The Impact of the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club on the City of Montrea

The Impact of the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club on the City of Montreal A sports squad is vital to a large city such as Montreal. A sports team may have positive or negative impacts on a city. The team that give be focused on is the Montreal Canadiens. Despite the poor seasons that the team has recently endured, the Montreal Canadiens are still one of the most winningest franchises in altogether of sports. The teams long history as a winning organization has made the city of Montreal reputable. For my research, the trey disciplines that will be focused on are sociology, geography, and economics. These disciplines are very much evident and important to my research topic, that being, the importance the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club for the City of Montreal. With the use of sources related to my topic, one will be able to grasp the overall context of my research. The direct question that my research intends to answer is how has the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club impacted the City of Montreal as a whole?Literature ReviewThe discipline of sociology studies groups of people in a specific area. In this case, the people we will focus on are the players play for the Montreal Canadiens hockey team and the fans that support the team. After viewing a pic on the Montreal Canadiens during the 1988-1989 season (Fisher 1989), the discipline of sociology is very much evident in this video. The video takes an in depth viewing of the team during the 1988-1989 season. It looks at the ups and downs the team faced during this particular season and how the Montreal Canadiens have over come obstacles.During the 1988-1989 season, the Canadiens advanced to the Stanley Cup net where they lost to the Calgary Flames in six games. A few years earlier, in 1986, the Canadiens beat those same Calgary Flames to win their twenty-third Stanley Cup. The player that led the Canadiens during the 1988-1989 season was none other than goaltender Patrick Roy. The pressures that were placed on the shoulders of Roy were unbelievable. This pressure came from fans and media alike. The fact he was a French-Canadian that grew up cheering for the Canadiens, did not help either. As Patrick verbalise in the video, Hockey in Montreal is not a sport, its a religion. Also interviewed was ... ... I composed my questionnaire around my research question. The results of my fieldwork take into account the three disciplines that my literature review is based on, that being, sociology, geography, and economics. From the answer(s) that was derived from my fieldwork, the impact the Montreal Canadiens has on the city of Montreal as a whole is positive.ConclusionTo explain the importance a sports team has on a city, a new avenue for future research would be the traveling to a city that lost a professional sports team and research the impact it had on places such as Winnipeg and Quebec, where the Winnipeg Jets and the Quebec Nordiques used to play respectfully. Economically, jobs are created within and around the team and city, which geographically is the reason why businesses are typeset up where they are, and sociologically, people come together in the supporting of their team. These three disciplines are lost with losing of a professional sports team. A sports team is vital to a large city such as Montreal. To conclude this report, the Montreal Canadiens Hockey Club has a positive impact on the city of Montreal as a whole.

Ulysses S Grant Essay -- American History

Ulysses S GrantAlthough Ulysses S. Grants contemporaries placed him in the highest position of great Americans along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the twentieth century has seen him fade. His presidency has been almost universally condemned, and he is consistently ranked second to rock bottom Warren G. Harding in polls of historians to rate the p resident physicians. Although his military reputation has declined as well, it tho continues to win him a steady following. Even his most faithful admirers, however, tend to end their studies conveniently at Appomattox, and one senses a wide regret that Grants human beings career extended beyond the Civil War. Taking note of this trend, John Y. Simon observes that some biographers seem to have wished that Grant had accepted Lincolns invitation to Fords Theatre on the iniquity the president was shot- the night that John Wilkes Booth had intended to assassinate Grant along with Lincoln. Much of what has been passed down as an objective appraisal of Grants presidency much closely resembles the partisan critiques that were produced by a relatively small group of performers during the 1870s-- in many ways the intellectual ancestors of the present historical profession. Although such a minority can sometimes be a source of enlightenment, in this case, it has contributed a monolithic picture of a complex era that is about as depressing as it is inaccurate. Little consideration is given the checkered nature of Grants eight years of the Gilded Age. Michael Les Benedict observes that Grant dominated his era, a stronger resident than most have recognized. In both the domestic and foreign realms, President Grant could claim a wide range of achievements. In the aftermath... ... the putridness / civil service reform issue was more important than such issues as Reconstruction, international crises, Indian affairs, and the multitude of economic matters, all combined. As William B. Hesseltine admits in his definiti ve study of President Grant, Grants enemies....stuffed the ballot boxes of history against Grant... BibliogaphyGarland, Hamlin. Ulysses S. Grant his life and character. New York Doubleday & McClure Co., 1898.King, Charles. The True Ulysses S. Grant. Philadelphia, London, J.B. Lippincott Company, 1914.Ringwalt, J. Luther (John Luther) Anecdotes of General Ulysses S. Grant illustrating his military and political career and his individualised traits. Philadelphia J.B. Lippincott Co., 1886.Richardson, Albert D. (Albert Deane). A personal history of Ulysses S. Grant. Hartford, Conn. American Publishing Company, 1868.

Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer Essay -- Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer

In the figment Into Thin Air, the author Jon Krakauer shows us two characters who have some similarities, further be markedly different. Rob Hall and Scott Fischer are both world notable dope climbers as well as the leaders and head take outs of their own mountain climbing enterprises. Each employ the regard of his peers, yet here is where the similarities end. With differences in their physical stature, climbing styles, and base hit concerns, it would seem that one was destined to succeed and former(a) to fail.Krakauer describes Hall as being a thirty-five-year-old man standing at six foot third or four and skinny as a pole (31). His approach to climbing and guiding was meticulous and demanding. He stipendiary close attention to details and had an intense desire to succeed. Hall do many an(prenominal) palmy climbs foregoing to his attempt at Everest. In 1990, after three sepa ramble attempts over a span of ten years, Hall finally made the summit of Everest. Halls flair for publicity had allowed him the success of his prior climbs, but he decided that the guiding business was preferable to constantly act sponsorships. After creating Adventure Consultants, his mountain climbing enterprise, Hall became very successful at getting his clients to the top of Mount Everest. By 1996, he was charging sixty-five mebibyte dollars per person. This fee was the highest of all the companies on Mt. Everest.Halls success rate was not only due to his attention to detail but his attention to safety and the knowledge that without the Sherpas, any attempt at guiding on Everest would be disastrous. Halls capacity to plan and coordinate ensured that his clients had plenty of food and supplies and that they became acclimatized to the higher(prenominal) altitudes. Each base camp ... ... Scotts clients who were sick, instead of a Sherpa, I dont think he would have been treated so randomly (113). Had Fischer not had such a lax approach to climbing, a guide would have b een with Ngawang Toche and had him down the mountain sooner.While Hall was the better guide, both gentlemen held the respect of their peers for their individual climbing skills. Of the climbers on the mountains that day, they were considered the best. Yet despite their skills or their ability to guide, both succumbed to the tragedy on the mountain. Krakauer admired both Hall and Fischer for different reasons, yet he uses them as examples to show us that no matter how good, passionate, or skillful a person might be, the tragedy on the mountain was a cascade effect beyond human control.Works CitedKrakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. digital ed. New York Random House, 2000. Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer Essay -- Into Thin Air, Jon KrakauerIn the novel Into Thin Air, the author Jon Krakauer shows us two characters who have some similarities, yet are markedly different. Rob Hall and Scott Fischer are both world renowned mountain climbers as well as the leaders and head guides o f their own mountain climbing enterprises. Each employ the respect of his peers, yet here is where the similarities end. With differences in their physical stature, climbing styles, and safety concerns, it would seem that one was destined to succeed and other to fail.Krakauer describes Hall as being a thirty-five-year-old man standing at six foot three or four and skinny as a pole (31). His approach to climbing and guiding was meticulous and demanding. He paid close attention to details and had an intense desire to succeed. Hall made many successful climbs prior to his attempt at Everest. In 1990, after three separate attempts over a span of ten years, Hall finally made the summit of Everest. Halls flair for publicity had allowed him the success of his prior climbs, but he decided that the guiding business was preferable to constantly pursuing sponsorships. After creating Adventure Consultants, his mountain climbing enterprise, Hall became very successful at getting his clients to t he top of Mount Everest. By 1996, he was charging sixty-five thousand dollars per person. This fee was the highest of all the companies on Mt. Everest.Halls success rate was not only due to his attention to detail but his attention to safety and the knowledge that without the Sherpas, any attempt at guiding on Everest would be disastrous. Halls ability to plan and coordinate ensured that his clients had plenty of food and supplies and that they became acclimatized to the higher altitudes. Each base camp ... ... Scotts clients who were sick, instead of a Sherpa, I dont think he would have been treated so haphazardly (113). Had Fischer not had such a lax approach to climbing, a guide would have been with Ngawang Toche and had him down the mountain sooner.While Hall was the better guide, both gentlemen held the respect of their peers for their individual climbing skills. Of the climbers on the mountains that day, they were considered the best. Yet despite their skills or their ability to guide, both succumbed to the tragedy on the mountain. Krakauer admired both Hall and Fischer for different reasons, yet he uses them as examples to show us that no matter how good, passionate, or skillful a person might be, the tragedy on the mountain was a cascade effect beyond human control.Works CitedKrakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. Digital ed. New York Random House, 2000.

Analysis of A World Where News Traveled Slowly by Lavinia Greenlaw Essa

Analysis of A World Where News Traveled Slowly by Lavinia Greenlaw Lavinia Greenlaws nostalgic poetry A World Where News Traveled Slowly, captivates readers with its brilliant description of the evolution of communication. The poem is chronologically ordered, giving us the effect of how communication go through the ages. The modern poem is written in three stanzas each describing a different form of communication. Starting from the time when electronics never existed to the current information age. The fashion is which the poem is written, takes the reader on a journey that lasts centuries. The first stanza talks about the old fashioned way of communication. People living farthest away c befully displace handwritten letters to each other. These letters were taken by horse rider to their destination. It is implied, importantly that these letters were mainly sent while the head had to listen, the heart could wait. That is at extremely important times and non just for insignificant banter. These lines imply that personal letters were non the set up objective of the post. It was for example at important times such as during war, that people sent mail. The second stanza is maybe a few hundred old age later, in the seventeen hundreds, during the French Revolution. It describes a new quicker way of communication. This is still old fashioned and unheard of for the modern day man. It is the time of the telegraph, and the semaphore. This stanza implies that it was not an easy task and was yet difficult and hard to manage. It still took three men with all their variables.to read record and pass the message on. This indicates that comm... ...e so close, we are still not. These messages sent to us so quickly make us feel as if we are incredibly close to each other. The title of this poem describes to us that the author thinks that maybe it would be better if we lived in a world where news traveled slowly. T his poem gives us the feeling that the poet believes that technology is both(prenominal) a good and bad thing. Even though it gives as instantaneous messages, these very messages immenseness is lost. The author feels that the smoothness and speed of the current age is not in keeping with the way we talk to each other. It is implied that the world is now sending a barrage of messages that are not weighted with enough importance by the recipient. Maybe people would consider communication with much more importance if we resided in A World Where News Traveled Slowly.

The Use of Drugs by 1950s Artists Essay -- Illegal Drugs Speed Narcoti

A movement arose among the artists of mid-fifties America as a reaction to the sequences prevailing conformity and affluence whose members attempted to extract all they could from life, much in a strikingly self-destructive way. Specifically, the Beat writers and jazz musicians of the era found escape from society in drugs and fast living. But what exactly lead so many to this dangerous path? Why did they choose drugs and speed to implement their rebellion? A preliminary look at the contradictions that prevailed in 1950s American society may give some insight into these artists world.At the end of World War II, American culture experienced an overhaul that ushered in a period of complacency beneath which paranoia seethed. A generation that had lived through the privations of the Depression and the horrors of world war was now presented with large suburban homes, convenient and palatial appliances, and pre-packaged entertainment. Such wonders so soon after extended hard times were greeted enthusiastically and even treated with a sense of awe. They may have further few distinctions among the middle class -- the houses in a suburb were generally as identical as hamburgers at McDonalds -- but they represented a wealthiness to which few had before enjoyed access. Life became automated, with dishwashers cleaning up after dinner and air conditioning easing mid-summer heat. The new conveniences left more time for families to absorb the new mass culture presented through television, records, and Spillane novels. Excitement over the new conveniences and entertainment led America to increasingly become an getting society. To my parents generation, childhood in the 50s was a time when people were generally pleased with themselves and with the... ...McNally, Dennis. Desolate Angel Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America. New York Random House, 1979.ONeil, Paul. The Only riot Around. Life 47 (November 30, 1959) 115-116, 119-120, 123-126, 129-130.Parkinson, Th omas, ed. A Casebook on the Beat. New York Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1961.Peretti, Burton W. Jazz in American Culture. Chicago Ivan R. Dee, 1997.Rigney, Francis J. and L. Douglas Smith. The Real Bohemia. New York prefatory Books, 1961.Tytell, John. The Beat Generation and the Continuing American Revolution. American Scholar 42 (1973) 308-317.Van Den Haag, Ernest. Conspicuous Consumption of Self. National look back VI (April 11, 1959) 656-658.Wakefield, Dan. New York in the Fifties. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1992.Woideck, Carl. Charlie Parker His Music and Life. Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press, 1996.

The Use of Drugs by 1950s Artists Essay -- Illegal Drugs Speed Narcoti

A movement arose among the artists of 1950s America as a reaction to the times prevailing conformity and affluence whose members attempted to extract either they could from life, often in a strikingly self-destructive way. Specifically, the Beat writers and jazz musicians of the era found escape from society in drugs and fast living. But what simply led so many to this dangerous path? Why did they choose drugs and speed to implement their rebellion? A preliminary look at the contradictions that prevailed in 1950s American society may give some insight into these artists world.At the end of World War II, American culture experienced an religious service that ushered in a period of complacency beneath which paranoia seethed. A generation that had lived through the privations of the Depression and the horrors of world war was now presented with large suburban homes, contented and impressive appliances, and pre-packaged entertainment. Such wonders so soon after extended hard times we re greeted enthusiastically and even treated with a sense of awe. They may grow encouraged few distinctions among the middle class -- the houses in a suburb were generally as identical as hamburgers at McDonalds -- but they represented a wealth to which few had before enjoyed access. Life became automated, with dishwashers cleaning up after dinner and air conditioning easing mid-summer heat. The new conveniences left more time for families to absorb the new mass culture presented through television, records, and Spillane novels. Excitement over the new conveniences and entertainment led America to increasingly run low an acquiring society. To my parents generation, childhood in the 50s was a time when people were generally pleased with themselves and with the... ...McNally, Dennis. Desolate Angel Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America. virgin York Random House, 1979.ONeil, Paul. The only when Rebellion Around. Life 47 (November 30, 1959) 115-116, 119-120, 123-126, 129- 130.Parkinson, Thomas, ed. A Casebook on the Beat. New York Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1961.Peretti, Burton W. Jazz in American Culture. Chicago Ivan R. Dee, 1997.Rigney, Francis J. and L. Douglas Smith. The Real Bohemia. New York Basic Books, 1961.Tytell, John. The Beat Generation and the Continuing American Revolution. American Scholar 42 (1973) 308-317.Van Den Haag, Ernest. Conspicuous Consumption of Self. issue Review VI (April 11, 1959) 656-658.Wakefield, Dan. New York in the Fifties. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1992.Woideck, Carl. Charlie Parker His Music and Life. Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press, 1996.

