HIMALAYA HERBAL TOOTHPASTE &

BRITISH COLUMBIA BOX LIMITED

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
BY : GROUP 1 SECTION F

ANAND DUBEY
NITIN JAIN
SOVAN SATYAPRAKASH
ARNAB SAHA
CHANDNI NIGAM
ANUSHKA GULATI

CASE 1 QUESTION 1
From Exhibit 6: Table 1
Only 36 per cent of the respondents brushed twice a day
(i) either low awareness of the need to brush twice a day for healthy teeth, (ii) or of low
involvement in the category.
Given that existing brands focus more on the benefits of their respective brand rather than on
driving oral health education, it is likely that the former is true. Also, 74 per cent had never visited a
dentist. Only 13 per cent of the respondents visited a dentist as frequently as recommended, i.e.,
once in six months.
Those consumers who had been to the dentist regularly claimed that their dentists had not really
recommended toothpaste brands often; but in those cases where the dentists did recommend a
brand, six out of seven respondents switched.
84 per cent of the respondents claimed they had not had oral care problems. The statistics by WHO
indicate that 90 per cent of Indian adults have problems; this shows that the risk involved in this
category is relatively low, as consumers do not seem to be strongly impacted by their lack of oral
health maintenance. Consumers do not go to the dentist as a preventive but as curative measure.
When data is broken down according to the benefit segments, most of the parameters remain the
same, except the practice of brushing twice a day. 68per cent of the respondents in niche category
brushed twice a day, as opposed to 36 per cent in the overall group. mostly users of Colgate Active
Salt and Colgate Sensitive, both offer curative benefits. It can be inferred that awareness and the
increased involvement in oral health for these consumers resulted from the problems they faced.
This is evidence of the change in consumer involvement as a function of potential risk.
Involvement level with respect to habits and
practices
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Freshness Herbal Oral Health Problem
Solving
Total
Category
Brushing Frequency
Frequency of Brushing Frequency of Brushing
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
1 2 3 4 5
Did dentist recommend the tooth
paste?
Did dentist recomment the tooth paste?
Did dentist recomment the tooth paste?
no
yes
0
2
4
6
8
Freshness Herbal Oral Health Problem
Solving
Total
Category
Did you change your tooth paste
on recommendation by a
dentist?
Did you change the toothpaste on Dentist's
recommendation?
Did you change the toothpaste on Dentist's
recommendation?
0
5
10
15
20
Freshness Herbal Oral Health Problem
Solving
Total
Category
Did you change your tooth paste
to solve any problem?
Did you change your toothpaste to solve any
problem?
twice once
no
yes
no
yes
CASE 1 QUESTION 2
Exhibit 6: Table 2:
Only 41 per cent of the total respondents expressed high involvement. A
significant number of consumers did not express extremely low involvement with
the category; their responses indicate a moderate to low involvement, since the
category was considered daily essential,
59 per cent expressed a relatively low to moderate involvement with the category
and product benefits.
The cognitive and affective associations indicate an interesting pattern.
Exhibit 6: Table 3
69 per cent of the total respondents had strong cognitive beliefs about their
respective brands, whereas only 53 percent had strong affective beliefs.
It could be inferred that brands in the toothpaste category have established their
functional benefits better compared to their emotional benefits in their
advertisements. Pepsodent is an example of a brand that uses strong emotive cues
in its communication, with the use of children in humorous settings; however,
the other brands, talk about specific functional benefits of their products.

Key involvement drivers for toothpaste categories based on
Exhibit 5

The set of statements in Exhibit 5: Table 1:
Key drivers by which category involvement was expressed at the
total category level. The mean values in the last column are
directionally indicative of levels of involvement.
Although the mean values for category involvement items such as
Toothpaste is essential for me and Toothpaste is beneficial to
Me indicate high levels of agreement, consumers across categories
also expressed a strong inclination towards the feeling
Toothpaste is mundane to me
This indicates that although consumers use this category regularly
and acknowledge that it is an integral part of their lives, they feel
that this product (and possibly other related products like
toothbrushes) may not get them involved, given the low perceived
risk in the oral care category.


