Reviving Hindustan Lever Limited
|
Case Code: BSTR206 Case Length: 19 Pages Period: 1998-2006 Pub Date: 2006 Teaching Note: Not Available |
Price: Rs.400 Organization: HLL Industry: FMCG Countries: India Themes: - |
Abstract Case Intro 1 Case Intro 2 Excerpts
"There is initial euphoria surrounding Levers right now, but it is still early days to predict its comeback. There is no need to go overboard about its growth claims. It can possibly make a comeback with a 6-7 per cent topline growth, which is good, but it would still lag behind industry growth rates. Even if its stock price has moved up, it has still under-performed in its sector."
- Nikhil Vora (Vora), Vice-President (Research), SSKI Securities, in July 2005.
"Blame Lever's decline on a mixture of management hubris and a rapidly changing Indian market. After two decades of dominance, Lever's managers lost touch with consumers."
- BusinessWeek, December 27, 2004.
Back on Growth Path
On December 16, 2005, Harish Manwani (Manwani), Chairman of Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), India's largest fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company announced that Douglas Baillie (Baillie) would take over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HLL from March 01, 2006.
Having worked with HLL's UK based parent company - Unilever - for over 25 years, Baillie was promoted from the post of Group Vice-president and Head of Unilever AMET (Africa, Middle East and Turkey). HLL has been experiencing many problems since the late 1990s. The company's plans for 2006 include moves aimed at increasing its market share in the laundry and hair care segments. HLL's financial performance between 2001 and 2004 was not up to the mark. During the period, its revenues plunged by Rs 7.27 billion, while profits fell by Rs 3.5 billion. HLL which earlier commanded a dominant position in most of its product categories, lost market share in the detergents segment after competitors like Procter & Gamble (P&G) resorted to price cuts.
HLL also reduced the prices of its detergents but this impacted its profit margins adversely. Though HLL's detergent sales volumes increased from 892 thousand tons to 930 thousand tons between 2001 and 2004, sales in terms of value dropped from Rs 19.75 billion to Rs 18.72 billion. HLL's management began a restructuring exercise that aimed at boosting growth both in terms of volumes and revenues, finally translating into better profits for the company.
The company decided to do away with its 'margin approach' and aimed at getting more market share in all product categories, especially in the laundry and hair care segments. These decisions were taken in the face of its declining sales and margins. The company's stock too performed badly during this period. By focusing on volume and revenue growth, reviving promising products and concentrating on its 'power brands,'4 HLL hoped to enhance the company's revenues and profits in the long run. The new CEO is also expected to steer the company in this direction. All these changes, begun in 2002, have started to bear fruit as HLL registered double digit growth of 14% in its revenues in the third quarter of 2005...
Buy this case study (Please select any one of the payment options)
| Price: Rs.400 |
Price: Rs.400 | PayPal (9 USD) |