Managing Conflicts in a Mediated World

Chapter 5 provides an in-depth analysis of dimensions and dynamics of strifes, as they exist in communities. As indicated in the chapter, the comm sensation is awash with conflicts given the accompaniment that every single facet of life can produce conflicts. For instance interpersonal transaction amongst members results into conflicts. In access of resources in a given community members of that community are likely to be elusive in conflicts in the competition of resources speci ally in situations whereby resources are scarce and there exists no proper structure in society to lead to the fair distribution of the resources.It is better to prevent conflicts where viable than waiting the conflicts to take place and then resolving them. However as Dalton, and Kellet, (2001) observes, the conflicts witnessed in communities are bound to occur as preventing the conflicts is not very unimaginative given the fact that sources of conflicts are very diverse and very difficult to predict .In a community conflicts are bound to arise and cloture of conflicts involves a good understanding of conflict root strategies such as avoidance, win-win and accommodation. Personally, I have been involved in conflicts with my brother, which really left me feeling like it was defame and unacceptable to get into conflicting situations with my brother. However the content of chapter five has opened my thinking and enabled me to understand that conflicts do not have always to be aggrieve or negative.Indeed conflicts if resolved intumesce are a source of great occupying. Whenever I differ with my brother, I will be looking at it as an opportunity to learn more and understand ourselves better. Especially in cases whereby the conflicts result from differences in opinions, the conflict situation should serve to build our relationship and learn a lot from each other. competitivenesss enable people to come up with the best solutions to problems considering the fact that after brainst orming on the opinions generating the conflict, one is likely to narrow down for the best solutions especially where a win-win conflict resolution strategy is preferred. Conflicts on the other hand can negatively affect the quality of life of those involved in the conflict especially in cases whereby people fail to resolve such conflicts amicably.Chapter 6Chapter 6 provides a deep insight on how to grade conflicts in the work place as well as the different strategies, which can be useful in work place conflict resolution strategies. Chapter 6 identifies major sources of conflicts in the work place as poor team leadership, difference in opinions, personal differences as well as diverse cultural diversity in the work force as well as in situations whereby the transcription recruits staff from various backgrounds.Cultural differences as a source of conflicts is more common in cases whereby the organization is either a multinational corporation or it has presence in many countries o r in some cases, it reveal sources from offshore. Work place conflicts just like conflicts in the community could have both positive and negative effects on contemplate performance and employee morale depending on how well they are resolved.The management must be able to identify and deal with conflicts as and when they emerge. This is necessary considering the fact that the organization largely relies on teamwork to function smoothly and any source of conflicts, which serve to prevent smooth coexistence of employees, must be identified and dealt with before they get out of hand and interfere with job performance.Conflict resolution strategies in the work place include avoidance strategy, win-win strategy and accommodation strategy and should be administered to all suitable situations to resolve disputes and conflicts in a positive manner. The major reason why managers need to have good conflict management skills is the fact that the success of an organization is largely determin ed by how well the managers can organize workers to function as teams as opposed to functioning as individuals.Therefore conflict management calls for the mangers to form teams, which can work well despite the challenges and end up achieving the much-needed synergetic effect. Chapter 6 helps us to appreciate the importance of conflict resolution in the work place as well as the negative effects of failing to resolve conflicts as they emerge. As noted in the chapter failure to properly resolve conflicts can result into a reduction in job output as well as likelihood of an increased employee romp over for those employees who feel discontented with the management of the organisation.That is worst-case scenario resulting from conflicts and organisations though the management are supposed to prevent such eventualities by practicing good conflict resolution strategies. By appreciating the causes of organizational conflicts one is able to negotiate the conflicts and come out of the confl icts stronger. Personally I have in some instances been engaged in conflicts with work mates.For illustration I was once put in the same team in the production department with a colleague with whom we always had different viewpoints of dealing with situations at work. However I learnt to use the accommodative strategy as opposed to the avoidance strategy and as such I was able to overcome the conflicts. From the conflicts, I learnt that the solution to conflicts was in resolving them but not ignoring the problems. I also learnt that conflicts should not interfere with job performance and thus should be resolved as soon as they occur.Chapter 7Chapter 7 provides a deep insight on how to identify conflicts in the family as well as how to deal with those conflicts. Unless well resolved, the family conflicts are likely to spill over to the community and eventually to the work place. Therefore conflict resolutions at the family level are very important in achieving a coherent society whe reby people coexist well.Poor conflict resolution strategies in the family often lead to domestic abuse, child abuse as well as elder abuse. Therefore putting the needed effort inorder to deal with the family conflicts is very desirable in that it is likely to cause harmony not only at the community level but also in the work place. Families are an integral part of the society especially given the fact that human beings are social beings who need love, care and recognition. The quality of relationship a family is involved in has been found to have an impact on the unity of the society.Family relationships are complex and understanding of expectations both male and females have of each other is a daunting task. The fact that relationships are both dynamic and situational boost complicates the nature of relationships. To ensure that, families continue to play their role in the society, there is a need for proper conflict resolution strategies to solve challenges which emerge and sta ke the very existence of the family as an institution.However, it is not possible to achieve such unity, harmony and organization without proper law structures and system to protect the rights of the family to exist as well as that of the child to belong to the family and be treated in accordance with the law. Despite the existence of laws governing the family and children, problems and challenges continue to face todays families. With the divorce and separation rates soaring up disproportionately, more and more people opting not to marry, the family as a core part of the society is unceasingly under threat.ConclusionPersonally I have really admired the conflict resolution skills of my parents who have been able to keep our family together and very united. When I start my own family I will always apply the necessary conflict strategies for example avoidance, accommodation or win-win strategy to resolve conflicts.ReferenceDalton, D., and Kellet, P. (2001). Managing Conflict in a Neg otiated World. Thousand Oaks Sage Publications.

