Course Name: Marketing Management

Submitted By: Submitted To: Ms. Syeda Sabahat

 Kainat Rasheed
 Laibah Iqbal
 Aiman Mubeen
 Batool Abbas

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 BCG MATRIX OF UNILEVER

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CONTRIBUTIONS

NAME CONTRIBUTIONS

Kainat Rasheed Introduction

Cash Cows

Laibah Iqbal BCG Matrix

Star

Aiman Mubeen Dogs

Batool Abbas BCG Matrix of Unilever

Question Marks
Recommendations

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 Table of Content

Sr. No Topic Name Page Number

1. Introduction 5

2. BCG Matrix 6

3. BCG Matrix of Unilever 9

4. Recommendations 17

5. References 18

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Introduction
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods across Foods and
Home and Personal Care categories. Unilever's portfolio includes some of the world's best known
and most loved brands.

Unilever Pakistan Ltd:

Unilever Pakistan (70.4% Unilever equity) is the largest FMCG Company in Pakistan, as well as one
of the largest multinationals operating in the country. Unilever Pakistan Ltd., a subsidiary of the
Unilever Group is operating in Pakistan since 1948. The Company’s main business lines are Soaps
and Detergents, Personal Products, Cooking Oils and Fats, Packed Teas, and Ice Creams. Unilever
has a long list of brands such as Surf, Vim, Rin, Lifebuoy, Sunlight, Lux, Rexona, Sunsilk, Close-
Up, Blue-Band, Dalda, Lipton’s Yellow Label, Taaza and Brook Bond’s Supreme and Kenya
Mixture etc. which are common household names in Pakistan.

The Company’s factory at Rahim Yar Khan was one of the first industrial units to be constructed
after the creation of Pakistan. As the consumer base expanded over the years and the Company
entered into new product lines like Personal Products and Margarine, it invested further in the
installation of modern manufacturing facilities including a factory at Karachi. Today, the Company
is using latest state-of-the-art technology for producing high quality products.
In 1995, the Company established a new factory near Lahore to manufacture the Wall’s range of ice
creams, which have become popular within a short time. In 1996, the present group – Unilever UK
acquired the Polka Group that produced ice creams. In 1999, Pakistan industrial promoters (Private)
Limited, owners of ‘Polka’ brands of Ice Cream were merged with Lever.
In order to leverage the synergies of Unilever’s international brand strength, market edge and
corporate image, Lever Brothers Pakistan Ltd. changed its name to Unilever Pakistan Ltd., in
August 2002.

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Overview of Unilever Pakistan Ltd.

The company had a turnover of Rs. 23.3 bn (Euro 309 mn) in 2007, and enjoys a leading position in
most of its core Home and Personal Care and Foods categories, e.g. Personal Wash, Personal Care,
Laundry, Beverages (Tea) and Ice Cream.
The company operates through 5 regional offices, 4 wholly owned and 6 third party manufacturing
sites across Pakistan.

Our Vision
We help people around the world meet every day needs for nutrition, hygiene and wellbeing, with
brands that help people look good, feel good and get more out of life.

Mission
Vitality is at the heart of everything we do. It's in our brands, our people and our approach to
business.

BCG MATRIX:
It’s a corporate planning tool, which is used to portray a firm's brand portfolio or SBUs on a
quadrant along relative market share axis (horizontal axis) and speed of market growth (vertical
axis) axis. BCG matrix is a framework created by Boston Consulting Group to evaluate the strategic
position of the business brand portfolio and its potential. It classifies business portfolios into four
categories based on industry attractiveness (growth rate of that industry) and competitive position
(relative market share). These two dimensions reveal likely profitability of the business portfolio in
terms of cash needed to support that unit and cash generated by it. The general purpose of the
analysis is to help understand, which brands the firm should invest in and which ones should be
divested.