Top drivers for category involvement at the overall level

Offered benefits of healthy teeth and healthy gums
Protection against cavities was also rated as important,
possibly because cavities are a common manifestation of
poor oral care and require expensive and painful treatment.
A similar problem that led to greater involvement was a
toothpaste that could prevent pain when eating hot and
cold things. It can be inferred that although the consumer
might not be aware of core oral care problems such as
plaque, tartar, gingivitis, and periodontal diseases, they
acknowledge and try to prevent the more visible or directly
experience able aspects of these underlying ailments
which increases their involvement.

Key involvement drivers by segment based on Exhibit 5
In the freshness category, apart from the category drivers that were
highlighted earlier, certain cosmetic benefits were highlighted as
important. These include the need for a toothpaste to taste
good and the importance for the toothpaste to give one a
dazzling smile and whiter teeth
Some of these could have been derived from the awareness of this
categorys typical brand communication, and others by product
features such as cooling crystals that add to the pastes taste and
flavor. The drivers for the herbal category were in line with the
overall benefits and the brands unique proposition of using natural
ingredients. The overall oral care segment, being the most generic
in functional benefits, mapped almost exactly onto the total
category involvement drivers such as protection from cavities,
healthy teeth, and healthy gums.
In the niche problem-solving segment, apart from the importance
of fundamental drivers, significant importance was given to the
prevention of sensitivity while eating different types of foods

CASE 1 QUESTION 3
In certain segments, for some consumers, the brand attitude may be relatively strong on cognitive and affective beliefs despite low
category involvement.
Exhibit 6: Table 5
The percentages of such consumers by segment. Exhibit 5 provides the mean values, which allows a better understanding of the
connection between category drivers and attitude statements, and helps explain the inconsistency in those instances where brand
attitude overwhelms category involvement
Freshness segment:
66 per cent of the low-involvement consumers had a high brand attitude. This can also be examined in the key involvement parameters
and the top attitude drivers. Although theirs was a freshness brand, the important category drivers for these consumers did not match
their highly rated brand benefits
(freshness,confidence to come closer, etc.). However, both these key brand benefits were strongly associated in the cognitive and
affective attitudes of these consumers towards the brand as indicated by the average values.
Herbal segment:
Less than half the consumers who had low category involvement in this segment had high brand attitude. The top averages were for
category drivers that were in line with the brand benefits, although the consumers gave more importance to natural ingredients
rather than specifics such as herbal or Ayurvedic
The importance given to healthy teeth and gums was also relatively high in the association with brand (cognitive belief section);
similarly, aspects such as feeling in control and protected by an expert had high scores in affective associations in line with brand
communication. Hence, involvement was mostly consistent with attitude. this segment
Overall oral care segment:
Similar to the herbal segment, this segment had only 46 per cent of low involvement consumers expressing high attitude towards the
brand. Category drivers such as cavity prevention and healthy teeth were in line with the cognitive beliefs for the brand. However,
some other benefits that this brand did not primarily offer were also category drivers. Certain drivers that the brand consistently used
in its communication ,recommended by dentists, can reach where a toothbrush cannot reach, decay protection, etc.) were
relatively low on cognitive beliefs. Overall, the affective beliefs for this segment were also low, indicating that although there was low
category involvement, brand attitude did not trump it significantly.
Niche (problem-solving segment):
89 per cent of the low-involvement consumers in this segment expressed high brand attitude. The problem-solving nature of this
segment indicates that even when consumer involvement is low, the brand comes out strong on the merit of its distinctive superiority
and its impact on the consumers mind.
Cavity prevention, healthy teeth, and protection from sensitivity rated high in this segment; therefore, involvement was clearly in
line with the problems faced by the consumer. Although other beliefs existed for this brand, all the key cognitive and affective drivers
that the brand strived to achieve in its consumers minds were well entrenched.