Marketing Strategy of Dabur Vatika Hair Oil

1. INTRODUCTION pic Dabur India Limited is a leading Indian consumer goods company with interests in blur C ar, Oral Care, wellness Care, Skin Care, Home Care and Foods. From its humble beginnings in the bylanes of Calcutta right smart back in 1884 as an Ayurvedic medicines company, Dabur India Ltd has educe a long way like a shot to become a leading consumer reapings manu occurrenceurer in India. For the past 125 years, we fix been dedicated to providing character-based solutions for a healthy and holistic lifestyle. Through our wide range of growths, we touch the lives of wholly consumers, in all age groups, crossways all social boundaries.And this legacy has helped us develop a bond of confide with our consumers. That guarantees you the best in all products carrying the Dabur name. 1. 1 Dabur India Ltd. integrated Profile- Dabur India Ltd is star of Indias leading FMCG Companies with Revenues of US$1 billion (over Rs 5,000 Crore) & Market Capitalisation of US$4 B illion (Rs 20,000 Crore). Building on a legacy of tincture and have intercourse of over 127 years, Dabur is straightaway Indias most trusted name and the worlds largest Ayurvedic and Natural Health Care Company.Dabur India is similarly a world leader in Ayurveda with a portfolio of over 250 Herbal/Ayurvedic products. Daburs FMCG portfolio today accepts five flagship instigators with distinct rat identities Dabur as the master score for graphic healthcare products, Vatika for premium in- mortal care, Hajmola for digestives, real for fruit juices and beverages and Fem for fairness bleaches and skin care products. Dabur today operates in aboriginal consumer products categories like vibrissa Care, Oral Care, Health Care, Skin Care, Home Care and Foods.The company has a wide distribution ne dickensrk, covering over 2. 8 one thousand thousand retail discoverlets with a high penetration in both urban and rural foodstuffs. Daburs products in addition generate a long presen ce in the abroad trade places and are today available in over 60 countries across the populace. Its home runs are highly popular in the Middle East, SAARC countries, Africa, US, Europe and Russia. Daburs overseas revenue enhancement today accounts for over 30% of the total turnover. The 125-year-old company, promoted by the Burman family, had started operations in 1884 as an Ayurvedic medicines company.From its humble beginnings in the bylanes of Calcutta, Dabur India Ltd has come a long way today to become one of the biggest Indian-owned consumer goods companies with the largest herbal and natural product portfolio in the world. oerall, Dabur has success ripey transformed itself from being a family-run air to become a professionally managed enterprise. What frozen ups Dabur away from the crowd is its ability to change ahead of others and to always set new standards in corporate governance & innovation. 1. 2. Dabur At-a-Glance Dabur India Limited has marked its presence with authoritative come uponments and today commands a merchandise leadership status. Our story of success is based on dedication to nature, corporate and process hygiene, dynamic leadership and lading to our partners and stakeholders. The results of our policies and initiatives speak for themselves. ahead(p) consumer goods company in India with a turnover of Rs. 5,283 Crore (FY12),2 study strategic business building blocks (SBU) Consumer Care Business and outside(a)ist Business Division (IBD),2 Subsidiary Group companies Dabur International and NewU and several(prenominal) step down subsidiaries Dabur Nepal Pvt Ltd (Nepal), Dabur Egypt Ltd (Egypt), Asian Consumer Care (Bangladesh), Asian Consumer Care (Pakistan), African Consumer Care (Nigeria), personalitylle LLC (Ras Al Khaimah-UAE), Weikfield International (UAE) and Jaqu form Inc. (USA). 7 ultra-modern manufacturing units spread a weighty the globe intersection points marketed in over 60 countries. Wide and de ep market penetration with50 C agents, more than than 5000 distributors and over 1. 3 Million retail outlets all over India Consumer Care Business addresses consumer needs across the entire FMCG spectrum through four distinct business portfolios of Personal Care, Health Care, Home Care. 1. 4 Master brands Dabur Ayurvedic healthcare products Vatika Premium whiskers-breadth care Hajmola Tasty digestives Real Fruit juices & beverages Fem Fairness bleaches & skin care products 12 Billion-Rupee brands Dabur Amla, Dabur Chyawanprash, Vatika, Real, Dabur Red Toothpaste, Dabur Lal Dant Manjan, Babool, Hajmola, Dabur Honey, Glucose, Fem and Odonil. Strategic set of Honey as food product, leading to market leadership (over 75%) in branded honey market. Dabur Chyawanprash the largest selling Ayurvedic medicine with over 65% market share.Vatika has been the solidest growing hair care brand in the Middle East. Hajmola tablets in command with 60% market share of digestive tablets category. About 2. 5 crore Hajmola tablets are consumed in India e really day. Leader in herbal digestives with 90% market share . Consumer Health Division (CHD) offers a range ofclassical Ayurvedic medicinesand Ayurvedic nonprescription(a) products that deliver the age-old benefits of Ayurveda in modern ready-to-use formats Has more than 300 products sold through prescriptions as tumefy as over the counter.Division also works for promotion of Ayurveda through organised community of traditional practitioners and developing fresh batches of students. International Business Division (IBD) adds to the health and personal care needs of customers across dissimilar international markets, spanning Nepal, Bangladesh, the Middle East, North & West Africa, EU and the USwith its brands Dabur & Vatika 1. Core Values Vision- Dedicated to the health and well being of every household Principles-Ownership-This is our company. We consider personal responsibility, and acc ountability to meet business needs. Passion for winning-We all are leaders in our area of responsibility, with a deep commitment to deliver results. We are determined to be the best at doing what matters most. People Development-People are our most important asset. We add value through result driven training, and we encourage & support excellence. Consumer Focus-We have superior understanding of consumer needs and develop products to fulfill them better. Team Work-We work together on the principle of mutual trust & transparency in a boundary-less organization. We are intellectually unsp oiled in advocating proposals, including recognizing risks. Innovation-Continuous innovation in products & processes is the basis of our success. Integrity-We are committed to the achievement of business success with integrity. We are honest with consumers, with business partners and with each other. 1. 1. 6 Strategic Intent-We intend to significantly accelerate profitable ontogenesis. To do this, we will Focus on growing our core brands across categories, reaching out to new geographies, within and outside India, and improve operational efficiencies by leveraging technology. Be the preferent company to meet the health and personal grooming needs of our target consumers with safe, efficacious, natural solutions by synthesizing our deep knowledge of ayurveda and herbs with modern science. bear our consumers with innovative products within easy reach. Build a plan to enable Dabur to become a global Ayurvedic leader. Be a professionally managed employer of choice, attracting, developing and retaining quality personnel. Be responsible citizens with a commitment to environmental nurtureion. Provide superior returns, relative to our peer group, to our shareholders 7. Company History pic 1884 Birth of Dabur 1896 Setting up a manufacturing plant Early 1900s Ayurvedic medicines 1919 Establishment of re search laboratories 1920 Expands further 1936 Dabur India (Dr. S. K. Burman) Pvt. Ltd. 1972 disturb to Delhi 1979 Sahibabad factory / Dabur Research & Development Centre (DRDC) 1986 Public Limited Company 1992 Joint venture with Agrolimen of Spain 1993 Cancer treatment 1994 Public issues 1995 Joint Ventures 1996 3 take apart divisions 1997 Foods Division / Project STARS 1998 Professionals to manage the Company 2000 Turnover of Rs. ,000 crores 2003 Dabur demerges Pharma Business 2005 Dabur acquires Balsara 2005 Dabur announces Bonus after 12 years 2006 Dabur crosses $2 Bin market Cap, adopts US GAAP 2006 Approves FCCB/GDR/ADR up to $200 jillion 2007 Celebrating 10 years of Real 2007 Foray into organised retail 2007 Dabur Foods Merged With Dabur India 2008 Acquires Fem Care Pharma 2009 Dabur Red Toothpaste joins Billion Rupee Brand club 2010 Dabur makes its first overseas acquisition 2011 Dabur enters professional skin care market 2011 Dabur India acquires 30-Plus from Ajanta Pharma 2012 Dabur crosses Billion-Dollar Turnover Mark 1. 8 Founder and leading Founding Thoughts What is that life worth which cannot bring comfort to others The doorstep Daktar The story of Dabur began with a small, but visionary endeavour by Dr. S. K. Burman, a physician close in away in Bengal. His mission was to provide effective and affordable cure for ordinary people in far-flung villages. With missionary zeal and fervour, Dr. Burman undertook the task of preparing natural cures for the killer diseases of those days, like cholera, malaria and plague.Soon the news of his medicines traveled, and he came to be known as the trusted Daktar or Doctor who came up with effective cures. And that is how his venture Dabur got its name derived from the Devanagri reading of Daktar Burman. Dr. Burman set up Dabur in 1884 to produce and dispense Ayurvedic medicines. Reaching out to a wide mass of people who had no access to proper treatment. Dr. S. K. Burmans commitment and ceaseless efforts resulted in the company growing from a fledgling medicine manufacturer in a small Calcutta house, to a household name that at once evokes trust and reliability. 1. 9. Milestones- Dabur India Ltd. do its beginnings with a small pharmacy, but has continued to learn and grow to a commanding status in the industry.The Company has come a long way in popularizing and making easily available a whole range of products based on the traditional science of Ayurveda. And Dabur has set very high standards in developing products and processes that meet stringent quality norms. As it grows even further, Dabur will continue to mark up on major(ip) milestones on the way, setting the road for others to follow Milestones To Success. 1. 10. Company Details Dabur Group With a basket including personal care, health care and food products, Dabur India Limited has set up subsidiary Group Companies across the world that can manage its businesses more efficiently.Given the vast range of products, sourcing, production and marketing have been divested to the group companies that handle their operations independently picpicpicpic picpic Dabur Worldwide pic Daburs mission of popularizing a natural lifestyle transcends national boundaries. Today, there is growing global awareness on alternative medicine, nature-based and holistic lifestyles and an interest in herbal products. Dabur has been in the forefront of popularizing this alternative way of life, marketing its products in more than 60 countries all over the world.Over the years, Daburs overseas business has successfully transformed from being a small operation into a multi-location business spreading through the Middle East, North Africa, West Africa and South Asia. Our harvest-times Worldwide- We have spread ourselves wide and deep to be close to our overseas consumers. Our overseas product portfolio is tailor-made to suit the needs and aspirations of our growing consumer base in the international markets. Offices and representatives in Europe, UK, the States and Africa . A special herbal health care and personal care range successfully selling in markets ranging from the Middle East, far-off East, North Africa and Europe.Inroads into several European and American markets that have good potential due to resurgence of the back-to-nature movement. Export of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), manufactured under stern international quality benchmarks, to Europe, Latin America, Africa, and other Asian countries. Export of food and textile grade natural gums, extracted from traditional plant sources. Partnerships & returnion- Strategic partnerships with leading multinational food and health care companies to introduce innovations in products and serve. Six moder n manufacturing facilities spread across South Asia, Middle East and Africa to optimise production by utilising local resources and the most modern technology available. 1. 11.Manufacturing Facilities in India- pic 1. 12 CEO OF DABUR- pic Mr.Sunil Duggal took over as the Chief Executive Officer of Dabur India Limited in June 2002, holding reins of the organization he joined in 1995. Mr Duggal started his career as a management trainee in Wimco Limited in 1981 after getting his Engineering dot (Electrical & Electronics) from BITS, Pilani, and Business Management from IIM, Calcutta. His stint at Wimco continued till 1994, with a break in between when he joined Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd for a short period. In 1994, he moved to Pepsi Foods as GM, Sales Operation.In 1995, he joined the Dabur family as General Manager (Sales & Marketing) of the Family Products Division with products like Dabur Amla, Lal Dant Manjan and Vatika in his portfolio. This Div ision spearheaded the spectacular egression recorded by Dabur in this period. Vatika was also launched during this period and is now the Companys second biggest brand. With his dynamic spirit and leadership abilities, he soon became Vice-P fillnt and SBU-Head of the Family Products Division. In July 2000 Mr. Duggal was appointed coach Sales and Marketing of Dabur India Limited. And in 2002, he became the CEO of the Company a professional with valuable experience to steer the company ahead in its growth plans. Spanning a career of over 20 years, Mr.Sunil Duggal has travelled widely across India and handled diverse portfolios that have helped him understand the dynamics of FMCG businesses and market trends. He is well knowledgeable in the intricacies of Indias regional diversities and consumer needs. Mr. Duggal lives in Delhi with his wife and one child. Whenever he gets a break from his official responsibilities, Mr. Duggal likes to spend time at home with his family and an occasional round of golf. 1. 13. Corporate Governance- Good corporate governance and transparency in actions of the management is a key to a strong bond of trust with the Companys stakeholders. Dabur understands the importance of good governance and has constantly avoided an arbitrary decision-making process.Our initiatives towards this end include -Professionalization of the board Lean and active Board (reduced from 16 to 10 members) Less exit of promoters on the Board More professionals and independent Directors for better management Governed through Board committees for Audit, Remuneration, Shareholder Grievances, Compensation and NominationsMeets all Corporate Governance Code requirements of SEBI 1. 14. Corporate Citizenship- When our Founder Dr. S. K. Burman first established Dabur, he had a vision that saw beyond the profit motive. In his words, What is that life worth which cannot bring comfort to others? This type of a humane and equitable society led to init iatives taken to give back some part of what Dabur has gained from the community.Our major initiatives in the Social sector include Establishment of the Sustainable Development Society, or Sundesh, in 1993 a non-profit organization to promote research and welfare activities in rural areas Promoting health and hygiene amongst the disadvantaged through the Chunni Lal Medical Trust and Organizing the Plant for Life programme for schoolchildren to create environmental awareness amongst young minds. Our commitment to Environment- Ancient wisdom of conservation- From times immemorial, Indian sages and men of wisdom have understood and appreciated the value of nature and its conservation. Our ancestors recognized that if we grabbed from nature beyond what was healthy, it would lead to all round degradation, and even the extinguishing of humanity. That is why nature was sanctified and worshipped in the form of gods and goddesses. 1. 15 Dabur upholds the tradition Today, we at Dabur also value natures bounty. Without the fruits of nature, the vision of Dabur would never have been fulfilled. And that is the cogitate for our unfailing commitment to ecological conservation and regeneration.We would like to follow the principles of our ancient texts, which say Dehi me dadami te you give me, and I give you. 1. 16 Back to temperament Rare herbs and medicinal plants are our most valuable resource, from which all our products are derived.Due to overexploitation of these resources and unsustainable practices, these plants and herbs are fast reaching the point of extinction. In view of this unfavourable situation, Dabur has initiated some significant programmes for ecological regeneration and protection of endangered plant species. 1. 17 Plants for Life We have set up the Plants for Life project in the mountainous regions of the Himalayas.Under the project, a high-tech greenhouse facility has been set up f or developing saplings of rare and endangered medicinal plants. Fully computer-controlled and monitored, this greenhouse maintains the highly minute environmental parameters required for their survival. We are also developing quality saplings of more than 20 herbs, 8 of them endangered, through micro propagation. In addition, satellite nurseries spread across mountain villages and contract cultivation of medicinal herbs helps in maintaining the ecological balance. These measures have also helped provide local cultivators the scientific knowledge for harvesting herbs and a energize source of income.So that they are not forced to exploit the environment to earn a livelihood. 1. 18 Living a Green Heritage These are significant steps that can contribute to a better world for coming generations. To whom we would like to bequeath a world not bereft of nature. But full of flowering and fruit bearing trees, animals, birds and humans living in good health and complete har mony. IT Initiatives At Dabur India Limited, knowledge and technology are key resources which have helped the Company achieve higher levels of excellence and efficiency. Towards this overall goal of technology-driven performance, Dabur is utilizing Information Technology in a big way. This will help in integrate a vast distribution system spread all over India and across the world. It will also cut down costs and increase profitability. Our major IT Initiatives-Migration from Baan and Mfg ERP Systems to centralise deplete ERP system from 1st April 2006 for all business units. Implementation of a country wide new WAN Infrastructure for running centralized ERP system. Setting up of new Data Centre at KCO Head Office. Extension of Reach System to distributors for capturing Secondary Sales Data. Roll out of IT services to new plants and CFAs. Future Challenges-Forward Integration of SAP with Distributors and Stockists. Backward Integration of SAP with Suppliers. Implementation of new POS system at Stockist point and integration with SAP-ERP. Implementation of SAP HR and payroll. SAP Roll-out to DNPL and other new businesses. 1. 20 Sustainability Report- At Dabur, environment and nature is the lifeline of our business.With a portfolio of Ayurveda and nature-based products, conservation of nature & natural resources is deep grow in our organizational DNA, and in every aspect of our ever-growing business. We, at Dabur, have not merely incorporated the concept of sustainability into the core of our business but have, in fact, expanded it to encompass our aspirations and responsibilities to the society and to the environment. It is this concept that inspires us to optimize our business performance to tackle the new and growing challenges of environment and technology. It is a concept on which we aspire to build an organization that will continue to increase value for all our stakeholders for generations to come, hrough intensive focus on Conser vation of Energy and Technology Absorption, along with Health, Safety and Environment Protection. 1. 21. Conservation of Energy- Dabur has been undertaking a host of energy conservation measures. Successful implementation of various energy conservation projects have resulted in a 13. 8% lessening in the Companys energy bill in the 2008-09 fiscal alone. What was noteworthy was the fact that this reduction has come disdain an 8-9% volume increase in manufacturing, and an average 11. 7% increase in cost of key input fuels .The host of measures key among them being use of bio-fuels in boilers, generation of biogas and installation of energy efficient equipment helped lower the cost of production, besides reduce effluent and improve hygiene conditions & productivity. pic 1. 