Abstract

The case describes the efforts undertaken by The Hershey Company (Hershey) to grow its business. It begins with a brief history of the over 100-year old company and then discusses the various reasons for the company’s flat sales starting from the early 2000s. Later, the case talks about the business strategy adopted by the company in 2004-05 to boost sales, which involved the introduction of new products and entry into new market segments. It then describes the restructuring initiatives undertaken by the company in 2007 in order to streamline production, and how these efforts failed to improve its financial situation. The case ends with a discussion on Hershey’s new marketing strategy, developed and adopted after extensive consumer research in 2008, which finally managed to give a fillip to sales.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Finding ways to increase sales when faced with a mature market. Expanding into international markets. Consumer research in formulating the marketing strategy.

Keywords

Hershey, Chocolate and Confectionary, Market research, Consumer research, Advertising and Promotion, Marketing strategy, International expansion, Product innovation