...Sealed Air Primary Problem: Sealed Air is in the protective packaging business. It is known for its Air Cap offering, which is different from all other bubble products because of its “barrier coating”. This saran coating provides better protection of shipped material and has been the central theme of Sealed Air’s sales for years. The primary problem they now face is a reduction in their market share due to the presence of competition in Europe and New York, who have begun selling a cheaper, uncoated bubble version of this product. Secondary Problems: As the market leader in protective packaging, Air Cap had global sales of $34.3 million and enjoyed a 25% increase in sales and earnings each of the past ten years. GAFCEL and similar companies in Europe have taken significant market share by offering a lower quality, cheaper product. In order to protect their market share, Sealed Air can either introduce an uncoated bubble product to compete directly with these competitors or don’t enter the market and continue to focus on providing quality and superior protection with their line of Air Cap products. If they begin producing the uncoated bubble products they run the risk of cannibalizing sales of their current product, as well as potentially damaging their brand reputation for high quality in the American market. However, not entering the uncoated bubble product market has its own risks. As competitors continue to gain market share, Sealed Air’s revenues and profits will continue...
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...Sealed Air Corporation Marketing Management, 45-720, Section A, Group 2 Arnab Basu Malcolm Johnson Douglas Meislahn Nicholas Reid Robert Schmidt 02/17/05 Marketing Management, 45-720, Section A Sealed Air Corporation A. Basu, M. Johnson, D. Meislahn, N. Reid, R. Schmidt Executive Summary By 1980, Sealed Air Corporation had built its company culture as a market leader. As the first developer of closed-cell, lightweight cushioning materials, foam-in-place packaging systems and complete solar heating systems for swimming pools, Sealed Air had become very profitable as the market leader, and the firm encouraged technological innovation to maintain that positioning. AirCap cushioning, a coated bubble wrap product sold in the protective packaging market, was Sealed Air’s most profitable product. However, due to new and unexpected competition, the company was forced to consider the prospect of manufacturing and distributing an uncoated bubble packaging product as well. In order to maintain its current level of profitability, Sealed Air must begin production of uncoated bubble wrap in the European market because of its large size and potentially high profit margins. These two enticements do not exist in the US uncoated bubble wrap market; therefore, Sealed Air should forego entering the US market with an uncoated bubble wrap product. Problem Statement With $25.35M in 1980 sales, Sealed Air’s AirCap product line revenue represented approximately 38% of total sales generated...
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...Sealed Air® Corporation Case Analysis MK810 Adrianne Wenisch Teopaco Christopher Buckwell June 21, 2010 Matthew Whiten Position Sealed Air should move forward with the introduction with an uncoated bubble product. (1) Coated bubble market share has been declining over the past ten years. Sealed Air’s AirCap® product initially dominated with their strong patent protection though recent new players in the industry have proven that they cannot ignore the growth of uncoated bubbles. (2) Sealed Air has a strong Brand Image in the industry that will enable them to be strong player in this market – proof – strong AirCap sales and good relationships with distributors. (3) Gain market share – prevent new companies from gaining market share in the US with cost conscious buyers – proof - Arguments 1. Low market entry barriers (US and Europe). Sealed Air is regionally well established to market an uncoated product in the United States and in Europe. Given Sealed Air’s selective distribution policy, Sealed Air can take advantage of distributor loyalty. Sealed Air should utilize their strong standing relationships and have them adopt Sealed Air’s uncoated bubble over the competition; this will streamline the distributor’s product offering while maintaining their current portfolio. Unlike GAFCEL®, Sealed Air is also well distributed throughout the United States and therefore maintains a superior operational advantage for product...
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...Sealed Air Corp. said it has introduced VSS Vision Safety Solutions, a service offering that enables health care facilities to improve hand hygiene compliance among health professionals. In a release on Oct. 6, the company said the VSS service increases hygiene and safety in hospitals through its technology that visually detects, records, and notifies of improper or insufficient hand washing and sanitizing events. William V. Hickey, Sealed Air Chief Executive Officer, said, "VSS Vision Safety Solutions is the first joint offering from Sealed Air and Diversey, which is now part of Sealed Air following the completion of the acquisition on October 3. It leverages Sealed Air technology and Diversey's expertise in cleaning and hygiene and its access to major health care providers. The VSS system also offers Diversey brand hand hygiene products." Currently available only in the United States, the company said that VSS offers health care providers a "cost effective way and a potential new tool" in the fight to reduce the number of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) by increasing compliance with hand hygiene. According to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year approximately 100,000 people in the United States die from an illness acquired during a stay at a health care facility. The CDC also states that HAIs cost the health care industry more than $30 billion annually. VSS Vision Safety Solutions is currently in trial at several health care facilities...
