Issues Faced by Kingsford Charcoal: A Financial Analysis

This assignment analyzes the financials of Kingsford Charcoal and discusses the issues faced by the company, including the decline in interest in charcoal grilling and production, branding, and marketing issues. The report suggests solutions to improve the brand image and overall growth of the company.

Marketing
Management
Assignment

Corporate Finance
Prepared By
Student Name:
Date: 19th January,2019
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Executive Summary
The following assignment deals with two men, who are there in the charcoal
business and they are the brand managers of the same. The team is facing several
issues with the advent of the technology there have been several changes in how
the people are using the charcoal, previously it was used only for the business of
cooking and there was high demand for the same. They are now concerned about
the future of charcoal grilling and are concerned about improving the brand image
of the company. Apart from that there are many other issues like production,
branding, and marketing that is affecting the company and the entire assignment is
based on this and analyzing the financials of the company and taking decisions
based on the same.
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary................................................................................................... 2
Company Background................................................................................................ 4
Key Issues.................................................................................................................. 4
Analysis of the Issues................................................................................................. 5
Justification of Summary............................................................................................. 7
.
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Company Background
Kingsford Charcoal started its operation in 1920s and was one of the largest product brands
under the Clorox’s portfolio and it represented 9 percent of the total revenue of the company and
a substantially higher percentage with respect to its overall net income. In the recent times the
company was facing some issues with respect to its operations and the same has been discussed
in this report. The two brand managers Marcilie Smith Boyle and Allison Warren, who work for
the $350 million charcoal business and are concerned about the future of the company (Abdullah
and Said). The company had started facing the issues that started in 2000, and the company was
adamant to come up with causes and recommendations that would help in solving the issues that
the company has faced with the advent of technology that has brought changes in the way the
companies are using charcoal for cooking purpose. The team is facing several issues with the
advent of the technology there have been several changes in how the people are using the
charcoal, previously it was used only for the business of cooking and there was high demand for
the same. They are now concerned about the future of charcoal grilling and are concerned about
improving the brand image of the company. Apart from that there are many other issues that the
company is facing like production issues, branding and marketing issues, issues related to the
overall growth of the company, and the company is looking for ways by which they can solve the
same and bring changes in the present status. The company has not raised prices of the charcoal
over the years, because the overall demand of charcoal has always been very high, but now we
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see that because of stiff competition the company is now questioning its decision and trying to
make changes about that. A meeting was held to review the status of the company, with respect
to the business review later in the month. In this assignment it would be discussed how the
company can solve this issue and what are the plans by which the company can make better
progress and can achieve success (Boghossian).
Key Issues
1) Grilling is an art of cooking food that is popular all over the world, but in a country like
America, grilling is very popular, and people grill more often than anyone else. There
were two types of grilling method that was followed charcoal and gas grilling, but people
preferred charcoal grilling for the overall hands on experience that they got from the
same and the flavour that it imparts to the food. In case of gas grilling, it was easier to set
up and there was more convenience with respect to the cooking temperature involved,
cooking for short times and the overall ease to clean up after the food is cooked. Thus, we
see that there is a lot of reasons based on which the people made cooking or grilling
choices. Both came with their share of advantages however the most important reason of
choosing charcoal grilling was the overall flavour that charcoal imparted to the food that
was cooked. But over the years people are moving from using charcoal grilling with the
inconvenience associated with it (Cayon, Thorp and Wu).
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2) The main concern for Kingsford Charcoal company is that customers were losing their
interest in charcoal grilling and thus that would affect the overall growth of the company.
The company has not increased its prices in several years and in case it does that
suddenly than that would also be not good for the company in anyways. There were many
issues that were associated with the branding of the company and that has affected its
progress. To understand this process of grilling and using charcoal for the same, the
company should do proper research and analysis and understand why the customers have
lost their interest from this process and the disadvantages that are associated with cooking
with charcoal should also be studied so that it can be eliminated, and the company will
benefit from the same (Charles H, Giovanna and Dennis M). It should also try doing
market surveys and take information from public and do customer analysis based on