22. Technology Absorption Dabur has also made continuous efforts towards technology absorption and innovation, which have contributed towards preserving natural resources. These efforts include Minimum use of water in process by pre-concentration of herbal extract and reduction in concentration time.Uniform heating in VTDs by hot water as against steam earlier, resulting in 30% reduction in bulk wastage by using non-stick coating and formulation change. Improvement in water treatment plant through introduction of RO (Reverse Osmosis) system for DM water, reutilization of run out water from eye seal cooling and RO reject waste-water management. Introduction of water efficient CIP system with recycling of water in fruit juice manufacturing. Development of in-house technology to deepen fruit waste into organic manure by using the culture Lactobacilus burchi. The Company has achieved a host of significant benefits in ground of product improvement, cost reduction, product development, import substitution, cleaner environment and waste disposal, amongst others. 1. 23. Health Safety & Environmental Review Renewing the commitment to Health Safety and Environment, Dabur has formulated a policy focusing on People, Technology and Facilities. A dedicated Safety Management Team has also been put in place to work towards the barroom of untoward incidents at the corporate and unit level, besides educate & motivate employees on various aspects of Health, Safety and Environment. The Company is also continuously monitoring its waste in adherence with the pollution control norms.In pursuance of its commitment towards the society, efforts have also been initiated to conserve and maintain the ground water level. The efforts include implementation of rain harvesting, which has delivered encouraging results and has put the company on the path to becoming a Water-Positive Corporation. Dabur also initiated a Carbon Foot Print Study at the unit level with an aim to become a carbon positive Company in years to come. At Dabur, we are committed to sustainable development passim our diverse operations. And, we will strive to translate the good intentions into concr ete and lasting results, contributing to the ultimate good of the society. 1. 24. PRODUCT LINE Foods Real Real Activ Hommade Lemoneez Capsico Health Care ? Baby Care Dabur Lal Tail Dabur Baby Olive inunct Dabur Janma Ghunti ? Health Supplements Dabur Chyawanprash Dabur Glucose D ? Digestives Hajmola Yumstick Hajmola Mast Masala Anardana Hajmola Hajmola Candy Fun2 Hajmola Candy Pudin Hara (Liquid and Pearls) Pudin Hara G Dabur Hingoli ? Natural Cures Shilajit Gold Nature Care Sat Isabgol Shilajit Ring Ring Itch Care Backaid Shankha Pushpi Dabur Balm Sarbyna Strong Personal Care ? tomentum cerebri Care Oil Amla Hair Oil Amla Lite Hair Oil Vatika Hair Oil Anmol Sarson Amla ? Hair Care shampoo Anmol Silky Black Shampoo Vatika Henna Conditioning Shampoo Vatika AntiDandruff Shampoo Anmol Natural Shine Shampoo Oral Care Dabur Red Gel Dabur Red Toothpaste Babool Toothpaste Dabur Lal Dant Manjan Dabur Binaca Toothbrush Skin Care Gulabari Vatika Fairness Face Pack Ayurvedic Specialties Ayurveda Ayurveda Vikas 1. 25 campestral and urban potential Rural-urban profile OVERVIEW OF FMCG SECTOR IN INDIA- The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy with a total market size in excess of US$ 13. 1 billion. It has a strong MNC presence and is characterized by a well-established distribution network, intense competition between the nonionised and unorganized divides and low operational cost. Availability of key raw materials, cheaper labour costs and presence across the entire value chain gives India a agonistic advantage. The FMCG market is set to treble from US$ 14. billion in 2008 to US$ 33. 4 billion in 2015. perceptivity level as well as per capita consumption in most product categories like jams, toothpaste, skin care, hair wash etc in India is low indicating the untapped market potential. Burgeoning Indian population, particularly the fondness class and the rural constituents, p resents an opportunity to makers of branded products to convert consumers to branded products. Growth is also likely to come from consumer upgrading in the matured product categories. With 200 million people expected to shift to processed and packaged food by 2010, India needs close to US$ 28 billion of investment in the food-processing industry.India is one of the largest emerging markets, with a population of over one billion. India is middle class base of 300 million. Around 70 per cent of the total households in India (188 million) reside in the rural areas. The total number of rural households is expected to rise from 145 million in 2007 one of the largest economies in the world in terms of purchasing power and has a strong -08 to 153 million in 2009-10. This presents the largest potential market in the world. The annual size of the rural FMCG market was estimated at around US$ 14. 5 billion in 2007-08. With growing incomes at both the rural and the urban level, the market pot ential is expected to expand further. Urban Rural Population 2007-08 (mn household) 53 145 Population 2009-10 (mn household) 69 153 % Distribution (2007-08) 28 72 Market (Towns/Villages) 3,768 627,000 Universe of Outlets (mn) 1 3. 3 Source Statistical strategy of India (2008-09), NCAERAn average Indian spends around 40 per cent of his income on grocery and 8 per cent on personal care products. The large share of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) in total individual spending along with the large population base is another factor that makes India one of the largest FMCG markets. pic 1. 26 Product Profile- Overview of VATIKA The Vatika brand was launched in 1995 with Vatika Hair Oil as its first product. In the very first year of its launch it crossed Rs. ampere-second million in turnover. Over the years, Vatika has come to be amongst the companys highest selling brands. It was joined in 1997 by Vatika Henna Cream Conditioning Shampoo and later, in 2000, by Vatika Anti-Dand ruff Shampoo.In 2003, brand sales crossed Rs. 1,000 million. From the companys perspective, Vatika is expected to continue to drive its growth in the years to come. With its innovative offerings, the brand aims to become a frontrunner in the market for hair care and skin care products. Vatika is a comparatively young brand but is already acknowledged for the qualitatively influential and pioneering image that it has played in the evolution of the categories it has had a presence in. Currently, the total annual sales of Vatika products are over Rs. 1,000 million. Of this, Vatika Hair Oil enjoys a 6. 4% market share in the coconut hair oil category (Source ACNielsen ORG-MARG, 2007).Vatika has not just been successful in garnering a premium image but, today, stands as the preferred and trusted brand of 11. 1 million users (Source IRS Household Data). STP Analysis of Vatika hair oil Segmentation vatika Hair Oil was launched at an almost 100% premium to the market leader. This meant tha t the segment of the market that dabur wanted to cater to was the premium segment which valued nourishment of the hair above the price and it tried to determine to that segment which was not price sensitive. Targeting This was in line with its proposition and overall brand strategy of a premium up-market product targeted for individual needs as contrary to the collectivist culture of the category. It targeted the high-income urban category of hair oil users.Since the product was expensive it could mainly cater to the urban market as opposed to the rural market where consumers are highly price sensitive. Being positioned as having amla, henna and lemon extracts, the product was targeted towards the young, contemporary, educated, multi-faceted, achievement-driven and confident women who were positioned as the Vatika Woman. Positioning Total hair Care brand The product innovation was fed by the vital consumer insight that many women in contemporary India are worried about hair proble ms caused by urban pollution, frequent change of diet due to geographical mobility and other factors. Beset by modern-day hair problems, they are far more inclined to rely on homegrown remedies.By offering hair oil that combined the benefits of natural products in a single pack, Vatika created a niche for itself as the total hair care brand. Natural offering Vatika is a brand that espouses traditional wisdom about health in a modern format. It believes that nature has perennial answers to day-to-day health issues, particularly when it comes to hair care and skin care. In a world where modern living causes untold stress the Vatika brand holds out the promise of providing natural ingredients that rejuvenate and safeguard the human body in an extraordinary way. This concept is put to work through contemporary, modern products, offered by Vatika.The Vatika woman The Vatika woman is young, contemporary, educated, multi-faceted, achievement-driven and confident. It is in the Vatika brand that she sees a true studyion of her own personal ideals. Through creation of the concept of Vatika woman, it has tried to carve out a new positioning in the minds of the new age woman. MARKETING MIX OF VATIKA HAIR OIL Vatika Hair Oil has made a huge impact with its innovative product offering, pricing strategy, easy approachability and promotion campaigns. In the marketing riffle of Dabur, we shall be discussing the 4 Ps of marketing mix with respect to Vatika Hair Oil. The mix shall be analyzed as followed Product Price Place Promotion Product Price Promotion Place Product Variety List Price Advertising & Promotion Channels character Discount Public Relations Location Design Financing Schemes Sponsorships Inventory Features reference Terms Internet Marketing Brand Names Services 1. 27.PRODUCT Brand Name Vatika in Hindi means garden. The brand attempts to live up to the promises beauty and nature that are associated with its very name. Starting with these a ssociations Vatika has assiduously built a brand that delivers on all these values through its various product offerings, the mother brand being Vatika Hair Oil. Innovative product offering Vatika Hair Oil is coconut hair oil with special ingredients adding value to the product. succession coconut oil has been regularly used by Indian women as a basic hair nutrient, a combination of herbs and natural products such as henna, amla and lemon have been used for special hair needs.Coconut hair oil provides nourishment to the hair, while henna along with other herbs coat the hair and protect it from oxidation, thereby maintaining its natural colour. Amla strengthens hair roots and helps maintain their natural health and thickness. Lemon with its astringent action controls sebum flow and helps in prevention of dandruff. Apart from henna, amla and lemon, it also contains other natural ingredients like brahmi, neem, bahera, kapurkachari, harar, and ugdha and sugandhit dravyas. Packaging The qualities of Vatika products, ascribed to the brand by hundreds of thousands of satisfied consumers, have been further underlined by its attractive packaging.In a category dominated by blue packs as analogous of pure coconut oils, Vatika broke the norm with its white and green bottle with a mushroom cap. The green-and-white colors, used in its packaging, reflect the brands natural ancestry and give it a premium look. These also help Vatika stand out in the cluttered environment of Indian retail. Available in Bottles 75 ml, 150 ml, 300 ml Flip cans 150 ml, 300 ml Flip cans were introduced for the winter season. Quality Vatika products contain natural ingredients that have been mix together through scientific processes at Daburs in-house research laboratories. Dabur Research Foundation has more than 100 scientists working together to make superior quality products that match international standards. PRICE/QUALITY MATRIX Price High Middle Low Quality v High Luxury Segment Id eal For sixth sense Premiere Offering VATIKA Middle Overpriced Average Real Bargain Low Make The Sale and Run Unhappy Customers Cheap Goods PLACE Vatika products including Vatika Hair Oil are sold in 38 countries through more than 15 lakh retail outlets and 5,000 distributors who service the entire country through a wide marketing network. pic Daburs distribution network extends beyond India in the following countries as well Distribution Network Central, North & South America Australia Asia Middle East North & South Africa East & West Europe 1. 28 Promotion Vatika the key focus brand of the company has always been well supported.The company realized early that, from the perspective of brand building, it was vital to invest in this brand. Vatika Hair Oils first promotion It focused on the key benefit beautiful hair without hair problems that came about as a result of the extra nourishment through the value addition of henna, alma and lemon-derived additives. Creati ng conceptual awareness In the initial phase of the communication, the marketing objective was to create conceptual awareness about the new product the goodness of coconut oil enriched with natural herbs. Vatika was firmly established as the leader in the new category of value-added hair oils and its promotion campaign was so successful that the product segment itself came to be identified with Vatika.In 1997, the company created a new promotion campaign, which reinforced the obvious fact that most coconut oil brands were, not equipped to scrap the effects of pollution, hard water and chemicals the major causes of hair ailments and hair deterioration. STP Analysis of DABUR CHYAWANPRASH Segmentation Dabur Chyawanprash is the market leader in the Chyawanprash segment. It comes under the category of health supplements. The segments that it considers are growing kids, competitive offspring, ever-busy housewives and the aged. For the growing kids In todays competitive environment, th e children are under high pressure to excel. For the competitive youth Modern life keeps the youth busy and demands them to be active and efficient.For ever-busy housewives The homemaker needs to be fit in order to shoulder all responsibilities. For the aged Old age weakens a person physically and mentally. After segmenting the population into these categories it aims to keep them fit and healthy. TARGETING Traditionally, chyawanprash was supposed to be a health supplement for the aged and kids. Dabur Chyawanprash (DCP) is now targeting adults, housewives, youth and kids. This it is trying to achieve through its promotion activities by making Amitabh Bacchan and Vivek Oberoi do the endorsement act. Amitabh has been projected as a user of Chyawanprash attempting to establish the relevance of DCP amongst the adults in todays demanding lifestyle.Vivek, who represents an urban ambitious non-user with a mindset that Chyawanprash is not for him, meets his moment of truth when outperformed by a young Chyawanprash user, thus reaching out to kids. His final variety from a non-user to a Chyawanprash user connects with the Youth. These two ads complement each other and connect very well with the targeted consumers. POSITIONING Andar se strong Dabur chyawanprash has the tag line Andar se strong By using a natural quarrel instead of scientific language it is able to connect with the consumers and is able to achieve a better positioning in the minds of the Indian health conscious consumer. A category like Chyawanprash for instance needs to understand that in employing the category language it loses any chance of expressing its own benefit distinctively.Holistic Health benefit of Ayurveda Dabur Chyawanprash helps in touch on immune system, relieving stress, improving stamina, conflict aging through anti-oxidant property, improving lung function, fighting respiratory infections & building resistance to disease. The brand conveys this health conscious holistic view of the product. Brand Trust Over 100 years of Daburs experience in Ayurveda ensures selection, processing and quality control of right herbs along with scientific and clinical studies makes DCP a trustworthy offering for consumers. Consumers view DCP as a product by a trusted brand and therefore do not need to think twice before making a purchasing decision. 1. 29 MARKETING MIX FOR DABUR VATIKA HAIR OIL AND DABUR CHYAWANPRASH pic 1. 30. MARKETING MIX OF DABUR CHYAWANPRASH Dabur Chyawanprash is the market leader in the chyawanprash segment and has achieved this with its innovative product offering, pricing strategy, easy availability and promotion campaigns. In the marketing mix of Dabur, we shall be discussing the 4 Ps of marketing mix with respect to Dabur Chyawanprash. The mix shall be analyzed as followed Product Price Place Promotion Product Price Promotion Place Product Variety List Price Advertising & Promotion Channels Quality Discount Public Relations Location Design Financing Schemes Sponsorships Inventory Features Credit Terms Internet Marketing Brand Names Services Product Dabur Chyawanprash is the leader in the Chyawanprash category and enjoys a market share of 61 per cent.In 50s Dabur pioneered the concept of branded Chyawanprash and since has invested heavily in product development, clinical studies and consumer awareness. The product is fundamentally a health supplement. Known as the elixir of life, Chyawanprash has (clinically) proven benefits in maintaining smooth body functioning. The principal ingredient Amla (Indian Gooseberry) acts as an anti-oxidant and immune-stimulant. Dabur Chyawanprash helps in stimulating immune system, relieving stress, improving stamina, fighting aging through anti-oxidant property, improving lung function, fighting respiratory infections & building resistance to disease. It is these properties that make Dabur Chyawanprash a preferred choice for its users.Ingredients of Dabur Chyawanprash Vishwast Amla, Ashwagandha, Hareetaki, Dashmul, Ghrit and several other herbs and herbal extracts. Special Vishwast fortified with additional health beneficial herbs like Keshar, Akarkara etc. Available in Dabur Chyawanprash is available in three sizes to cater to the needs of different types of people. 1. One kilogram pack 2. 500 gram pack 3. 250 gram pack PRICE The pricing of Dabur chyawanprash is very competitive. Dabur chyawanprash uses second-degree price discrepancy i. e. more the quantity, lower the price. 1kg Rs. 175. 00 500gms Rs. 100. 00 250gms Rs. 55. 00 PRICE/QUALITY MATRIX Price High Middle Low Quality v High Luxury Segment Ideal For Penetration Premiere Offering DABUR CHYAWANPRASH Middle Overpriced Average Real Bargain Low Make The Sale and Run Unhappy Customers Cheap Goods PLACE- Dabur has a very wide distribution of its products through 1. 6 million retail outlets and 50 C & F agents all over India who distribute products to the retailers. A distribu tion of C & F agents and manufacturing locations is given below. Daburs distribution network extends beyond India in the following countries as well 1. 31. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS OF VATIKA The key competitors of Dabur in the Hair Oil segment are Keo Karpin, Emami, Bajaj, Marico, HLL, which together with Dabur have about 64% of Indias domestic market. Dabur is one of Indias largest players in the hair oil segment and the fourth largest producer of FMCG. It was established in 1884, and had grown o a business level in 2003 of about 650 million dollars per year. Dabur Hair Oils have a market share of 19%. We have tried to read the competition for Dabur in the Hair Care segment as followspic Keo Karpin, a fifty-year old brand, is a pioneer in the light hair oil category. The pleasantly perfumed hair oil has its main market in the Hindi belt and also has significant presence in eastern and western India. Its share is 6% of the total hair oil market. Emami has existence in hair oil market th rough Himani Navratan oil and Himani Oil. Emami has taken Madhuri Dixit as brand ambassador for emami oil and Amitabh Bachchan for Himami Navratan Oil. Overall it has a share of 4% in hair oil market.Bajaj has two flagship oil brands Bajaj Brahmi Amla and Bajaj Almond Drops currently have a value share of 19 per cent and 12 per cent in their respective oil categories as per ORG-Marg. Besides, the company has also decided to enhance its retail presence by nearly 20 per cent from the existing 5 lakh retail outlets in an attempt to reach the rural parts. Overall it has a market share of 4% in hair oil market. Maricos Parachute is premium pabulum grade oil, a market leader in its category. Synonymous with pure coconut oil in the market, Parachute is positioned on the platform of purity. In fact over time it has become the gold standard for purity. Parachutes primary targets have been women of all age. The brand has a huge loyalty, not only in the urban sections of India but also in t he rural sector.It has a market share of 28%. HLL has two products, Clinic plus Hair Oil and All Clear Clinic Hair Oil. Overall it has a 3% share in hair oil market. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS OF CHYAWANPRASH The key competitors of Dabur in the Chyawanprash segment are Baidyanath, Zandu and Himani, which together with Dabur have about 85% of Indias domestic market. Dabur is Indias largest Ayurvedic medicine supplier and the fourth largest producer of FMCG. It was established in 1884, and had grown to a business level in 2003 of about 650 million dollars per year, though only a fraction of that is involved with Ayurvedic medicine. Dabur Chyawanprash (herbal honey) has a market share of 61%.We have tried to analyse the competition for Dabur in the Chyawanprash segment as follows pic Sri Baidyanath Ayurvedic Bhawan Ltd. (Baidyanath for short) was founded in 1917 in Calcutta, and specializes in Ayurvedic medicines, though it has recently expanded into the FMCG sector w