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...Problem and Recommendation Sealed Air has seen new competitors enter the protective packaging market industry producing uncoated bubble at a lower cost by employing a cheaper more efficient production method. We believe the entrance of this new competition will have a significant impact on the sustainability of Sealed Air potentially reducing sales by 55% and eliminating 40% of 1980 EBIT (see exhibit for backup). Given the significant impact we feel Sealed Air must employ a defensive strategy and start production of uncoated bubbles. Sealed Air can use a current production process which would allow them to effectively compete with the new competition requiring no additional capital. Company Analysis Sealed Air produces 2 main products (see exhibit for product breakdown, sales and market share) and also licenses to Astro its patented technology to produce coated and uncoated bubbles. Sealed Air’s core strengths include 1) 1st to market and leader in R&D, innovation and technical development, 2) best trained sales staff in industry, and 3) premium pricing position 4) patented manufacturing process for sealed bubbles. Significant weaknesses include 1) limited resources, 2) having premium products aimed at niche segments of the protective packaging customers, 2) lots of cheap competition and lack of easily demonstrable universal superiority confusing end users. Deciding to start manufacturing uncoated bubbles does not significantly leverage Sealed Air core competencies and...
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...SISSEJUHATUS Sealed Air (SA) on 1960. aastal asutatud ettevõte, mille põhitegevuseks on kaitsvate pakkematerjalide tootmine. Ettevõtte arendamise eesmärgil alustati 1988. aastal tootmisprotsesside optimeerimist World Class Manufacturing (WCM) programmi abil, mis aitas muuhulgas luua töötajatele efektiivsemat motivatsiooniprogrammi ning parenduste tagajärjel suurenesid ettevõtte rahavood. 10 aastase ajaloo jooksul maksis Sealed Air aktsionäridele kvartaalseid dividende mitte rohkem kui 18 senti aktsia kohta, kuid 1989. a mais otsustas juhtkond teha eridividendide väljamakse 40 dollarit aktsia kohta, mille tulemusel muudeti ettevõtte kapitalistruktuur. 1. ANALÜÜS Rekapitaliseerimist ei tehtud puhtalt finantsilistel eesmärkidel, vaid ka Sealed Air-i tugevdamiseks ja töötajate motiveerimiseks. Põhjused miks WCM ja rekapitaliseerimine olid Seal Air ́ile vajalikud: • SA oli jäänud loorberitele puhkama. SA operatsioone, protsesse ja motivatsioonisüsteemi ei oldud viimase dekaadi jooksul uuendatud. See mõjutas ettevõtte konkurentsivõimet. • Ettevõtte väärtuse areng oli peatunud ning aktsionärid nautisid stabiilset tootlust- SA juhtkond soovis suurendada riskialtite aktsionäride osakaalu, kes oleksid huvitatud ettevõtte väärtuse kasvatamisest. Nagu näha lisas 1, oli ettevõtte aktsia väärtus enne eridividendide makse väljakuulutamist 45,875 dollarit. Võttes arvesse, et aktsiaid oli 8,245 miljonit, siis oli ettevõtte...
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...b L,FRE Is diversification from small tractors to big tractors a good idea for Deere's stockholders? Deere's stockholders can diversiS, more cheaply themselves now. For example, they can buy CAT shares. The two markets (small and big tractors) are cyclical. However, the big tractor market is more cyclical. Hence Deere should not use its current cost of capital for making decisions. This is important since, if alarge tractor is sold for S100, an additional revenue of $65 is generated in the first three Years' r\ ^ ^'?t aLl""'' tur-'a ' -''*2 In fact, since the appropriate discount raG is higher than before, future profits are less valuable in the large tractor market than in the small tractor market. An additional factor is that Deere's parts are not proprietary---- hence future revenue (profits) from parts are not as high for Deere as for CAT. Conclusion: Deere should price closer to the 'myopic' price in the large tractor market than in the small tractor market. Cash flows: The cash flows in the small and large tractor markets are not perfectly correlated, even thought both markets are cyclical. Hence diversification from small to large tractors will smooth out cash flows----- reduces the risk to Deere's bondholders (lowers the interest rate demanded by bondholders). This could add value to Deere. 4\^^X L,*) S-r, 4 t or"/o hrt th"Al Fa"rfr \ ( r. vrwF^e., I -{W I t Explain the role of spare parts on...
