Strategic Marketing Analysis of Reckitt Benckiser's Dettol Brand

Running head: STRATEGIC MARKETING
STRATEGIC MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The report is based on the company Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC and has concentrated on of its
strategic business units which is the Dettol brand. The report will follow a structured format
whereby a brief introduction about the objectives of the report and willbe followed by the
different strategies that the company adopts in order to be successful in the long run. The
product strategy, competitive strategy, life cycle aspect and other tools have been used to make
the analysis. This report concluded that Reckitt Benckiser is having effective and efficient
marketing and business strategies in regards to their SBU, Dettol.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
About the Organization and Chosen unit.........................................................................................4
Strategic Thrust................................................................................................................................4
Marketing Strategy..........................................................................................................................5
Relative strength of Dettol...............................................................................................................5
Competitive Strategic Positioning...................................................................................................6
Thrust options..................................................................................................................................7
Product strategy...............................................................................................................................8
Stage of life cycle............................................................................................................................8
Operational excellence strategy.......................................................................................................9
Portfolio analysis.............................................................................................................................9
Cash cows..................................................................................................................................10
Dog............................................................................................................................................10
Star.............................................................................................................................................10
Question marks..........................................................................................................................11
Determination of the external environment...................................................................................11
Benchmarking................................................................................................................................13
Strategic implementation...............................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14

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References......................................................................................................................................15
Appendices....................................................................................................................................17
Appendix 1: The Product Strategy............................................................................................17
Appendix 2: The Competitive strategy and long term objectives of Dettol..............................17
Appendix 3: The product Life cycle strategy............................................................................18
Appendix 4: The Product Line of Dettol...................................................................................18
Appendix 5: The Market share of Dettol...................................................................................19
Appendix 6: BCG matrix...........................................................................................................20
Introduction
Startegic Positioning plays a key role in an organization and in order to be successful in
the business domain, the company in question needs to ensure that it is able to maintain a
commendable strategic positioning in the business environment. Hence, for this reason, it needs
to make use of various tools and techniques to analyze the environment in which it operates and
understand the current position. This goes a long way in strategyformation and decision making.
The given report will be discussing the strategicpositioning of one such company named
Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (RB – Healthier Lives, Happier Homes. ,2018). The company is
based in Britain and is a brand working into the hygiene and personal products range ( Kotler,
2015). One of the company`s strategic business units will be discussed and its market strategies
will be analyzed. The report will be discussing about the organization, its marketing strategy,
Relative strength of the marketing strategy, product strategy and the lifecycle it is currently

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present at. Relative theoretical concepts with practical examples will be discussed to present a
string argument. The use of two strategic development tools shall also be made and their uses
will be provided.
About the Organization and Chosen unit
The Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc is a British multinational goods company withits
headquarters in Slough, England. The company is mostly a producer of the hygienic, home
products along with health items. The company was formed back in Reckitt & Colman and
Benckiser NV. The company has various brands under its name which includes companies like
Dettol, Strepsils, Clearasil, Durex, Lysol and Vanish (West, Ford& Ibrahim, 2015). The
company is also registered on the London Stock Exchange and is also a part of the FTSE 100
Index.The chosen sub unit is the brand Dettol. The Dettol brand under the company is an
antiseptic liquid company which produces hygienic products that are famous for killing germs.
The company is a very popular operating in 124 countries with a good brand positioning. Refer to
Appendix 4
Strategic Thrust
A strategic thrust can be defined as a statement which lays down the intended strategic
actions which a company aims to take. The strategic thrust of the company needs to provide a
compelling theme which brings together different activities of an organization and focuses the
groups towards the objective. It is based on a planning direction of 2-5 years. The different
strategic thrusts which can be used by the company are differentiation, cost, innovation and
growth.

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The strategic thrust which is adopted by detail is a growth strategy. Having positioned itself as a
germ fighter brand, the company aims to extend itsproduct line and ensure success. Refer to
Appendix 5
Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategy can be defined as a strategy of the organization which tends to
combine all the marketing goals into a single comprehensive plans. An efficient marketing
strategy should need to ensure that there exists market research and the right product mix is
utilized to ensure maximum availability of profit.
The marketing strategy which is followed by Dettol is a very comprehensive one
whereby the different aims and objectives of the company are stated down effectively
(Mooradian, Matzler& Ring, 2013). The company has the objective of maintaining its position in
the market as the number one germ killer and thereby makes use of the promotional techniques
of television and magazines thereby targeting the younger audience who is likely to be exposed
to such infections involving bacteria. The company has priced the product accordingly and uses
an effective distributionthroughout the globe to give out items.
Relative strength of Dettol
The business environment of Dettol as a company is very competitive. In various
countries, there are many companies who act as a competition and provide a different sets of
threats for the company (Keller& Kotler, 2016). The industry analysis of Dettol has been done
using the Michael Porter`s Five Forces Analysis:
The threat of substitutes