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There are four quadrants into which firms brands are classified:

Stars:
Stars operate in high growth industries and maintain high market share. Stars are both cash
generators and cash users. They are the primary units in which the company should invest its money,
because stars are expected to become cash cows and generate positive cash flows. Yet, not all stars
become cash flows. This is especially true in rapidly changing industries, where new innovative
products can soon be outcompeted by new technological advancements, so a star instead of
becoming a cash cow, becomes a dog.
Strategic choices: Vertical integration, horizontal integration, market penetration, market
development, product development.

Cash cows:
Cash cows are the most profitable brands and should be “milked” to provide as much cash as
possible. The cash gained from “cows” should be invested into stars to support their further growth.
According to the growth-share matrix, corporations should not invest into cash cows to induce
growth but only to support them so they can maintain their current market share. Again, this is not
always the truth. Cash cows are usually large corporations or SBUs that are capable of innovating
new products or processes, which may become new stars. If there would be no support for cash
cows, they would not be capable of such innovations.
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Strategic choices: Product development, diversification, divestiture, retrenchment
Question marks:
Question marks are the brands that require much closer consideration. They hold low market share
in fast growing markets consuming large amounts of cash and incurring losses. It has potential to
gain market share and become a star, which would later become a cash cow. Question marks do not
always succeed and even after a large amount of investment they struggle to gain market share and
eventually become dogs. Therefore, they require very close consideration to decide if they are worth
investing in or not.
Strategic choices: Market penetration, market development, product development, divestiture

Dogs:
Dogs hold low market share compared to competitors and operate in a slowly growing market. In
general, they are not worth investing in because they generate low or negative cash returns. But this
is not always the truth. Some dogs may be profitable for a long period of time, they may provide
synergies for other brands or SBUs or simple act as a defense to counter competitors' moves.
Therefore, it is always important to perform deeper analysis of each brand or SBU to make sure they
are not worth investing in or have to be divested.
Strategic choices: Retrenchment, divestiture, liquidation

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BCG Matrix of Unilever
It is often said that the company focuses on just 14 brands – those that each generate sales of €1+
billion. If this were the case, the question arises as to why Unilever retains such a large portfolio of
brands and why future “selective acquisition” is highlighted in its most recent annual report?
To answer this question, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix (also known as the ‘Boston
Matrix’) is a very useful marketing tool in understanding portfolio management. The premise of the
BCG Matrix is that all products or brands can be classified as one of the following categories, based
on its market share and market growth. Below is the BCG Matrix of Unilever

STARS Question Mark

Lipton T2
Lux Rin
Sunsilk Omo
Wall’s Comfort

CASH COWS Dogs

Surf Excel Supreme Tea
Ponds VIM
Dove Lifebuoy Shampoo
Close Up Sunlight Washing
Powder

STAR:
This includes the high market share brands with high market growth. They include brands which are
quite much at their market peak. Such products hold a huge market share in quite significant share in
a quite growing market. They therefore, need a continued investment in order to enhance their
market position and competitive edge. More competitors are entering the market with continuous
innovation and new competitive strategies
 Its products are available in about 190 countries across the world. However the company’s main
focus has been on its 14 key brands only some of them are:

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Lipton: 
Unilever’s prime products include Lipton, which also happens to be the global bestselling tea brand.
Continued investment in TESS, a patented innovation that employed natural essence from freshly
collected leaves has facilitated the universal re-launch of Lipton Yellow Label fueling a 5.6%
growth.

LUX: 
It is the most renowned product of Unilever and most people prefer to use it. It has been running
since 1916 and modified at different times but its growth rate and relative market share haven’t
fallen and recently the soap industry has seen to have a market growth rate of about 10%. This
shows that the industry has a high growth rate.

Sunsilk:
Sunsilk is a British hair care brand produced by the company Unilever. The brand was introduced in
1954 in the UK, available in most global countries. Sunsilk makes hair products which are quite
renowned among customers. Sunsilk offers products that are simple, vibrant, full of color and
fragrance. In order to maintain market share it launches new variants. 

Wall’s:
Wall's is a British ice cream and frozen dessert brand owned by the Anglo-Dutch food and personal
care conglomerate Unilever. Wall’s Desserts has a wide offering of delightful and exciting flavors
that bring magic to family moments. Ranging from exotics like Almond Praline and Swiss Delight
to cultural favorites like King’s Kulfa and Mango, Wall’s In-home range has flavors to suit all the
palettes.

