Danone is one of the world leaders in the food industry. The group focuses on three worldwide business lines: Fresh Diary Products, Beverages, and Biscuit & Cereal Products. Its turnover in 2005 was 13.02 billion Euros. We have chosen this group because Danone seems to be a very dynamic firm. In 2005, the group had one of its best organic growths ever: 6.7 %. Moreover, the food market is deeply involved in globalisation. This leads to two different trends when turning to the global market: the homogenization of behaviors (more and more people eat the same products) and the adaptation of firm's strategy to various local markets. Danone was created in 1966, and at the beginning, the focus was not on food but on glass containers. Then, little by little, Danone diversified its production in several food sectors. In 1996, a new impetus was given with the arrival of Frank Riboud at the head of the group. He introduced new methods and strategies to meet the expectations of consumers. Indeed, today, consumers expect from food industries not only to feed them but also to cure them, to help them become finer, younger and more beautiful, which is the reason why Danone's core business is "to bring health through food". This demand has led Danone to dedicate an increasing influence and part of budget to intellectual capital at the expense of financial capital. Moreover, Danone has to find a balance to satisfy a growing market while at the same time remaining close to consumers.
[...] The strategy of Danone to present its products as healthy seems to be effective since MacDonald's, which wants to increase its emphasis on health, has decided to become partner of Danone. Today, MacDonald's offers Danone's yogurt “Fruit&Yogurt” in 6200 European restaurants. In the beverage sector, Danone's strategy to ensure new sources of growth is based on the development of market segments. In traditional countries, Danone has developed flavoured waters to attract health- conscious consumers with refreshing and low sugar beverages. [...]
[...] Recently, Danone changed its logo in order to be more appealing for consumers and to have a more positive identity based on health and well-being. According to Danone group, a new logo has been necessary because the identity of Danone fresh diary products had evolved: challenge for designers was to combine warmth and immediate appeal in a format attuned to the spirit of the times without weakening brand recognition, since consumers see Danone logo as a sign for quality, trust and health.” smile suggestive of appetite, pleasure and the well-being associated with health that shows”. [...]
[...] The performance of 2004 was mostly the result of increased sales of Danone in Russia (where Danone has a leading position in the biscuit market) and in Asia. Top brands are: Lu (almost half of the sales of the sector), Heudebert, Beulin and Tuc. Sweet biscuit snacks represent the majority of the sales while savoury biscuit snacks and crackers concern respectively 13% and 14% of the sales. LEADING POSITIONS WORLDWIDE (based on sales volumes) No. Belgium No. Eastern Europe No. [...]
[...] Global strategy of Danone 1. Internationalisation: to take over During the nineties, Danone developed beyond Europe's borders because the European market was saturated. New hopes involved emerging markets such as those of China or India, where politics encouraged foreign investments. In the market of fresh diary products, Danone appeared in Argentina, the United States, Poland, and Turkey. In the market of bottled water, Danone invested in Argentina. In the market of biscuit and cereal products, Danone invested in Poland, Colombia, Tunisia, Morocco, and Brazil. [...]
[...] In the biscuits market, Danone has adapted its recipes to Chinese tastes: less fat, more sugar and natural ingredients. It focuses on the nutritional and medicinal aspects of biscuits because Danone understands that in the Chinese culture, people buy products for their healing qualities. For example, they introduced a new version of to which they added seaweeds. For country people, Danone recipes have been reinforced in order to contain more calories than in Western countries. country people who live in poverty, what matters is that their children grow up and aren't scrawny” explains Mr Peng Quin, manager of Danone in China. [...]
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