which they can decide why they are in this current situation how they can improve the
same. They should also try to have personal experience with use of coal and charcoal and
should take decisions based on their personal experience (Cundill, Smart and Wilson).
Analysis of the Issues.
The team is facing several issues with the advent of the technology there have been several
changes in how the people are using the charcoal, previously it was used only for the business of
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cooking and there was high demand for the same. They are now concerned about the future of
charcoal grilling and are concerned about improving the brand image of the company. Apart
from that there are many other issues like production, branding, and marketing that is affecting
the company and the entire assignment is based on this and analyzing the financials of the
company and taking decisions based on the same (Cundill, Smart and Wilson).
3). Based on the present situation with respect to the issues that the company is facing, the
managers should try to do a SWOT analysis of the product with respect to the market and based
on the results they should decide whether they should continue doing operations in the same field
or not. The four Ps should also be considered for analysis and based on that the company should
take decision with respect to the operations. The following analysis has been done and stated
below-
Product – The product was basically produced from the use of woods, minerals, limestones and
some other raw material in two-part procedures. The overall process was very lengthy but the
overall production of the same was cheap in terms of the material issued. The company had its
own plants that supported the two-part procedure and thus that made the operations less costly, in
case of the given situation the company should outsource the production of the company, so the
overall cost is minimized (Johan).
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Pricing – In case of Kingsford the company had priced its products on a bit higher side, where
there were companies like the private labels that were selling products at a discount of 25-30%
and thus we see that the overall pricing can be reduced a bit and in order to boost sales they can
sell the product at a discount of 30-40% initially, so that customers are attracted (Kang, Yu and
Lee).
Promotion – Product promotion is an important aspect that the company has been diligent in
since the past years, however with the growth in the overall competition there have been such
situations where the competitors have taken over and that has affected the growth of the
company. The company indulges in different types of business forms from business to business
and business to customer and there have been instances to prove that the overall growth of the
company has not been that fulfilling. Previously the other charcoal brands where the competitors
of the company but now what can be seen that gas grilling companies are the one that it needs to
beat and make a change. The only solutions that the company has in this case is to work with the
local businesses and sale them the product at lower cost so that they can make promote the same
in the market. It can also go for heavy discounts and promote the product in that manner, along
with that it can carry out surveys and help people in grilling with the use of charcoal and related
products so that the overall interest is rekindled again. Branding and promotion is very important
for the overall success of the company and thus product promotion becomes important in that
case as there is heavy competition in the market.
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SWOT Analysis
In case the SWOT Analysis of the given product is done, the following points can be noted:
Strength – The company has been in business from a very long time and most of its product are
very popular among the customer who still prefers charcoal grilling over gas grilling (Sinclair,
Leo and Wright).
Weakness – people have started to make the switch from charcoal grilling to gas grilling as there
are lot of advantages that are associated with that and thus this shows that interest of consumer in
the products have reduced a lot.
Opportunities – Giving the scenario of the market, the opportunities are limited but given the fact
that charcoal grilling is less than gas grilling then customers can switch to the same. And for that
the company needs to do promotion in such a way that there is interest rekindled in the same
(Kaufmann).
Threats- The biggest threat that company is facing that most of the consumer are switching to gas
grilling over charcoal grilling given the kind of advantages gas grilling has and that is one of the
biggest threat for the Kingsford company and there are high chances that in the near future the
consumer will stop using charcoal grilling as a method of cooking (Pamela and Tamara).
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Justification of Summary
4.Given the above action plan that has been suggested with relation to all the Ps, it can be said
that in order to curb the competition the management of the company should look for such steps
that would help in improving the overall interest of the consumer in charcoal cooking, as
charcoal is one of the most important cooking element that has been used through ages but along
with that they should look for ways by which they can beat the gas grilling. Grilling is all about
lending flavors to the food, and charcoal is one of the best products that can be used in that
regard. It can be said that Kingsford has a huge market that they have built over the year through
their products and they should try to tap in the same by making sure that more and more people
are using their products. Along with charcoal can be used in variety of other products like the
one that are associated with beauty and the company should try to venture in that zone also. All
this will help in the overall success of the company and help the company in getting the best
results amidst all the competition that it is facing now.
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