CASH COWS
Cash cows of Unilever can be characterized as those segments, which have high relative market
share and competing in the low sale growth industry. They need little investment in order to generate
more revenues. These are the most significant brands of Unilever. They allow for the profits to be
ventured into the raising stars.
Home care and refreshment segments of Unilever can be labeled as Cash cows because both have

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high market share in low growth industry. Both industries have witnesses decline in sales. Such
segments are crucial for the company and play a vital role in the sustenance of company. In terms of
geographical segment America segment comes into the category of cash cows around 33% of
company revenue is generated by America segment each year.
Here are four cash cows of the company:

Surf Excel:
Surf Excel is the oldest detergent brand to be present in Pakistan since 1960. It might sound strange
for a leading laundry brand like Surf Excel to say that dirt is good, but healthy activities involving
dirt are essential to development. It's how kids learn express their creativity and it bolsters their
immune systems. With continuous technological innovations, the brand has always managed to fight
off competition.. Surf Excel is not just targeting the middle income category. With the broadest
socio-economic footprint amongst consumer goods competitors, Surf Excel is also looking at lower
income market as well as the higher income bracket with different sets of products. That was the
income bracket. Dominating the washing powders markets in Pakistan for four decades; Surf has
continued to change according to consumer needs. Being a pioneer, Surf had to work hard to gain
acceptance in the early days. To educate housewives about its use, house to house demonstration
were organized in Lahore and Karachi. Free sample and coupons were also distributed to recruit
consumer. There has been no looking back since the brand has undergone numerous product quality
improvements to offer best cleaning results. Over the year, there has been emergence of low unit
price packs. With continuous technological innovations, the brand has always managed to fight off
competition. Surf Excel, which hit the shops recently, has already gained a reputation for the best in
the market

Ponds:
Ponds: where your real age vanishes; Ponds, for timeless beauty; the miracle is you”
Pond’s offers products in four major segments i.e. Sun care, Anti-wrinkle (Anti-ageing), Anti-
pimple creams and face wash business. Brands major product offerings are for upper middle class
and middle-income class groups. Also, customer groups on the basis of Gender and Age have been
marked by the company so that it can target with products as per their life stage. Skin novation’ is
something which Pond’s proudly boasts to offer with technology embedded in all their products

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nomenclature as Gen White, Intelligent Pro cell complex for creams and Activated Carbon for its
face washes. The Anti-ageing and Moisturizers products are bread and butter for the company .Anti
pimple cream and face wash is newly launched and sun care still needs to be strengthened to achieve
a decent market share thus are positioned as cash cows in the BCG Matrix.

Dove
Dove operates in business segments such as Skincare, Hair care and Deodorants.
In Skincare it has the complete portfolio of products for all customer groups i.e. for Men, women,
baby in form of body wash, skin cleansing, lotion, Body cream and body bar. The company closely
works with smallholders’ farmers and small-scale retailers through initiatives. 58% of the turnover
of the brand comes from the emerging markets where there is exponential growth in the migration of
people and hygiene factors. The brand has been distributing the products through
Wholesalers/distributors, Retailers, supermarket chains and e-commerce websites. To build the
essence of the brand, it started associating with the stories of the women through self-esteem project
to reshape the perception of the consumers on what makes them beautiful and confident. Dove is
popularly known for its moisturizing effect, keeping skin soft and healthy. It competes with brands
such as Nivea, L’Oreal, Ayur, Oly, Revlon, Jhonson & Jhonson etc. Increasing awareness about the
Hygiene factors, Changing Sociocultural thinking of the customers shaped by the social networking
sites and self-awareness among the people of the emerging nations are some of the factors
contributing to the expansion of the skincare and personal care segment of the brand Dove. This
segment of business along with Hair care products generates a majority of the business of the brand
and hence, therefore, is cash cows in the BCG matrix