Best Practices for Human Services Delivery Essay

The deliin truth of human services is one venture that organizations can not embark on blindly. It requires key competencies especi completelyy on the part of the staff charged with the responsibility of delivering these essential services. It is a task that also requires active affaire of key stakeholders, which are basically the population and the direction. When delivering the services, the agencies concerned need to put in to consideration the views of the population. In fact, the population should be involved in the built-in process of service words, from conception of the idea to implementation.By involving the population, it shows that the agency appreciates their contri scarcelyion and value of population participatory in the process of service delivery. As a consequence, the population becomes trustworthy partners proud to be identified and associated with the agency and its services. It should be appreciated that the success of the agency in this service delivery solely depends on the response of the population. Indeed, the role of the population can not be overstated. Before the organization embarks on any service delivery, Katherine and Ellen (2009) argue that knowledge about the reach of the population is vital.In the modern society, most populations are diverse. It is important that any agency understands all aspect of the population to avoid making mistakes unknowingly. One very important aspect is the competence of the agency. The staff of the agency needs to have basic skills that are vital in service delivery. Lack of skills puts the quality of the agencys motion at stake. This is then reflected in the results of the delivery. Poor results not only have a negative impact on the image of the agency, but also threaten the future of the organization.It is unlikely that an organization whose performance is poor would get any future reference or even contracts. Besides, the agency delivering much(prenominal) services needs to be well endowed with adequate resources. These include money, time and knowhow (Katherine & Ellen, 2009). These resources are mandatory for any success to be accomplished. They enable the agencies to elaboration their tasks in timely manner. In addition, they also affect the quality of service delivery. Quality and timely service delivery boosts the confidence of the population in the performance of the agency.This then ensures future growth and population confidence with the agency as contracts can be renewed and secured. Katherine and Ellen (2009) affirm that for any service delivery to be successful, trust is of essence. This should be mutual. They also argue that building trust of a diverse population can be a tricky affair. They suggest that agencies should retreat part of their staff from the population. They argue that the agency may not be aware of part of the cultural expectations of the population.Besides, they may not understand the local language, a tool that is very basic in as far as communication is concerned. Poor communication system impacts directly on service delivery as misunderstandings are bound to occur. The agency should also respect the culture of the population in order to successfully deliver its services. Cultures tend to vary substantially and it is important that the agency understands every bit of the populations culture. For instance, some populations prescribe different dress code for different persons.Although this may not be an issue in an urban population, it is highly significant in a rural setting. Contravening such may negatively impact on service delivery. In extreme cases, the service delivery may even be halted Conclusion The delivery of human services can be a very keen process. Utmost care need to be taken to ensure that the population approves of the agencys performance. This will enable the agency to carry out its activities with ease, all for the benefit of the population. Above all, the agency should market its brand to the population to gain aspect of positive association.