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...Sealed Air Case Comments Sealed air case is a comprehensive case that captures many issues that we have discussed in the marketing course. It is also one of the best selling marketing cases and I think for some very good reasons. Here are my comments on the case questions. Question 2: Sealed Air created value to its customers by building high performance (technical) product quality in its coated bubbles and by educating the customers about the benefits of coated bubbles through the educational efforts of its salesforce and its brochures. Sealed Air’s salesforce also used “consultative sales approach” and provided problem solving advice to the customers. However, there are also indications that the company may be providing too high performance(technical) quality at least for some applications. The company created value for its distributors by the strength of its brand equity, the strong demand for its products and its helpful salesforce. The company also used selective distribution policy which meant less competition among distributors and thus this policy preserved the distributors’ profit margins. Question 3: There are several possibilities here. The important ones (not counting no response) are: • Spend more resources in educating customers about the benefits of bubbles • Launch uncoated bubbles • Cut prices of the products most directly affected by the uncoated bubbles • Provide additional services to the coated customers to offset...
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...General Description Sealed Air Corporation was one of the leading protective packaging companies with a good market reputation in countries like France, Germany, US and England. The company differentiated itself in the market with technological innovative leadership and hence the company was the first who made a new protective packaging product using coated air-bubble, AirCap. For ten years, the company remained successful with its unique AirCap protection packaging product however, unfortunately the market trends were rapidly changed and the technologically advanced coated bubble was replaced by the inexpensive and regular uncoated bubble products. The increasing demand of inexpensive uncoated bubble packaging was a direct threat for the growth of the unique, premium priced and innovative coated product, AirCap. The situation had put Sealed Air Corporation at sixes and sevens. The market shares of the company for coated products in the US were 17.86% however; the entrance of a new company GAFCEL increased the demand for uncoated products. On the other hand, the market value of coated bubble products in the European market was also falling down to inexpensive uncoated bubble products. At this point, the product manager of Sealed Air Corporation Barrett Hauser was worried to choose a strategy to tackle this issue and to increase the company’s viability. In this report we will analyze the company from different perspectives to check the long run viability for uncoated products...
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...Sealed Air Corporation Executive Summary: Sealed Air has prided itself in being the market leader in technology for packaging. They developed the first closed-cell lightweight cushioning, and are seen as the market leader. They have a patent for the coated air bubble, which is the only coated bubble available for sale in America. This coated bubble has much stronger resistance and protection than the typical air bubble, as shown on the cushioning curve in exhibit 2. Sealed Air has also educated the market on their technology, so most clients don’t mind paying extra for the improved technology. They have recently encountered competition from a small firm that is selling uncoated air bubbles for a lower price than Sealed Air. This case analyzes the problem and the various steps Sealed Air can possibly take to beat the competition. In conclusion, the best option for Sealed Air would be to invest in uncoated bubbles as a sub brand of Sealed Air. I. BACKGROUND Introduction Sealed Air’s registered trademark name for it’s protective packaging materials was AirCap. The feature that differentiated AirCap cushioning products from all of its competitors was its barrier coating technology which greatly increased air retention, meaning less compression and better protection. Barrier coating and its customer benefits had been the central theme of Sealed Air’s AirCap cushioning for 10 years now. The three major segments for protective packaging market were positioning blocking, and...
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...Sealed Air Written Memo Marketing To the question of whether Sealed Air should enter the uncoated bubble market, there are two possible results: If Sealed Air was to put uncoated bubble products into production, the sales might not be very satisfying because of the already crowded market of uncoated bubble products. The competition is fierce, and the many the consumers cannot tell the differences on quality, nor do they actually do the cost-savings mathematics. Price is their priority, so if Sealed Air’s uncoated bubble products are not cheaper than its competitors’, then entering this market would be a waste of money and human resources. Not to mention that the marketing cost for the new product line is obviously not going to be a small sum if they want to beat the competitors. On the other hand Sealed Air cannot lessen the effort on marketing for the coated bubble products, because they would have to explain to the public why they should buy the expensive products if Sealed Air’s less expensive uncoated bubble products are as good as advertised. If Sealed Air doesn’t enter the uncoated bubble product market, and instead use the money on research to find some way to reduce the cost of their coated products and foam-in-place packaging and other products, this can also be a way of increasing sales and raising profits. A leading company does not have to be present in every product category to ensure their revenues. According to given data, the biggest segment in...
