The company is too focused on financial health without looking at brand health. In all my years of working with them, I have only seen business plans and not brand plans. Every product is forcibly and artificially shown as profitable from year 3 onwards by slashing market investments irrespective or reality or needs.
They are not able to manage emerging markets as they do not understand nor make the effort to understand local needs and requirements. They feel that everything that works in Europe or Germany should work in countries like india and China . E.g. A warming body wash would not work in india because all houses have heated tap water in the winters.. Duh !!!! Whether the product is feasible or not,the reasoning shows a total disconnect with reality.
They prefer to work in markets where growth is between -2 to 2 % so that their inability to grow at any higher pace does not stand out.
A bit too inward looking. Wrong product + improper focus + not understanding local realities + planning to make management happy = getting whacked in truly emerging and growing markets
In india they are now focused on selling premium hair color at heavily discounted prices and getting thrashed by all and sundry... No investment other than discounting..