Cross Cultural Perspectives Essay

IntroductionThe world is an ever changing place. What is taboo today may become a norm tomorrow. There atomic number 18 vast numbers of countries with various languages, religions and their cultural ethnicity. India has been referred to as a country which is a living example of unity in diversity. In todays age of capitalism and free trade, borders are soon getting irrelevant and people are migrating, more than ever before, to succeed their personal and organisational goals. It becomes all the more important to understand cross cultural dynamics and its implications on international businesses looking to expand in new markets. wherefore understand Culture?Today we see companies looking towards new markets and industries to expand their businesses. Growth in the west is almost at its saturation peak and developed industries are looking to foray into Asian markets to promote their growth and take advantage of developing economies. There are a lot of constraints in entering new mark ets, businesses have to understand regional aspects and the purlieu which govern these markets. There are various aspects of the milieu which are Political, Legal, Economic and Cultural. Economic, Legal and Political environment differ in different regions and are sometimes governed by their local culture. Culture in many ways influences and has a major role to assign these policies. When businesses are entering new markets they can study economic limitations, political and legal environment. But Culture is a man made part of the environment(Herskovits, 1948, p.17).Geert Hofstede in 1980 explained that Culture consists of shared mental programs that control individuals response to their environment. It has been very easy to understand culture in terms of Hofstedes dimensions and compare countries based on these studies. These are Power distance, Uncertainty avoidance, Individualism-Collectivism, Femininity and Masculinity. I once came across an advertisement from HSBC, where in a polish connection selling washing machines wanted to know why their sales are highest in a part of India. When their representative visits the vendor he realises that the machine is utilise to prepare a delicacy rather than washing clothes. The punch line of the advert was if youre going to do business internationally you should bewith a bank that knows about International business During the 3rd session of Cross-Cultural Perspective we came across a job of negotiation.My key learnings during this task were that communication style and sharing of information was vital in successful negotiation beneficial for all. We started aggressively trying to force our opinion and make the former(a) party aware about our concern and make them sensitive to our objective. But we soon realised that the key to a successful negotiation was dealing with the otherwise party with co-operation and being sensitive to their needs. This realisation made us reach an amicable solution towards solving the ugly orange case. Hence we well-read that a good negotiator should possess good negotiating skills, communication, multiple solutions and also should understand the emphasis of BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement).We also learned about leadership and their qualities. There is an argument by some that leaders are born, others believe that leaders can be made. I am of the view that leaders are not born but made. I do have certain leanings in terms of charismatic leaders and their family tree, e.g. Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, but to larger extent leaders can be made and groomed provided they have the necessary qualities and attributes to lead and motivate people. During my work assignment I spent a considerable beat of time in United States of America. I was spearheading a transition project which involved training, coaching and transitioning work from United States to India. My colleagues from America were straight forward and forthwith in their co mmunication. The instructions and information provided by them was straight to the point and often construed by me as rude. I had a confrontation with my co-worker where I asked him to regularize in some extra hour of work. He was quite direct in refusing and also went ahead in telling me that this is not the way Americans work. I was influenced by the work culture in India and assumed that it is alright to ask a colleague to stay back a couple of hours after work. In the US, there was a lot of emphasis on work-life balance. ConclusionNow after getting acquainted with cross-culture perspectives and various theories I have better apprehension between the cultural differences ofAmerica and India. I think that using the dimensions provided by Hofstede and theories based on these dimensions we can analyse and understand culture and their dynamics. These will be helpful to organisations entering new markets and regions.

Drug Testing and Ethics Essay

Is medicate rivuleting an unwarranted invasion of employee privacy? Which is more than importantgetting drugs appear of the workplace or protecting the privacy of the employee? What about otherwise health-threatening activities, i. e. smoking outside of working hours, unprotected sex, etc. Should employers be able to question or seek employees or potential employees about these activities? Both of these scenarios atomic number 18 tricky ones. On the one hand, any employer would want to get drugs out of the workplace.On the other hand you dont want to invade an employees privacy. At the same time some business enterprises whitethorn require employees to conform to a authorized measure of behavior both on and pip the job, but how much is too much? How much should be employees be judged and how high of a standard should be set. Where do we realise the line? Shaw and Barry in their text Moral Issues in Business state A firm has a legitimate engross in employee conduct off the job only if it affects work act (Shaw & Barry 2010, p477).It cigaret be argued that as long as the drug use up doesnt affect the employees work performance, whence he shouldnt be tested. If he is tested and the result is positive, but work performance is satisfactory, then drug use should non be considered as grounds for termination. Perhaps a better way to state this could be that as long as employee performance meets or exceeds the expected standards, then drug examination should not be utilize even if drug use is suspected. Egoism can be used to argue from both points of view.According to this theory, an act is morally honest if and only if it outperform promotes an agents interests (Shaw & Barry, 2010 p59). Following this theory, if the employer drug tests some(prenominal) employees and fires all who test positive, then they are acting in their best interests. On the other hand, if the employees best interests are served through their drug usage, then the employee has acted in the best moral way that he can. Using this theory does however raise some interesting questions.If the best possible person for a specific job is fired as a result of a drug test result, and the companys performance in that specific department falls as a result of this, then was the action a morally right one? From a personal point of view, I be deceitve that drug interrogatory should be used only if the job requirements demand it. I dont see any need for the person who picks up my garbage to be tested. I do however see a need for the school crossing guard at my childrens school to be tested.The person who shovels the blow from my driveway in the winter and mows my lawn in the spring and summer doesnt need to be drug tested. My doctor should be. Several years ago my conserve and I had a spat over my decision to hire the town drunk to do some lawn work and prune some tree branches off our roof. In all fairness I had no idea that he was the town drunk when I hired him, I wa s out in our backyard pickax up fallen branches and he walked by at that moment.He asked if I had any odd jobs to be done and since he came across as middling and presentable and lucid I hired him on the spot. It wasnt until three weeks later when my husband came home early and saw Bruce (the town drunk) at the make pass of a 50 foot tree sawing branches off that he realized who his new handyman was. Since he was usually the one on call at night whenever Bruce had one of his benders and had had cleaned him up several times, he now knew where Bruce was getting his drinking money from. My husband came home and told me hed fired him.I rehired Bruce a day later. My reasoning was that hed never shown up drunk, he did a great job on any task I set for him and his fee was reasonable. It was within my best interests to keep Bruce engaged therefore I was acting as an egoist. It was within Bruces best interests to remain employed since it gave him the money to support his habit. He was ac ting as an egoist. We were both also following the theory of Libertarianism under which each person is free to live as he or she wishes free from the interference of others (Shaw & Barry, 2010 p122).My husband in his decision to fire Bruce was also acting partially from an egoist point of view since an idle Bruce meant a sober Bruce which meant no trips to the ER which meant that my husband wouldnt have to deal with a cursing, screaming, bloody drunk Bruce. At the same time he was also acting from Kants theory which states that Only when we act from a sense of duty does our action have moral worth (Shaw & Barry, 2010 p69). My husband mat that it was his duty as a member of the medical profession, not to enable a habit that could possibly cause harm to an individual.A high incidence of false positive results in drug testing is another reason for the argument that drug testing should not be used. In researching this paper I was surprised to learn how many over the counter drugs can produce false positive results. According to an article on The National Center for biotech Information website entitled Commonly dictate medications and potential false positive urine drug screens published Aug 15th 2010, A number of routinely prescribed medications have been associated with triggering false-positive UDS results.Verification of the test results with a diametrical screening test or additional analytical tests should be performed to avoid adverse consequences for the patients. Some of the more common drugs that could produce false positive results were nonprescription nasal inhalers such as Vicks, antihistamines, antidepressants, and antibiotics such as Amoxicillin which has been associated with false positive urine screens for cocaine. Employers should not be able to question or test employees about other behaviors that they might consider health threatening.This is a rather grey area and raises the questions of where to draw the line. For example if a company wh ich is trying to reduce health insurance costs, decides to eliminate all smokers from their payroll since it costs more to insure smokers, shouldnt they then eliminate overweight employees who are more likely to develop health problems than fit ones? What about employees with pre-existing conditions such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure or kidney problems? Shouldnt they be eliminated as well?Should employers be allowed to use polygraph tests to screen out potentially costly employees who whitethorn engage in illegal drug use or any of these activities? The polygraph test, or as it is more commonly known, the imposition detector test measures several physiological with in the human body such as increased blood pressure, increased pulse and respiration. However in spite of what most peck believe it is not the most reliable test. Shaw and Barry in their text Moral Issues in Business list three assumptions made by those who advocate for the use of these tests. These assumpti ons are*1.Lying provide automatically trigger a distinctive response to the question. * 2. Polygraphs are very accurate. * 3. Polygraphs cannot be beaten. (Shaw & Barry, 2010 p480). Unfortunately for these advocates while the polygraph test measures natural responses to questions it cannot indicate whether or not the response is actually a lie. A person who has a history of being abused may register different reactions to questions along that subject area and all that these reactions may indicate is discomfort to the question not necessarily that the response to the question itself is a lie.Opinions vary as to just how accurate the tests are with the percentages ranging from 90% to as low as 55%, the higher percentages coming not surprisingly from the American Polygraph Association. Finally polygraph tests can be beaten and even generate false positives. Spies John Walker and Aldrich Ames both passed polygraph tests as did Gary Ridgeway the Green Killer. Ames actually passed two d ifferent polygraph tests.Since these tests are costly, using them as a screening method for all new hires or present employees may not be the best solution and should be considered on a case by case basis. Other methods should be used before resorting to polygraphs testing such as drug testing which may indicate previous drug use (although as has been mentioned earlier some false positive results may occur) or even background tests which may go up questionable incidents. If during the course of these two checks questions are raised about the employee or new hire, then the employer could resort to the use of a polygraph.It could be argued that utilizing either or both of these two other methods is even more costly to the employers but I would say that any employer who needs to use a polygraph test to weed out potentially costly employees could afford to administer the extra tests to be absolutely sure. Fortunately for most employees, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 wh ich protects the rights of employees and outlines the usage and restrictions of lie detector tests states The EPPA prohibits most private employers from using lie detector tests, either for preemployment screening or during the course of employment.Employers generally may not require or request any employee or job applicator to take a lie detector test, or discharge, discipline, or discriminate against an employee or job applicant for refusing to take a test or for exercising other rights under the Act It then goes on to outline just which employers are permitted to utilize lie detector tests Subject to restrictions, the Act permits polygraph (a type of lie detector) tests to be administered to certain job applicants of security service firms (armored car, alarm, and guard) and of pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers.Subject to restrictions, the Act also permits polygraph testing of certain employees of private firms who are reasonably suspected of involvemen t in a workplace incident (theft, embezzlement, etc. ) that resulted in specific economic outlet or injury to the employer. (United States Department of Labor website) My argument to using a polygraph test therefore would be that assuming that the employer fell into one of these categories then yes they should be permitted to utilize lie detector tests but only as a last resort. I submit this argument using the rule utilitarianism theory. This is not to be confused with act utilitarianism.Under act utilitarianism, we ask must ask ourselves what the consequences of a particular act in a particular situation will be for all those affected. If its consequences bring more total good than those of any alternative course of action, then this action is the right one (Shaw & Barry, 2010 p63) The action that produces the sterling(prenominal) amount of happiness is the right one. Rule utilitarianism asks what moral enrol a society should adopt to maximize happiness. The principles that m ake up that code would then be the basis for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions (Shaw & Barry, 2010 p80-81).Under act utilitarianism, if 20 employees were polygraphed and 15 of them failed the test and were fired as a result, then the action would not be a moral one since more people would be left unhappy rather than happy. Using those same figures, if the rule or moral code that needed to be followed was that of a no drug policy, and the same 20 employees were polygraphed and again 15 failed and were fired, then the action would be a morally right one since firing the 15 employees made sure that the moral code was enforced.Referenceshttp//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20689123http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph_testhttp//www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/eppa.htmwho