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...Case Study Company: Sealed Air Company History: Sealed Air Company was founded in 1960 and is still a leading global manufacturer of protective packaging. They operate in 51 different countries combining a unique consultative sales expertise with a global network of science and innovation to demonstrate how better packaging makes the world a better place. This company works with food packaging, protective packaging, medical product packaging, shrink packaging, and specialty materials. Mission: Provide the most innovative products in the packaging industry to suit the needs of all different consumers. To ensure customer satisfaction is at its best. General Environment: 1) Demographics: This Company is designed for all businesses in need of packaging. It is also for all companies in need of specialty materials. 2) Cultural Trends: Global allowing all aspects of cultures to influence merchandise and security for all items being packaged. In different countries different methods may be used and this company will provide those methods depending on where materials and packaging is needed. 3) Economic Climate: Currently increasing due to the more innovative and global companies arising. This is also increasing due to the globalization of companies and outsourcing. 4) Political & Legal: Labor laws due to the governmental rules for workers, and code of conduct to ensure the company is run in the correct manor and show the rules for the employees. 5) Technological...
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...Sealed Air Taiwan Analysis By Lynn Sharp Paine, Robert J. Crawford Source Problems s and Issues The Sealed Air Taiwan is currently exposed to succession problem and lack the availability of leadership who could govern the business operations and help it recover from the current state, where the business is generating operating losses. However, Sealed Air Taiwan is also facing staff related issues, meanwhile;since Sealed Air Taiwan is being controlled by Sealed Air Corporation from its US headquarter, hence, the cultural difference of the two countries in managing the business and employees are the key issues of Sealed Air Taiwan. Alternatives and Likely Outcomes of these Alternatives Sealed Air Corporation, from its headquarter in the United States have been trying to hire a general manager for Sealed Air Taiwan for successfully overseeing the business operations and can play his training and development of sales staff and other team members, but Sealed Air could not find a better fit for its Taiwan operations and finally posted Mr. Kayser as the general manager of Sealed Air Taiwan. However, Kayser could not manage the business in order to improve the profitability of operations. Sealed Air can overcome this lack of leadership issue either through removing Kayser and appointing a new manager who is local Taiwanese and knows the culture and traditional values of China. However, the appointment of a new manager will require screening and selection of candidates from within...
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...Case: Sealed Air Corp Sealed Air is a company that was established in 1960 and its history has been highly influenced by technical accomplishment and market leadership. Today they are a well established corporation with around 26000 employees and net sales of about $7.6 billion in 2010. Their mission is to utilize the fundamental knowledge they have as far as packing and performance based materials, so that sustainable products will reduce waste. They strongly value integrity, trust, respect and lead. 1. What has been happening in this market? How has Sealed Air (SA) been doing? The state of market occupied by Sealed Air is growing. The protective packaging market makes use of three main segments that are positioning, blocking and bracing, flexible warps, and void fill. The market for the prior element is unique. The latter two are almost inseparable as they are substituted for each other. There are competitions from several manufacturers and some of them in the flexible wrap market comprising of uncoated and coated air bubble. The selling method they have opted is personal selling. The market has been ever increasing in US and had majority of the market because of the patent protection, licensing of just competitor, and the packaging mentality of the citizens who were highly influenced by the packaging engineers. In England they were at the top until Sansetsu a Japanese firm advertised their product. This firm along with other uncoated bubble market snatched the company's...
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...Sealed Air Corporation Esettanulmány elemzés Tóth Veronika Neptun kód: HTS5P4 Tárgy neve: Marketing menedzsment Szemináriumvezető neve: Dr. Keszey Tamara Nóra Szeminárium időpontja: csütörtök 11:40-13:20 2014. október 5. A Sealed Air Corporation egy piacvezető vállalat a csomagolási rendszerek és megoldások területén. A cég 1971 és 1980 közötti +25 %-os forgalomnövekedése is jelzi a vállalat sikerességét az amerikai piacon. A csomagolóiparban élen járnak – az USA-ban 7 termelőüzemmel, 62 értékesítővel dolgoznak és jelen vannak a brit, a francia és a német piacon is Európában. A Sealed Air üzleti világának központjában a magas technológiai színvonal és innováció – a találékonysággal és hatékonysággal párban állnak, továbbá a piacon elsőként jelentek meg fogyasztóorientált szemléletmóddal. A csomagolóanyag piacon először ők vezettek be olyan termékvariánsokat, mint a zártcellás, könnyű párnázó anyag, a térkitöltő habcsomagoló és a komplett napenergiás futórendszer. A vállalat legkiemelkedőbb terméke az előbb említett párnázó anyag, mely az AirCap márkanévre hallgat, és egyediségét a záró bevonat adja a többi - versenytársak által előállított - buborékfóliás termékkel szemben. Bár piacvezető vállalatról beszélünk, mégis komoly kihívásokkal kell szembenéznie a Sealed Air-nek a 80-as évek elején. Az egyik fenyegető veszély, hogy – elsősorban az ár érzékeny európai piacon – folyamatosan esik a cég piaci részesedése, ugyanis ott megnőtt az olcsóbb csomagolóanyagok iránti...
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