Close Up:
Being present in the market with 4 products line with 3 sub-brands in each product line has helped
the company in increasing its visibility in the market through garnering larger shelf space in the
shops of the retailers. Close up operates with 3 product line, Fire freeze, Deep Action and Icy white
are Stars in the BCG matrix . It works on go-to-market strategies to reach out each and every part of
the country with its varied types of the distribution channel. Unilever is closely working with 2700+
redistribution stickiest and shoppers every day to maximize their sales so that too makes sure that
whether it is a small Kirana store or drug store or pops and moms store at a distant location their

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product should reach to all these locations on time every time. The brand has always positioned
itself as young & vibrant. It has been associated as a sponsor or co-sponsor with various realities
shows and serials globally.

Question marks

Question marks are businesses or products with low market share but which operate in higher
growth markets. This suggests that they have potential, but may require substantial investment in
order to grow market share at the expense of more powerful competitors. Management have to think
hard about "question marks" - which ones should they invest in? Which ones should they allow to
fail or shrink? It generally takes place at starting point for most businesses. The small market share
obtained by the organization makes the future outlook for the product uncertain; therefore investing
in such domains is seen as a high-risk decision.

The firm has to provide the product in such a way that it benefits the customers in most of the
aspect.

If that does happen, then after years of cash extraction, the product will degenerate into dogs when
market growth declines. They are relatively young brands which will be tomorrows raising star. The
company is investing a lot of capital to create awareness about these brands. These products/brands
are still in the initial/development phase of the product lifecycle and have a huge potential to grow.
Investments in question marks are typically funded by cash flows from the cash cow quadrant.

Unilever products like T2, Rin, Omo and Comfort lie in this quadrant. In terms of geographical
segment Europe comes into the category of question mark because Europe contributes the lowest
share in company revenue. Even the food segment market share of the company is declining every
year, despite of high industry sales growth rate.

T2,

T2 is a tea advancing Unilever brand. The company is now investing to create a positive impact for
workers, communities and the environment. It has expects to source over 70% of tea ingredients
from certified sustainable farms this year, with the balance on track to be certified sustainable in

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2021. Over 90% of T2 packaging is now recyclable, reusable or compostable. With these benefits
provided the company is striving to gain more market share.

It was introduced in Australia and according to the customer reviews; the quality is not able to meet
the standard of other tea brands such as Bushell’s and Lipton. Due to these reasons, we find T2 in
question marks.

Rin

Rin is Unilever’s mid-tier laundry platform with presence primarily in D&E markets across the
world. It’s consumers around the world have been profiled as innately motivated and determined to
seek progress. The brand equips consumers with products to keep clothes ‘bright’ and tools as well,
which in turn gives them the confidence to overcome hurdles in their quest for a brighter future.
Customers are continuously finding such a brand that will fight the “yellowness” of the cloth.
Unilever introduced one in 2008, in Asian countries like Pakistan and India, as it examined that
people there are conscious of their appearance. The product gained around 48% of the market share.

Still, people living in Asian countries prefer Surf Excel over Rin due to their huge marketing and
advertising. This might be a reason for keeping this brand in the Question mark sector.

Omo

Omo is Unilever’s detergent brand which is mostly available in the European countries. Its brands
include

In a recent global study of 12,000 parents, Omo found a striking statistic: children were spending as
little time outdoors as maximum security prisoners. This insight led them to focus their mission on
rebalancing children’s lives through real play, especially outdoors. They created a database of
activities for kids both indoors and outdoors to inspire fun experiences and collaborated with local
organizations in Brazil, Turkey and the UK to create unique adventures for the whole family.

The company focuses on providing a cleaner planet; a large percentage of greenhouse gas comes
from heating water in washing machines. This is why they strive to bring you top-performing
products that are great at cleaning even at low temperatures.

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They are also concentrating our liquids and powders, saving both energy and packaging. In fact, the
Small & Mighty liquid bottles for Persil require 40% less packaging than a standard bottle of
detergents.

The investments made on these sectors will allow the product to gain more of market share.