International Diversification and the Market Value of New Product

Journal of world(prenominal)ist prudence 17 (2011) 333347 Contents lists gettable at ScienceDirect Journal of global Management International diversi? cation and the grocery revalue of tonic harvest-home introduction Chi-Feng Wang a,1, Li-Yu Chen b,? , Shao-Chi Chang c,2 a b c division of Business Administration, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan Department of Management, Fo Guang University, Taiwan land of International Business, National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan article info Article history Received 11 January 2011Received in revised form 31 March 2011 current 31 March 2011 Available online 2 May 2011 Keywords International diversi? cation New harvest-festival introduction Technological dexterity Marketing efficiency Event necessitate abstract Although previous studies on transnational diversification atomic number 18 plentiful, they mainly focus on the final outlet of supranational diversification on overall watertight perfor mance, and the results ar mixed. This study extends this line of inquiry and explores the impact of foreign diversification on peeled point of intersection performance.Specifically, we ask if international diversification explains the sprout merchandise reactions to wise crossing introduction (NPI) resolutions. We find an inverted-U-shaped relationship in the midst of international diversification and the declaration returns of NPIs, revealing that the commercialize value of NPIs initially improves and then declines with plus international diversification. The results in any case show that intangible assets, such as technical and merchandising capabilities, irrefutablely moderate the relationship among international diversification and the market value of NPIs.Our study not only highlights the importance of considering both sides of international diversification in affecting investors assessments of corporate new-sprung(prenominal) product strategies, al one and only(a) besides shows the possibility of internal capabilities in changing the fixed relationship mingled with international diversification and the market value of new products. 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction harmonise to the surmisal of foreign direct coronation (FDI) (Caves, 1996 Dunning, 1988 Hymer, 1976) and portfolio theory (Jacquillat and Solnik, 1978 Lessard, 1973, 1976 Solnik, 1974), international diversi? ation will lead to higher(prenominal)(prenominal) ? rm value. However, existing studies examining the impact of international diversi? cation on ? rm performance crap yielded inconclusive results. The results on the relationship between international diversi? cation and ? rm performance has been found to be positive (Delios and Beamish, 1999 Grant, 1987 Rugman et al. , 2008), oppose (Collins, 1990 Zaheer and Mosakowski, 1997), U-shaped (Capar and Kotabe, 2003 Gaur and Kumar, 2009 Lu and Beamish, 2001), inverted-U-shaped (Brock et al. , 200 6 Garbe and Richter, 2009 Gomes and Ramaswamy, 1999 Hitt et al. 1997) and horizontal-S-shaped (Contractor et al. , 2003 Lu and Beamish, 2004 Ruigrok et al. , 2007). To better project the in? uence of international diversi? cation, we extend this line of research by studying the impact of international diversi? cation on new product performance. Speci? cally, we test if international diversi? cation explains the stock ? Corresponding author at Present address Department of Management, Fo Guang University, No. 160, Linwei Rd. , Jiaosi, Yilan County 26247, Taiwan. Tel. + 886 3 9871000 23816. E-mail addresses emailprotected brighten. tw (C. -F. Wang), emailprotected fgu. edu. w (L. -Y. Chen), emailprotected ncku. edu. tw (S. -C. Chang). 1 Present address Department of Business Administration, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, No. 123, University Road, portion 3, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan. Tel. + 886 5 53426015245. 2 Present address Institute of International Business, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, 701, Tainan, Taiwan. Tel. + 886 6 275757553506. 1075-4253/$ distinguish front matter 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi10. 1016/j. intman. 2011. 03. 002 334 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 arket responses to new product introduction (NPI) announcements. NPIs are an important dimension of inception output. 3 Firms with the ability to introduce new products are signaled as those with the opportunity for differentiation and future earnings (Chaney et al. , 1991 Kleinschmidt and Cooper, 1991 Subramaniam and Venkatraman, 2001). In order to improve the performance of NPIs, many ? rms are engaged in international diversi? cation activities (Kogut and Zander, 1993 Peng and Wang, 2000). Previous studies obtain documented that international diversi? cation comes with both bene? s and costs (Contractor et al. , 2003 Lu and Beamish, 2004 Ruigrok et al. , 2007). We suggest that these bene? ts and costs major power create both opportunities and challenges for ? rms to develop new products, and hence in? uence investors assessment of the new products introduced by ? rms. International diversi? cation whitethorn have positive effectuate on NPIs. For example, it allows ? rms to reach outside their domestic boundaries, providing them with to a greater extent opportunities to gain new ideas in terms of the types of new products that can be developed (Hitt et al. , 1997). Internationally diversi? ed ? ms also have better access to the resources resident in foreign countries that whitethorn be necessary for producing these new products (Craig and Douglas, 2000 Peng and Wang, 2000). Furthermore, international diversi? cation creates the bene? t of economies of scale by ef? ciently leveraging the initial investments on new products over a broader market base (Subramaniam and Venkatraman, 2001). In spite of the bene? cial make of international diversi? catio n, we suggest that international diversi? cation whitethorn also entail disadvantages when it comes to introducing new products. For instance, cross-national distances increase the dif? ulty for internationally diversi? ed ? rms to transfer proficient familiarity between countries. Differential environmental settings among countries might also constrain the ? rms ability to absorb and apply resources towards new product development. In such cases, new products are behaveed to be less worthwhile for introducing ? rms with international diversi? cation activities. In addition to investigating the direct impact of international diversi? cation on the stock market reactions to NPI announcements, we postulate that investors assessments of the value of new products may depend on a ? ms internal capabilities. Extending previous research documenting the importance of proficient and trade capabilities in determining new product success (e. g. , Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1987 Yeoh and Ro th, 1999), we argue that both marketing and technological capabilities assist in enhancing the bene? ts of international diversi? cation while simultaneously restricting its drawbacks with regard to the introduction of new products. We test our hypotheses by measuring the stock market responses to NPI announcements development the consequence-study methodology framework.The typesetters cases of NPI announcements are collected for the period 19972005. Under the assumption of the ef? cient markets hypothesis (Fama, 1970), NPI announcements bring unanticipated information into ? nancial markets that may convince the market value assessments of the announcing ? rms. In response to the new information, changes in stock prices occur, which represent investors revision of their expectation with regard to the net present value of a ? rms risk-adjusted expected coin ? ow generated by the new products, or stated differently, the investors expectation of the wealth impact of NPIs.This pa per is organized as follows Section 2 provides the theoretical background and develops the hypotheses. Section 3 introduces the prove and methodology. The empirical results are presented in Section 4. Finally, Section 5 contains the discussion and concluding remarks of this study. 2. Theoretical background and hypotheses International diversi? cation has been suggested by FDI theory and portfolio theory to provide ? rms with bene? ts ranging from the ability to realize scale economies (Grant, 1987 Porter, 1986), the possibility to spread investment risks over different countries (Kim et al. 1993), the potential to arbitrage factor cost differentials crosswise multiple locations (Kogut, 1985) and the opportunity to access resources resident in foreign countries (Hitt et al. , 1997). However, there is considerable theoretical evidence that international diversi? cation comes with both bene? ts and costs. We suggest that that these bene? ts and costs that chase foreign expansion may create both opportunities and challenges for ? rms in terms of developing new products, and thereby affect the stock market reactions to NPI announcements.In this section, we review non-homogeneous theoretical domains in order to identify the channels through which international diversi? cation might in? uence value creation for ? rms in the context of NPIs. 2. 1. Effects of international diversi? cation International diversi? cation provides several advantages towards developing new products. First, international diversi? cation offers opportunities for ? rms to gain new and diverse ideas from a variety of perspectives (Hitt et al. , 1997). Being exposed to heterogeneous customers, technology, cultures, and competitive practices, internationally diversi? d ? rms are able to learn from the experience in foreign operations to ? nd new solutions to bettering product design and improving the quality of manufacturing know-how (Craig and Douglas, 2000). For example, the plunge of a ne w cordless telephone by Sanyo, which had been adjusted to better meet the phone affair habits of American consumers (Barkema and Vermeulen, 1998), consequently expanded the companys gross revenue in the U. S. market. 3 Prior studies have apply several ways to measure the performance of innovation, which includes R devotion (Hill and Snell, 1988 Hitt et al. 1997), number of NPIs (Cardinal and Opler, 1995 Hitt et al. , 1996) and number of patents (Francis and Smith, 1995). Though they have provided valuable insights, the measures they developed have some limitations in capturing the true value of innovation (Chaney et al. , 1991 Schankerman and Pakes, 1986). For example, R intensity is more related to the input value of innovation plainly does not directly measure the output value of innovation. Furthermore, poesy of NPIs or patents only measure the quantity of inventive output without considering the quality of innovation.As well, patent counts ofttimes represent a very noisy m easure of the key value of innovation beca use most patents are not worth anything. The measure used in our study allows us to directly measure the wealth effect of innovation, rather than only considering the quantity of inventive output as has been done in antecedent studies. C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 335 International diversi? cation also allows ? rms to gain access to resources that may only be unattached in foreign markets but not frequently obtainable in the home countries to develop new products (Peng and Wang, 2000).By tapping into the technological skills and knowledge that originates from other countries, multinational ? rms may be able to successfully increase their technological strength in developing new products (Hitt et al. , 1997 Kotabe, 1990 Peng and Wang, 2000 Subramaniam and Venkatraman, 2001). Moreover, international diversi? cation provides a ? rm with a wider national network, which helps increase its ability t o effectively leverage technological resources and rationalize production processes. These economies of scale can enable the ? m to obtain higher returns from new product innovations (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1989 Kogut, 1985). Furthermore, the broader market outlets available to new products create higher returns on the sunk costs of innovative spending (Subramaniam and Venkatraman, 2001), while currency ? ows generated from large-scale foreign operations provide ? rms with the resources needed for extra investment in new product development (Kobrin, 1991 Kotabe, 1990). Notwithstanding the above bene? ts, international diversi? cation can bring challenges to the development of new products. The ? rst challenge comes from the dif? ulty in transferring technological knowledge between countries. The more countries within which the ? rm operates, the larger geographic distance the technological know-how has to be transferred, and the less effective the ? rm will be in developing new prod ucts. Furthermore, with increase diversi? cation, the differences in cultural, economical and technological settings among the countries increase. These differences reduce the effectiveness in assimilating and applying the technological knowledge that is critical for new product development (Chang and Wang, 2007 Hitt et al. 1997) while knowledge diversity can create greater learning value (Inkpen, 2000), differences in knowledge does not guarantee successful learning (Bowman and Helfat, 2001 Chang and Singh, 2000 Szulanski and Winter, 2002). In addition, arguments from the economic integrity of diminishing returns suggest that the higher degree of international diversi? cation a ? rm is involved in, the more likely it is to be entering markets whose marginal contributions are relatively pincer (Contractor et al. , 2003). Beyond a certain point, after already having expanded into the most advantageous markets, the ? m is left with minor or peripheral foreign markets whose resource s for and cash ? ow from new product development will exhibit diminishing returns. By drawing on various theoretical perspectives, the above discussions suggest that international diversi? cation not only create opportunities but also impose barriers to the value creation provided by new product innovation. With moderate takes of international diversi? cation, ? rms can capitalize on valuable bene? ts of knowledge learning, resource access and production ef? ciency in producing new products.At the same time, economic pro? ts rise as the ? xed costs of new product development are spread across more markets (Kogut, 1985 Porter, 1986). However, ? rms that expand internationally beyond an optimal level may ? nd that the costs of international diversi? cation finally exceed the bene? ts. Firms at this stage often enter countries that are more geographically and culturally dissimilar, which increases the dif? culties of transferring technological knowledge between countries. The value o f new product innovation may also exhibit diminishing returns when international diversi? ation is increased beyond the optimal level. Based on the above, this study proposes a non-linear and inverted-U-shaped relationship between international diversi? cation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements, suggesting that the market value of NPIs is expected to improve with increase international diversi? cation at lower levels of international diversi? cation and then decline with increasing international diversi? cation at higher levels of international diversi? cation. For these reasons, we propose our ? rst hypothesis as follows theory 1.The relationship between international diversi? cation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements is inverted-U-shaped, with a positive slope at lower levels of international diversi? cation and negative at higher levels of international diversi? cation. We utilize event-study methodology to capture the valuation effect of corpora te new product strategies. This approach not only permits direct investigation of changes in announcing ? rms share preserveer value, but is also suited to conduct cross-sectional analysis of the strategies underlying the value creation or destruction (Reuer, 2001).Applying event-study methodology to NPIs also facilitates comparisons with previous studies on other corporate major strategic events. 4 2. 2. Interaction effects of intangible assets and international diversi? cation Although our theoretical framework should hold for all ? rms, the effect of international diversi? cation on new product performance may depend on ? rms intangible assets. Scholars in international business have shown that multinational ? rms with greater marketing and technological capabilities may receive higher returns from international expansion (Kotabe et al. , 2002 Lu andBeamish, 2004). Other researchers also document the importance of marketing and technological capabilities in the success of new pro ducts (e. g. , Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1987 Danneels, 2002 Krasnikov and Jayachandran, 2008 Moorman and Slotegraaf, 1999 Yeoh and Roth, 1999). We make advances in linking these two streams of study by investigating the moderating effect 4 Previous studies have used event-study methodology to test the wealth effect of major corporate events, such as diversi? cation (Doukas and Lang, 2003 Hoskisson et al. , 1991), divestitures (Benou et al. , 2008), alliances (Das et al. 1998 Kale et al. , 2002), regulatory change (Bowman and Navissi, 2003), NPIs (Chaney et al. , 1991 Chen, 2008 Kelm et al. , 1995), R expenditures (Szewczyk et al. , 1996), and patents (Austin, 1993). 336 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 of internal capabilities on the association between international diversi? cation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements. We suggest that internationally diversi? ed ? rms that have greater marketing and technological capabilities are more able to extract the bene? ts and reduce the costs of international diversi? ation, resulting in higher returns from NPI announcements. Each moderating effect is discussed independently below. Marketing potential is related to a ? rms ability to acquire external knowledge through the processes of gathering, interpreting, and using market information (Day, 1994). Though international diversi? cation gives ? rms opportunities to access new knowledge, ? rms that do not have ability to identify customers needs and to understand the factors that in? uence consumer plectrum behavior will not be able to achieve better targeting and positioning of its products.Therefore, ? rms that have invested in developing their marketing capability are more able to integrate the information on consumer needs in diverse markets into new product designs, and thus generate higher returns from the new products (Dutta et al. , 1999). In addition, marketing capability is re? ected in a ? rms ability to differentiate its products from those of competitors (Kotabe et al. , 2002). A higher level of product differentiation allows a ? rm to charge higher prices for its new products (Day, 1994 Yeoh and Roth, 1999). Furthermore, ? ms that spend more money on advertising and promoting their products are more likely to build successful brands, which are essential to building awareness, diminution the perceived risk that consumers associate with new products, and ? nally increasing the adoption rate of new products introduced (Chandy and Tellis, 2000 Dowling and Staelin, 1994 Sorescu et al. , 2003). This is particularly important for ? rms that are completely new to foreign customers (Helsen et al. , 1993 Srivastava et al. , 1998). Consequently, we expect that NPIs are expected to be more worthwhile for internationally diversi? d ? rms with greater marketing capabilities, leading to Hypothesis 2 Hypothesis 2. Marketing capability will positively moderate the relationship between intern ational diversi? cation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements. As mentioned, technological capability is also likely to moderate the effect of international diversi? cation on new product development. Technology capability might represent a ? rms ability to absorb external knowledge (Penner-Hahn and Shaver, 2005 Tsai, 2001). A ? rm may be able to access certain new knowledge through international diversi? ation, but without the capacity to absorb such knowledge a ? rm may not enhance its capabilities within new product innovation. Since knowledge gained from international markets is often tacit and socially complex (Zahra and Hayton, 2008), ? rms that have established a capability in a particular research skill are better able to interpret and assess the knowledge in that area. Technological capability also refers to a ? rms ability to apply knowledge gained from foreign markets to commercial ends (Krasnikov and Jayachandran, 2008 Moorman and Slotegraaf, 1999).Kotabe e t al. (2002) have stated that ? rms with greater technological capabilities are more capable of ? nding better product design solutions. The technical risks in developing new products are more likely to be reduced for such ? rms (Kelm et al. , 1995). Furthermore, ? rms with greater technological capability are more able to lower production costs by improving manufacturing processes. Moreover, technological capability helps ? rms to speed up the product development process and come across the market more quickly (Rabino and Moskowitz, 1981). Thus, ? ms that have greater technological capabilities are more likely to enhance their revenues in international markets by providing those markets with new products of better quality. Meanwhile, ? rms that leverage their technological capabilities in the greater scope of the global market may enjoy the bene? ts of economies of scale inherent in the innovation process. As a result, we expect that NPIs are more worthwhile for internationally di versi? ed ? rms with greater technological capabilities, leading to Hypothesis 3 Hypothesis 3. Technological capability will positively moderate the relationship between international diversi? ation and the stock market reactions to NPI announcements. 3. Sample and methodology 3. 1. Sample design We test our hypotheses using a sample of NPI announcement events. We collect the sample data on ? rms listed on either the New York Stock commuting (NYSE) or the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) from the Dow Jones News Retrieval profit (DJNRS) database, which provides news-service articles and selected stories from the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones News Wire, and Barrons. We use the words and phrases commonly used to describe NPIs as keys for a database search routine.Examples are introduce, new product, unveil, launch, received approval, to market, test market, begin selling, along with other pertinent words and phrases. When a repeat NPI announcement from a ? rm is found in a different p ublication, the announcement that has the earliest date is chosen as it is the earliest date when the information about the NPI is publicly available (Chaney et al. , 1991 Chen, 2008 Kelm et al. , 1995). The sample period is from January 1997 to celestial latitude 2005. Four criteria are used when selecting ? rms for our sample (1) the announcing ? rms should not have other announcements ? e mean solar daylights before and after the initial announcement date in order to avoid any confounding events that could distort the measurement of the valuation effects (2) daily stock return information must be available from the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP), with a minimum of 50 daily returns in the estimation period (3) companies ? nancial information must be available from the COMPUSTAT ? les and (4) since we want to test the effect of international diversi? cation, only those ? rms with foreign sales data available from the COMPUSTAT ? les are included. C. -F. Wang et al. Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 337 succeeding(a) these procedures, we collect a ? nal sample comprising 3061 new product announcements made by 531 ? rms in 57 industries based on the two-digit Standard Industrial Classi? cation ( prepare) codes. 5 control panel 1 reports the dissemination of the sample by grade and labor. Our data shows no obvious cluster by time period. In 2004, there are 530 announcements, story for 17. 32% of the total. Observations are nearly evenly distributed through the dwelling years. However, our sample shows certain levels of concentration in speci? c industries.The largest concentration comes from electrical equipment (33. 61%), estimator equipment (18. 09%), electro-medical instruments (9. 38%), and business function (e. g. , computer programming and the software industry) (7. 19%). These trine broad categories constitute nearly 70% of the total sample. As suggested by Chaney et al. (1991), this result is expected since neither the investment opportunities nor their valuation should be random across industries. 3. 2. Measuring the stock market responses to new product announcements We employ the event study methodology to examine the stock price responses to the announcements of NPIs. This approach has been widely used in the management, accounting, economics and ? nance disciplines to examine the impact of ? rm-speci? c events on ? rm value. The event study approach suggests that, in an ef? cient capital market, the market will adjust and result in returns different from those that are normally expected if the NPI announcement has unexpected information content (Hoskisson et al. , 1991). We use the market model suggested by chocolate-brown and Warner (1985) to estimate the defective returns to NPI announcements. This model captures a ? rms stock price change after adjusting for ecumenic market-wide factors and the ? ms systematic risk (Bowman, 1983 Brown, 1989 Brown and Warner, 1980, 1985). The subnormal return for ? rm i on day t, ARit, is computed by ARit = Rit ? E? Rit = It ? 1 ? where Rit is ? rm is actual returns on day t, and It ? 1 represents the information set available to the market about the ? rm at time t ? 1. The expected return for ? rm i on day t is estimated by E? Rit = It ? 1 ? = ? i + ? i Rmt where Rmt is the return for the market portfolio on day t, ? i is the intercept, and ? i measures the risk or sensitiveness of the ? rms returns relative to the market portfolio. We de? e Day 0 (t = 0) as the initial announcement date. We use the value-weighted CRSP Index as the proxy for the market portfolio. The parameters ? i and ? i are estimated using data for the period of 200 to 60 days before the initial announcement date. The two-day cumulative abnormal returns, railway car (? 1, 0), are estimated by summing the daily abnormal returns over the window period of days ? 1 and 0. The equally weighted cross-sectional average abnormal returns on ? event day t , ARt , is further calculated by 1N ? ARt = ? ARit N i=1 where N is the total number of sample NPIs. The cumulative average abnormal return over the period (? , 0) is similarly de? ned. 3. 3. Measuring international diversi? cation We use the entropy index to estimate international diversi? cation. 7 The entropy measure of international diversi? cation is de? ned as ? Pi* ln(1/Pi), where Pi is the percentage of sales in geographic segment i, and ln(1/Pi) is the weight of each geographic segment. This measure thus considers both the number of geographic segments in which a ? rm operates and the relative importance of sales contributed by each geographic segment. 5 For the industry classi? cation, we follow Hitt et al. (1997) and use the our-digit go under codes as the power of the industry or business segment that a ? rm operates. Therefore, two variables in this study, namely product diversi? cation and industry R&D intensity, are estimated basing on the four-digit SIC codes. Howe ver, for the sake of brevity, we report the sample distribution by industry on the basis of the two-digit SIC codes. 