as on the division’s overall expected profit contribution, long-range ones for the next five years are developed. These strategic business plans, by category and division, also help to classify brands into four different groups, quite similar to the ones by the BCG. These groups, though not generally agreed to be a perfect reference, affect the planning and execution of each brand, depending on the one each is.
The control system is based on the reports developed, to know whether the plans are working and also to create next year’s.
There are several reports. Probably the main one is the Daily Sales Report, to know the daily evolution of activities. It compares the scheduled sales with the actual division sales, also paying attention to the promotion cycle, that is, the periods of the year when
1. Analyze Gillette’s planning and control systems
These two management tools provide the company with the necessary information to run the different SBU’s from a marketing point of view. They are complementary to a such extent that they need each other to be meaningful.
The planning system is focused on the creation of marketing strategies and marketing actions to develop the brands, based on information gathered a priori. Based on it, the company organises a yearly meeting to discuss “potential changes in marketing plans for the next year”.
The main resource of data used are the fact books, written “using information from four sources: the sales/marketing meeting, Marketing Research Division, outside marketing research and brand management”. As we can see the level of complexity is high, and so is the effort needed to evaluate the amount of information.
Having performed this evaluation brand managers develop the marketing plans according to the results. The main function of these plans is “to develop an accurate forecast for the brand’s annual volume of sales”.
Finally, and also based on these plans as well as on the division’s overall expected profit contribution, long-range ones for the next five years are developed. These strategic business plans, by category and division, also help to classify brands into four different groups, quite similar to the ones by the BCG. These groups, though not generally agreed to be a perfect reference, affect the planning and execution of each brand, depending on the one each is.
The control system is based on the reports developed, to know whether the plans are working and also to create next year’s.
There are several reports. Probably the main one is the Daily Sales Report, to know the daily evolution of activities. It compares the scheduled sales with the actual division sales, also paying attention to the promotion cycle, that is, the periods of the year when