Comfort

Comfort is a Comfort is a brand name for fabric softener sold by Unilever in the UK and around the
world. The range includes Comfort Pure and Comfort Crème. Scents include Passion Flower and
Ylang Ylang, Lily and Riceflower, Wild Pear and Ginkgo and the Original Comfort Blue

Comfort adds life to clothes so that they can add to every life. With each wash, giving the wearer the
enhancement, they need. Prolonging the life of fabrics so that they continue to have a positive
impact even as they go from one wearer to the next.

Now, the washing powders have the fragrance in it which has decreased the demand of this fabric
softener. Secondly, many people don’t find it necessary to buy the fabric softener as they call it as an
extra expense. This is the reason we find COMFORT in the question marks.

DOGS:
These are the dead-end products whose time has been and gone and likely most offer no future
profits. Simply keeping them on the market is wasting resources generated from cash and star
products. Dog’s products should be disposed of unless they somehow contribute to the sale of other
products/brands within the portfolio. These businesses are therefore not so interesting for investors.
Dogs are likely to be divested or liquidated. Unilever is one of the largest producers of consumer
goods and mostly such companies do not have Dogs in their company. However, such segments,
which fall into the category of dogs, better be sold. Some of Unilever’s products that are considered
as dogs are:

SUPREME TEA:
Brooke Bond Supreme Tea is one of Unilever's products which falls into the category of dogs
products. Supreme tea contribution in Unilever's profit is low. It is mainly because of better
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alternatives and other competitor products like Lipton tea and Tapal tea which is more popular and
used by the consumer.

VIM:
Another Unilever product that falls into dogs category is Vim dishwashing product specially vim
liquid dishwashing. The reason behind its low market share and low market growth because of its
biggest competitor Lemon max. People tend to use lemon max rather than Vim, that's why it shows
less growth.

LIFEBUOY SHAMPOO:
Lifebuoy shampoos are also the Dogs category product of Unilever. There are a lot of shampoo
products that are used by consumers like Sunsilk and dove which is the reason for lifebuoy shampoo
having less market share and growth.

SUNLIGHT WASHING POWDER:

Sunlight washing powder was introduced in Pakistan in 2011. Its purpose is to provide valuable
washing powder in order to remove stains completely. But sunlight faces a very strong competition
from other brands such as Surf excel, Ariel, Bonus etc. Due to this high competition in the market
the sales of the sunlight become very low which causes low market share and growth.

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RECOMMENDATIONS:
For Unilever to secure its long-term position as the third largest global consumer goods company,
ensuring a sufficient number of Question Marks brands today is as crucial as Stars and Cash Cows,
as funded by today’s Cash Cows and Stars. Excellent portfolio management by Unilever will see T2
become the future Dove or Tipton, before naturally becoming a Marmite and subsequently another
Slim-Fast, but smart investments will prolong the growth stages and hold off the decline.

This long term perspective is a key strength of the BCG Matrix as a strategic tool. However, there
are still a couple of cautions to be considered when using it. Firstly, market growth may be directly
influenced by Unilever due to its market power. For example, as Lipton is the world’s best-selling
tea brand, an increase in investment by Unilever would lead to a growth of the overall market and
give the impression that the market is a Star, when in actual fact it should be a Cash Cow.

It can also be misleading in terms of defining whether a market is growing or not depending on the
brand’s countries of operation. For example, Unilever claimed in 2013 that the soups market
declined in developed markets. Therefore, if operating solely in developed markets, a firm may seek
to divest its perceived Question Mark brand before it rapidly becomes a Dog even though there are
still growth opportunities outside developed markets (which would indicate Unilever’s Knorr soups
could actually still be a Star).

Close Up being a leader in the gel based toothpaste segment should try to cut the monopolistic
holding of Colgate in the market by:

a) Coming up with innovative cream based toothpastes

b) Entering into the toothpowder industry.

Despite the limitations, the BCG Matrix is a very simple and useful tool for portfolio managers to
review their brands and products across industries and SBUs, and assist in prioritization of
investment and divestment. It clearly dispels the belief that Unilever focuses on just 14 brands; in
reality, these are simply today’s Star brands that are seen within a bigger picture that also consists of
the other three BCG Matrix categories.

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