CASE 1 QUESTION 4
Exhibit 6: Table 4

This exhibit maps the comparison between the strength of the cognitive responses and that of the
affective responses for respondents in all categories. The objective is to verify whether the brand
has successfully established the link between its cognitive and affective benefits in the mind of the
consumer.
46% of the total respondents had a consistently strong belief for both the cognitive as well as the
affective aspects of the brand. This segment would also be likely to map onto the high-involvement
segment, as these consumers knew the functional benefits of the brand, and those benefits had
successfully been associated with the emotional benefits that the brand wished to communicate.
Around 24% had neither strong cognitive beliefs nor strong affective beliefs with respect to their
brand; these consumers mapped onto the low- to moderate involvement segment.
Among the rest, there was an inconsistency observed between the cognitive and the affective
beliefs for about 30%. One possible reason for strong cognitive beliefs to go together with weak
affective beliefs could be as follows. The toothpaste category is one of the oldest and most
advertised categories in the Indian FMCG market, and over the years, the communication by the
key brands has consistently been functional.
Moreover, their single-minded focus on the key benefit proposition(protection against decay,
fighting germs, etc.) has resulted in consumers developing a high recall of brands functional
benefits without establishing a deep connect.
If there is little connect, consumers will not perceive much differentiation among brands. Weak
cognitive beliefs but strong affective belief can result from low involvement with category, where
consumer is not seeking a very specific brand benefit as he does not comprehend these but is
rather influenced by the feel of the ad and peripheral cues like use of humour, drama, etc.


How many Consumers expressed consistency between Strength of Cognitive and
Strength of Affective Belief Brand choice (Ref- Exibit 4)

Segment Cognitive
Belief(+) &
Affective
Belief (+)
Cognitive
Belief(+) &
Affective Belief
(-)

Cognitive
Belief(-) &
Affective Belief
(+)

Cognitive
Belief(-) &
Affective Belief
(-)

Freshness 44% 20% 16% 20%
Herbal 40% 24% 4% 32%
Overall Oral Care 32%
24%

4% 40%
Niche Problem
Solving
68%
24%

4% 4%
Total

46%
23%

7% 24%
CASE 2 QUESTION 1

In the entire process of purchase, the Vancouver plant
manager Mr. Paul Flynn and plant industrial engineer Mr. Wood
was involved.
There were different criteria applied by the influencer at
different stages
Initial stage: Size of the gluer. Revamp of the plant was planned
because the existing gluers were too small to cater to the
customer demand.
Purchase proposal stage: Service quality and location of
troubleshooting centre was emphasized because a new
machine can incur a lot of problem post-commissioning.
Final stage: Price and specification of the machine. While
buying, the machine with more features and optimum price
will get a preference.

CASE 2 QUESTION 2

BC Box purchased the machine from the Andrews Co. as
they are offering a machine that has six more features than
the one of the Bale co, although costing $20000 more.
Secondly, BC Box managers have seen the gluer from
Andrews working better in a competitors plant.
Thirdly, Andrews service centre is close to Vancouver
whereas Bales service centre is in Minnesota. So its easier
for the Andrews customer to get the spare parts.
Finally, plant manager Mr. Flynn preferred Andrews
because Bateman, bales representative, had jumped rank
and invited Mr.Wood for a plant visit.

CASE 2 QUESTION 3
Among the salespersons of both the company, Andrews
salesman did a better job of pursuing the potential buyers
because he was more flexible to the need of the buyer and
kept the door of negotiations open.
He considered the fact of being a new player in CNC gluer
field and accepted the lower price despite 8 more features
than bales.
Bales representative, however, didnt stick to his no
negotiation policy and there was double-standards in his
dealings. Plus he jumped ranks when he offered Mr. Wood
to visit his plant instead of his superior Mr. Flynn, thus
offending the plant manager. He tarnished his companys
reputation by his faulty eleventh-hour approach.
CASE 2 QUESTION 4

A seller in industrial buys must know his competitors
well. Proper SWOT analysis should be done.
Seller must maintain the time-horizon for purchase.
He should proactive measures during purchase
procedures to get the buyer in his favor.
Seller should protect his companys hard-earned
reputation.
If needed, eleventh hour deals should be made in
consistence with previous negotiations.
One must identify the person taking center stage of
purchase process in the buyers side.
Good product and good selling can overcome price
objections.