6 Other performance measures of new product strategies that are most commonly used in previous studies include return on assets, return on sales, return on equity, return on investment and pro? t margin (e. g. , Li and Atuahene-Gima, 2001 Moorman, 1995).However, these accounting measures have several limitations in measuring new product performance (Chang and Wang, 2007 Kalyanaram et al. , 1995 Pauwels et al. , 2004). For example, the differences in accounting policies across ? rms make performance comparisons dif? cult. These measures are also not risk-adjusted as they do not consider business risks associated with individual ? rms when measuring performance, and they are based on historical accounting data and thus may not adequately re? ect future expected revenue streams resulting from the new products. More importantly, these measures re? ect aggregate ? m perfor mance, making it more dif? cult to directly link them to the effect of speci? c new product introductions. Due to these limitations we employ an event study methodology in order to examine stock price responses to announcements of NPIs. This method captures the ? rms stock price change after adjusting for the ? rms systematic risk (Bowman, 1983 Brown, 1989 Brown and Warner, 1980, 1985), as well as re? ects investors expectations of a ? rms future cash ? ow related to this new product (Chaney et al. , 1991 Chen, 2008 Chen et al. , 2002 Kelm et al. , 1995). 7 Previous studies have used several proxies of international diversi? ation. The most commonly used measures are the ratio of foreign sales to total sales (Grant, 1987 Tallman and Li, 1996), the ratio of foreign assets to total assets (Daniels and Bracker, 1989 Ramaswamy, 1995), numbers of foreign countries in which a ? rm has subsidiaries (Delios and Beamish, 1999 Tallman and Li, 1996) or a composite index encompassing these tri ne dimensions (Gomes and Ramaswamy, 1999 Sullivan, 1994). However, these measures only capture the extent but not the distribution of international diversi? cation. In this study, we follow Hitt et al. (1997) and use the entropy measure of international diversi? ation to account for the extent of sales in global markets and their weighting. C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 338 defer 1 Distribution of new product introduction. Panel A. Sample distribution by year Year Number of announcements Percent of sample (%) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Total 354 279 370 313 232 247 391 530 345 3061 11. 56 9. 11 12. 08 10. 22 7. 58 8. 07 12. 77 17. 32 11. 30 100. 00 Panel B. Sample distribution by industry Two-digit SIC code Industry group 01 12 13 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 33 34 Agricultural production cropsCoal mining Oil and turgidity extraction Building construction general contractors Heavy construction other than building construction contractors Construction special trade contractors Food and kindred products Tobacco products Textile mill products Apparel, ? nished prdcts from fabrics and similar materials pound up and wood products, except furniture Furniture and ? xtures Paper and allied products Printing, publishing, and allied industries Chemicals and allied products Petroleum re? ning and related industries Rubber and miscellaneous plastics products Leather and welt products Primary metal industriesFabricated metal products, except machinery and transportation equipment Industrial and commercial machinery and computer equipment Electronic and other electrical equipment and components, except computer equipment Transportation equipment Measuring, analyzing, and tyrannical instruments photographic, medical and optical goods Miscellaneous manufacturing industries Railroad transportation Motor freight transportation and warehousing Transportation by air Pipelines, except natural gas Tr ansportation services Communications Electric, gas, and sanitary services Wholesale trade durable goods Wholesale trade non-durable goodsBuilding materials, hardware, garden supply, and mobile home dealers General merchandise stores Food stores Apparel and accessory stores Home furniture, furnishings, and equipment stores Eating and drinking places Miscellaneous retail Depository institutions Non-depository credit institutions Security and commodity brokers, dealers, exchanges, and services indemnification carriers Insurance agents, brokers, and service Real estate Holding and other investment of? ces Hotels, rooming houses, camps, and other lodging places Personal services 35 36 37 38 39 40 42 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 0 72 Number of announcements Percent of sample (%) 1 1 8 1 1 1 28 4 2 2 3 6 13 76 118 2 9 2 23 21 0. 03 0. 03 0. 26 0. 03 0. 03 0. 03 0. 91 0. 13 0. 07 0. 07 0. 10 0. 20 0. 42 2. 48 3. 85 0. 07 0. 29 0. 07 0. 75 0. 69 554 1029 18 . 09 33. 61 72 287 2. 35 9. 38 41 4 2 144 1 1 120 20 19 10 2 3 3 8 6 14 13 2 18 17 34 5 3 9 6 6 1. 34 0. 13 0. 07 4. 70 0. 03 0. 03 3. 92 0. 65 0. 62 0. 33 0. 07 0. 10 0. 10 0. 26 0. 20 0. 46 0. 42 0. 07 0. 59 0. 56 1. 11 0. 16 0. 10 0. 29 0. 20 0. 20 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 339 Table 1 (continued) Panel B. Sample distribution by industryTwo-digit SIC code Industry group 73 78 79 80 82 87 Business services Motion pictures Amusement and recreation services Health services Educational services Engineering, accounting, research, management, and related services Nonclassi? able establishments 99 Total Number of announcements Percent of sample (%) 220 13 4 2 1 10 7. 19 0. 42 0. 13 0. 07 0. 03 0. 33 36 3061 1. 18 100. 00 As data is not available at the country level, we use sales of regional markets to measure international diversity (as used by e. g. , Hirsch and Lev, 1971 Hitt et al. , 1997 Miller and Pras, 1980). Following Hitt et al. 1 997), we group foreign markets into four regions based on economic and political conditions Africa, Asia and the Paci? c, Europe, and the Americas. Although not perfect, this approach allows us to focus on between-market heterogeneity (Kim et al. , 1989). The international market sales data are from the COMPUSTAT geographic segment tapes for the ? scal year preceding the announcements. 8 3. 4. Measuring intangible assets We measure marketing capability as the average marketing intensity (the ratio of advertisement expenditures to net sales) for the three ? scal years earlier to the announcements. 9 We suggest that ? ms who invest more in marketing activities are considered to have superior marketing capabilities. We measure technological capability as the average R&D intensity (the ratio of R&D expenditures to net sales) for the three ? scal years prior to the announcements. We suggest that ? rms outspending their competitors in R&D are considered to have greater technological capa bilities. We scale the measures of ? rm capabilities by ? rm size in order to ensure that the capability measure does not merely re? ect higher levels of ? nancial resources of large-scaled ? rms (following Moorman and Slotegraaf, 1999). 3. 5. Other variablesOther potential variables that could affect the value of NPIs are controlled. The ? rst is ? rm size, measured by the natural logarithm of total sales of the announcing ? rm for the ? scal year preceding the announcement (following Kotabe et al. , 2002 Lu and Beamish, 2004). We next control for a ? rms leverage ratio, measured as the ratio of total debt to total assets for the ? scal year prior to the announcement (following Chen et al. , 2002 Chen, 2008). We also control for the degree of product diversi? cation for the ? scal year preceding the announcement. Product diversi? cation is measured by the entropy index (? Pi * ln(1/Pi), where Pi is the percentage of ? rm sales in business segment i, and ln(1/Pi) is the weight of e ach segment). Following Hitt et al. (1997), we de? ne business segments as those having the same four-digit SIC codes. The product-speci? c effects are also controlled. This is necessary as some researchers have suggested that high-newness products are expected to create better opportunities for product differentiation and competitive advantage (Kleinschmidt and Cooper, 1991 Meyer and Roberts, 1986), and as such, high-newness products should receive a larger market value than modifys of existing products.Furthermore, scholars have argued that ? rms introducing multiple products are more competitive in the product market and take over more market share than those announcing single products. This implies that ? rms announcing multipleproducts announcers may appropriate much of the bene? ts associated with new products, and are thus expected to experience a larger increase in market value than those announcing a single product (Acs and Audretsch, 1988 Hendricks and Singhal, 1997). Mo reover, researchers have documented that the ? rst to introduce a new product in the marketplace normally enjoys ? st-mover advantages stemming from the creation of entry barriers and switching costs, and from high consumer recognition and preference to the ? rst product (Jovanovic and MacDonald, 1994 Lee et al. , 2000). Therefore, ? rst-moving ? rms are predicted to gain a higher announcement return at the time of NPIs than followers do. The aforementioned ? rms that introduce high-newness and multiple products or ? rms that are the ? rst to introduce new products are suggested to obtain sustained competitive advantage. This argument corresponds to Williamson (1999) that ? ms getting ahead of their competitors by providing multiple and new technology, products and business solutions have more opportunities to ensure lasting sales growth. We identify these product announcement types by using structural content analysis on the news content (as in Chaney et al. , 1991 Lee et al. , 200 0 Firth and Narayanan, 1996). Based on the analysis of the news content, we create three dummy variables NEWNESS, MULTIPLE and epoch. 8 The main reason for using data one year before the announcements is to capture the most recent impact of a ? ms attributes on the market reactions to new product introductions. Several independent variables are measured by the data one year preceding the announcements, including international diversi? cation, ? rm size, debt-to-asset ratio, product diversi? cation and two industry sector dummy variables. 9 Since the set of advertising and R&D expenditures tend to ? uctuate substantially from year to year, we use the 3-year average values of advertising intensity, R&D intensity and industry R&D intensity to reduce the chance that a random and extreme value in one year disproportionately in? ences our measure of intangible assets. 340 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 NEWNESS equals one if the product is highl y innovative, and postcode if it is an update or an enhancement of an existing product (as in Chaney et al. , 1991 Chen, 2008). MULTIPLE equals one for multiple-products announced simultaneously by a ? rm, and zero for single announcements (as in Chaney et al. , 1991 Chen, et al. , 2002). TIME equals one if the announcing ? rm is the ? rst mover, and zero otherwise (as in Lee et al. , 2000 Chen, 2008).Finally, we consider two industry-related factors. The ? rst is the technological opportunity of the industry in which the announcing ? rms operate. Chaney et al. (1991) asserted that the valuation effect of NPIs is higher for ? rms in more technologically based industries, as they are considered to have more innovation opportunities and greater potential for future growth. In contrast, Kelm et al. (1995) found that investors respond positively to new product announcements by ? rms in less-technology-intensive industries because new product announcements by these ? rms are relatively nexpected by investors. Technological opportunities at the industry level are measured by the average industry R&D intensity (the average values of R&D expenditures divided by net sales for all ? rms in the same four-digit SIC industry) for the three ? scal years prior to the announcements (following Chan et al. , 1990 Kelm et al. , 1995). In addition, we control for the industry-speci? c effect with two dummy variables MANUFACTURING and SERVICE. MANUFACTURING equals one for announcing ? rms in manufacturing industries, and zero otherwise. SERVICE equals one for announcing ? ms in service industries, and zero otherwise. This is done as several studies have argued that the effect of internationality on performance for manufacturing ? rms is different from that for service ? rms (Capar and Kotabe, 2003 Contractor et al. , 2003). We therefore separate the sample ? rms into service, manufacturing and other industries according to 2-digit SIC codes and apply two industry dummies to contr ol for the industry-speci? c effects. Table 2 presents the means, standard deviations, and correlations for all variables for the sample of NPI announcements. 4. Empirical resultsTable 3 provides estimates of abnormal returns around the announcement date and the surrounding days. The results show that innovations such as NPIs are perceived by investors as value-increasing activities. For the two-day announcement period cumulative abnormal returns, CAR (? 1, 0), the new product announcers experience a positive cumulative average abnormal return of 0. 194%, signi? cant at the 1% con? dence level. No signi? cant abnormal returns are observed preceding and following the announcement period. As a result, we use CAR (? 1, 0) as the dependent variable in the following regression analysis.Our results are consistent with prior studies (e. g. , Chaney et al. , 1991 Chen, 2008 Chen et al. , 2002 Kelm et al. , 1995). Table 4 reports the regression results with the dependent variable CAR (? 1, 0 ). We present the results without centering the variables in the ? rst ? ve models, and results with centering the variables on their means in the latter ? ve models. 10 manikins 1 and 6 are baseline models that include only the control variables and two measures of intangible assets. Among the control variables, leverage ratio is found to be positively associated with CAR (? 1, 0), though insigni? cant in some models.This result suggests that higher levels of debt lower the expected costs of free cash ? ow (Jensen, 1986), and new products announced by ? rms with a higher leverage ratio are therefore perceived as more worthwhile. Of the two ? rm-speci? c assets variables, both R&D and advertising intensities have a signi? cant and positive impact in most models. Moreover, industry R&D intensity is found to be signi? cantly negatively associated with CAR (? 1, 0). This result suggests that investors respond positively to new product announcements by ? rms in less technology-intensiv e industries because new product announcements by these ? ms are relatively unexpected by investors (Kelm et al. , 1995). Other control variables are not found to have signi? cant explanatory power in terms of the variation in announcement abnormal returns. In model 2 (7), we test the impact of international diversi? cation on the stock market reactions to NPI announcements by including the linear and squared terms of international diversi? cation. We ? nd our Hypothesis 1 is strongly supported, as CAR (? 1, 0) is positively related to the linear term of international diversi? cation and then negatively associated to the squared term of international diversi? cation.This result suggests an inverted-U-shaped relationship between international diversi? cation and the market value of NPIs. Models 3 (8), 4 (9) and 5 (10) test the moderating effects of intangible assets by including the fundamental fundamental interaction term of international diversi? cation and advertising intensity a nd the interaction term of international diversi? cation and R&D intensity. 11 Model 3 (8) tests the interaction effect between international diversi? cation and marketing capability. The statistically signi? cant and positive coef? cient of the interaction term suggests that the market value of NPIs increases when internationally diversi? d ? rms have greater marketing capacities. Thus, Hypothesis 2 is supported. Model 4 (9) tests the interaction effect between international diversi? cation and technological capability. We also ? nd a statistically signi? cant and positive coef? cient of the interaction term. Thus, Hypothesis 3 is supported. To test the robustness of these ? ndings, we simultaneously include the interaction of international diversi? cation and advertising intensity and the interaction of international diversi? cation and R&D intensity in model 5 (10). Results remain unchanged to those in models 3 (8) and 4 (9).It is noted that the main effects between international diversi? cation and the abnormal returns of NPIs remain robust in all models with the addition of the interaction terms. To gain further insights into our ? ndings, we construct Figs. 1 and 2 by drawing on the results of models 3 and 4. We use CAR (? 1, 0) as the measurement of market value of NPIs. When illustrating the impact of advertising intensity (R&D intensity) and 10 Since some variables are constructed from other variables, we follow Aiken and western hemisphere (1991) by subtracting each variable from its mean value in the sample to minimize their collinearity. 11To test the robustness of our conclusion, we re-examine the regression analysis by incorporating the interaction of quadratic terms of international diversi? cation and intangible asset proxies. Our conclusions remain unchanged. Variables a Mean s. d. Min Max 1. Two-day announcementperiod abnormal return(%)a 2. International diversi? cation 3. Advertising intensity 4. R&D intensity 5. Product diversi? cation 6. F irm size b 7. Debt-to-asset ratio 8. Newness 9. Multiple 10. Time 11. Industry R&D intensity 12. Service industry 13. Manufacturing industry 0. 194 0. 037 ? 0. 242 0. 230 0. 653 0. 012 0. 081 0. 816 8. 541 0. 00 0. 827 0. 302 0. 359 0. 236 0. 236 0. 748 0. 424 0. 022 0. 148 0. 659 1. 860 0. 149 0. 379 0. 459 0. 480 0. 390 0. 425 0. 434 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 ? 0. 781 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 0. 000 1. 382 0. 317 4. 696 2. 533 12. 060 1. 099 1. 000 1. 000 1. 000 2. 334 1. 000 1. 000 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1. 000 ? 0. 033* 1. 000 0. 102*** ? 0. 071*** 1. 000 ? 0. 004 ? 0. 042** ? 0. 016 1. 000 0. 149*** 0. 092*** ? 0. 158*** 0. 399*** 1. 000 ? 0. 111*** 0. 001 ? 0. 090*** 0. 052*** 0. 075*** 1. 000 0. 036** ? 0. 002 0. 010 ? 0. 003 0. 027 ? 0. 021 1. 000 9 0. 076*** 0. 050*** 0. 015 ? 0. 024 0. 016 ? 0. 100*** 0. 33* 1. 000 The two-day period (? 1,0) abnormal return is estimated by summing up abnormal returns from the day before (day ? 1) to the announcement date (day 0). Firm size is measured by the natural logarithm of net sales. ***p b 0. 01, **pb0. 05, *pb0. 1. b 10 11 12 13 0. 045** ? 0. 022 0. 056*** 0. 039** 0. 024 ? 0. 050*** 0. 170*** ? 0. 040** 1. 000 0. 257*** ? 0. 083*** 0. 252*** ? 0. 042** ? 0. 188*** ? 0. 098*** 0. 031* 0. 039** 0. 055*** 1. 000 ? 0. 382*** 0. 000 ? 0. 137*** ? 0. 206*** ? 0. 020 0. 199*** ? 0. 007 ? 0. 147*** ? 0. 064*** ? 0. 151*** 1. 000 0. 342*** 0. 017 0. 143*** 0. 151*** ? 0. 017 ? 0. 222*** . 009 0. 147*** 0. 068*** 0. 166*** ? 0. 960*** 1. 000 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 Table 2 Descriptive statistics and correlations. 341 342 C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 Table 3 Abnormal returns for new product introduction announcements. Event day Mean AR (%) t-statistic ? 10 ?9 ?8 ?7 ?6 ?5 ?4 ?3 ?2 ?1 0 ? 1,0 +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 +7 +8 +9 + 10 ? 0. 023 ? 0. 005 0. 025 ? 0. 016 ? 0. 025 ? 0. 005 0. 047 0. 001 ? 0. 039 0. 093 0. 101 0. 194 ? 0. 038 0. 058 0. 081 ? 0. 056 0. 027 ? 0. 073 ? 0. 055 0. 053 ? 0. 025 ? 0. 054 ? 0. 450 0. 092 0. 471 ? 0. 309 ? 0. 477 ? 0. 099 0. 888 0. 003 ? 0. 731 1. 918* 2. 038** 2. 885*** ? 0. 756 1. 086 1. 329 ? 1. 138 0. 529 ? 1. 403 ? 1. 078 1. 118 ? 0. 471 ? 0. 972 (0. 653) (0. 927) (0. 638) (0. 758) (0. 633) (0. 921) (0. 375) (0. 998) (0. 465) (0. 055) (0. 042) (0. 004) (0. 450) (0. 278) (0. 184) (0. 255) (0. 597) (0. 161) (0. 281) (0. 264) (0. 638) (0. 331) ***p b 0. 01, **p b 0. 05. Values in parentheses are p-values. international diversi? cation on CAR (? 1, 0), we hold other control variables at the average level. If the control variables are dummy ones, we substitute these variables with their modes. 2 Both ? gures provide supportive evidence for our hypotheses. First, the relationship between international diversi? cation and the market value of NPIs is found to be inverted-U-shaped, with the slope positive at lower levels of international diversi? cation but negative at high er levels of international diversi? cation. For example, in Fig. 1, for ? rms with no marketing capability, at the initial stage, there is a positive impact on the market value of NPIs with an increase of 0. 62% in CAR (? 1, 0) when the level of international diversi? cation increases from zero to 0. 8. Beyond this threshold of 0. , a higher level of international diversi? cation is associated with a decreasing CAR (? 1, 0). In Fig. 2, for ? rms with no technological capability, there is a positive impact on the market value of NPIs with an increase of 0. 63% in CAR (? 1, 0) when the level of international diversi? cation increases from zero to 0. 8. Beyond this point, more international diversi? cation results in lower market values of NPIs. In addition, these graphs illustrate the performance differences across ? rms with different levels of intangible assets. For example, in Fig. 1, for a ? rm with a degree of international diversi? cation of 0. and a level of marketing capabilit y of 0. 3, there is an expected CAR (? 1, 0) that is almost 0. 89% higher than that for a ? rm at the same level of international diversi? cation but with the marketing capability of 0. 1 at a degree of international diversi? cation of 1. 2, there is an expected good in CAR (? 1, 0) of 3. 25% when the level of marketing capability increases from 0. 1 to 0. 3. The same procedure can be used to explain the moderating effect of technological capability. In Fig. 2, for a ? rm with a level of international diversi? cation of 0. 4 and a level of technology capability of 1. , there is an expected CAR (? 1, 0) that is 2. 09% higher than that for a ? rm at the same level of international diversi? cation but with the technological capability of 0. 4 at a degree of international diversi? cation of 1. 2, there is an expected improvement in CAR (? 1, 0) of 4. 92% when the technology capability of a ? rm increases from 0. 4 to 1. 6. 5. Discussion and conclusions This paper examines the importanc e of international diversi? cation in explaining the stock market reactions to NPI announcements. using NPI announcements from the period 19972005, we found an inverted-U-shaped relationship between international diversi? ation and the market value of NPIs, with a slope positive at lower levels of international diversi? cation but negative at higher levels of international diversi? cation. This relationship is moderated by the intangible assets possessed by internationally diversi? ed ? rms. We ? nd that announcing ? rms with greater technological and/or marketing capabilities achieve higher abnormal returns from NPIs. The main effects of the international diversi? cation variables still hold after the inclusion of these moderating factors. In view of recent research having suggested a sigmoid performance effect of internationalization (Contractor et al. 2003 Lu and Beamish, 2004), we test our hypotheses in the framework of an S-shaped relationship by simultaneously adding linear, squared and cubed terms of international diversi? cation in the regression. However, our sample does not reveal the S-shaped association between international diversi? cation and the market value of NPI. 12 The equations for the graphs presented in Figs. 1 and 2 are as follows, respectively CAR (? 1, 0) = ? 0. 0037 + 0. 0157 * ID ? 0. 0099 * ID2 ? 0. 0147 * AD + 0. 1476 * ID * AD and CAR (? 1, 0) = ? 0. 0049 + 0. 0168 * ID ? 0. 0112 * ID2 + 0. 0056 * RD + 0. 295 * ID * RD, where ID = international diversi? cation ID2 = International diversi? cation squared AD = advertising intensity RD = R&D intensity. C. -F. Wang et al. / Journal of International Management 17 (2011) 333347 343 Table 4 Regression analysis of new product introduction on international diversi? cation. Un-centered results Centered results Independent variables Model 1 Model 2 Intercept ? 0. 0005 (? 0. 072) ? 0. 0042 ? 0. 0017 ? 0. 0037 ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 591) (? 0. 233) (? 0. 525) (? 0. 122) 0. 0178 0. 0157 0. 0168 0. 01 43 (3. 156)*** (2. 737)*** (2. 967)*** (2. 486)** ? 0. 0099 ? 0. 0099 ? 0. 0112 0. 0113 (? 2. 188)** (? 2. 175)** (? 2. 434)** (? 2. 455)** International diversi? cation International diversi? cation squared International diversi? cation ? Advertising intensity International diversi? cation ? R&D intensity Firm size a Debt-to-asset ratio Product diversi? cation Advertising intensity R&D intensity Newness Multiple Time Industry R&D intensity Service Manufacturing Adjusted R2 F value Number of observations a Model 3 Model 4 0. 1476 (2. 236)** ? 0. 0001 ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 336) (? 0. 484) 0. 0072 0. 0071 (1. 531) (1. 516) ? 0. 0001 0. 0000 (? 0. 069) (0. 037) 0. 0667 ? 0. 0147 (2. 100)** (? 0. 04) 0. 0090 0. 0087 (1. 878)* (1. 832)* ? 0. 0003 ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 182) (? 0. 138) 0. 0016 0. 0016 (1. 085) (1. 055) ? 0. 0007 ? 0. 0006 (? 0. 466) (? 0. 407) ? 0. 0034 ? 0. 0032 (? 1. 804)* (? 1. 686)* 0. 0020 ? 0. 0007 (0. 032) (? 1. 121) ? 0. 0005 ? 0. 0015 (? 0. 079) (? 0. 252) 0. 0051 0. 0064 2. 20*** 2. 41*** 3061 3061 Model 6 0. 0036 (0. 637) 0. 1629 (2. 458)** 0. 0295 0. 0003 (0. 676) 0. 0073 (1. 569) ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 744) 0. 0527 (1. 673)* 0. 0093 (1. 941)* ? 0. 0004 (? 0. 195) 0. 0017 (1. 141) ? 0. 0006 (? 0. 389) ? 0. 0018 (? 0. 977) ? 0. 0030 (? 0. 519) ? 0. 0012 (? 0. 218) 0. 0005 1. 15 3061 Model 5Model 7 Model 8 Model 9 0. 0022 0. 0032 0. 0030 0. 0042 (0. 392) (0. 567) (0. 517) (0. 726) 0. 0178 0. 0174 0. 0192 0. 0189 (3. 156)*** (3. 081)*** (3. 375)*** (3. 326)*** ? 0. 0099 ? 0. 0099 ? 0. 0112 ? 0. 0113 (? 2. 188)** (? 2. 175)** (? 2. 434)** (? 2. 455)** 0. 1476 (2. 236)** 0. 0333 (1. 978)** (2. 225)** ? 0. 0001 ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 257) (? 0. 410) 0. 0085 0. 0086 (1. 803)* (1. 824)* ? 0. 0001 0. 0000 (? 0. 102) (0. 012) 0. 0709 ? 0. 0185 (2. 226)** (? 0. 383) 0. 0056 0. 0049 (1. 107) (0. 971) ? 0. 0002 ? 0. 0001 (? 0. 109) (? 0. 051) 0. 0018 0. 0018 (1. 221) (1. 2061) ? 0. 0009 ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 641) (? 0. 99) ? 0. 0046 ? 0. 0046 (? 2. 341)** (? 2. 302)** ? 0. 0005 ? 0. 0016 (? 0. 082) (? 0. 265) ? 0. 0015 ? 0. 0027 (? 0. 252) (? 0. 463) 0. 0060 0. 0077 2. 33*** 2. 58*** 3061 3061 0. 1629 (2. 458)** 0. 0295 0. 0003 (0. 676) 0. 0073 (1. 569) ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 744) 0. 0527 (1. 673)* 0. 0093 (1. 941)* ? 0. 0004 (? 0. 195) 0. 0017 (1. 141) ? 0. 0006 (? 0. 389) ? 0. 0018 (? 0. 977) ? 0. 0003 (? 0. 519) ? 0. 0012 (? 0. 218) 0. 0005 1. 15 3061 Model 10 (1. 978)** ? 0. 0001 ? 0. 0002 ? 0. 0001 (? 0. 336) (? 0. 484) (? 0. 257) 0. 0072 0. 0071 0. 0085 (1. 531) (1. 516) (1. 803)* ? 0. 0001 0. 0000 ? 0. 0001 (? 0. 069) (0. 37) (? 0. 102) 0. 0667 0. 0817 0. 0709 (2. 100)** (2. 517)** (2. 226)** 0. 0090 0. 0087 0. 0249 (1. 878)* (1. 832)* (2. 659)*** ? 0. 0003 ? 0. 0002 ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 182) (? 0. 138) (? 0. 109) 0. 0016 0. 0016 0. 0018 (1. 085) (1. 055) (1. 221) ? 0. 0007 ? 0. 0006 ? 0. 0009 (? 0. 466) (? 0. 407) (? 0. 641) ? 0. 0034 ? 0. 0032 ? 0. 0046 (? 1. 804)* (? 1. 686)* (? 2. 341)** 0. 0020 ? 0. 0007 ? 0. 0005 (0. 032) (? 1. 121) (? 0. 082) ? 0. 0005 ? 0. 0015 ? 0. 0015 (? 0. 079) (? 0. 252) (? 0. 252) 0. 0051 0. 0064 0. 0060 2. 20*** 2. 41*** 2. 33*** 3061 3061 3061 0. 0333 (2. 225)** ? 0. 0002 (? 0. 410) 0. 0086 (1. 824)*