The Dannon Company - Coursework Example

The Dannon Company Introduction Danone Group is a multinational company which mainly produces food products like fresh dairy products, yogurts, cereals, baby foods, bottled water etc. This UK based company was founded in 1942. After conducting 67 years of business, it got the opportunity to enter in the US market. Dannon is the wholly owned subsidiary of Danone Group in the US market and presently more than 1, 500 employees are working in this company. Dannon markets and manufactures fresh dairy products. This company held number two position in the domestic yogurt market in the year 2008. The management of this company observed that US was an emerging market for yogurt products and so they were taking initiative to implement their marketing effort for this product in the US market. This company always wants to maintain corporate social responsibilities by focusing on the health consciousness of the targeted customers. They are promoting their products in such a way so that consumers can keep trust on their products. The management of this company always concentrates on preservation of the natural resources of this planet and tries to reduce mis-utilization of those resources in their business activities. They are also doing many internal research activities so that they can offer more healthy food products to the consumers. Nutrition and health, people and nature are the three concepts the company is using to represent its corporate social responsibility to the public. Brief Discussion Part A As per case study and its detailed analysis this can be said that Dannon should start to communicate with its customers in a proactive way about its corporate social responsibilities. From the time of foundation this company was very active in education and research work on healthy eating but very few customers were aware about this fact. In this case mass awareness is necessary to increase the reputation of business and demand of its products. This is one kind of marketing strategy which is focused on the good aspects of business. If the company is doing its corporate social responsibility in a silent way then there is no meaning for doing such noble work as because no one is known about this fact that what the company is doing for the health benefit of its customers. So it can be said that proactive communication is very much important in this regard (Coombs and Holladay, 2011). As there was increasing growth of yogurt consumption in the US market so the company benefitted for starting its business in this country. Revenue and profit increased along with the per capita consumption. The company received tax incentive or a financial benefit from the government to promote the health consciousness factors among public. This practice also helped in reducing marketing cost of this company. Few risk factors were also associated with the CSR activities of Dannon. People could misinterpret their perception. They also could think that it was another company which was seeking commercial presence in the market. Initially Dannon was implemented such strategies which was composed on the basis of grassroots, small scale and with local community engagement. So there was a high chance for losing credibility of this company in the market. Currently Dannon is engaged to develop such kind of projects which can capitalize the three main themes of its parent company and these themes are nutrition & health, nature and people. Dannon is very much engaged with the social environment and supported local community organization by providing volunteer time and donations. The company has taken initiatives during the time of children’s day at each and every year on a continuous basis and helps to poor children. It also helps the local hospitals for providing healthy environment to the patients. Dannon’s CSR initiatives are also focused on the environmental factors and performs carbon footprint analysis for understanding the key areas from where maximum percentage of carbon is generated at the time of manufacturing products. Again U.S. Dannon Institute which is a nonprofit and independent organization is involved in promoting nutritional value for children and health benefit factors. Automatically a positive and good impact can be observed on the image of its parent company through the effective and successful CSR initiative taken by Dannon. Part B Being a parent company Danone is always encouraged and supported its subsidiary for making local decisions. Though some benefits are involved in such decision but few risk factors are also attached in it. Local executives are completely responsible for the profit or loss of every country based business units (CBUs). So it is a risk to the subsidiary company. Again scientific formulas are created at headquarter for further development of any food product. It is a cost effective method which is borne by the parent company and the subsidiary company is getting benefit in this regard. Danone often conducted training for all the managers and executives on the communication strategy with the external parties. This training was very much helpful for Dannon to promote their corporate social responsibilities in the market. Again this can be said that the theme of Dannon’s CSR activities was based on Danone’s CSR themes. According to the instruction of Danone, Dannon was also maintaining open global culture in their operating and CSR activities. So obviously there was a strong impact of parent company’s CSR on the CSR activities of Dannon. The Communication Strategy Communication is an integral part to establish a business and also to run that business in a successful way. Without proper communication people cannot get any information about the offered products or services by the company, how much efficiently the company is performing its activities etc. Again flow of information from lower to upper level, from upper to lower level and with the external parties are very much important for efficient operational activities. In case of corporate social responsibility external communication is required by a company for creating awareness. If the company is doing some research work for generating more nutritional value in its food products then that also has to communicate with the customers. Otherwise customers cannot get this information that this company is trying to provide few benefits through its food products and also is maintaining their corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a right way. Giving CSR marketing messages to the customers from the end of the company is a very much important step to implement a proper communication strategy. This will also work as a promotional tool for increasing the volume of business (Hawkins, 2006). In the CSR campaign of this company, management can use two way communication strategies which are interactive media initiatives and targeted communication channel [for example – PR programs]. Through this process not only the company will give information to customers about their performance but also management can receive feedback from the customers about their conducting activities. The two ways communication strategy will help in case of further improvement in company’s performance level if needed and also can identify some specific problems which the management is unable to find out. Proper and efficient CSR communication strategy will increase the confidence level of consumers on the Dannon’s product. A specific amount should be invested for this communication process such as advertisement on the individual sub brand products of this company. This advertisement through television channels will focus on the health benefits and nutritional values of the offered products. The company should publish the report on its corporate social responsibilities through its website so that customers and stake holders can get information about the good perspective of this company and their dependency on this company’s products and performance will be increased more than the earlier days (Kotler and Lee, 2011). Conclusion At the part of conclusion this can be analyzed that being a subsidiary company of Danone, Dannon Company is maintaining its corporate social responsibilities on the basis of three basic themes which are nutrition & health, people and nature. The U.S. Dannon Institute was dedicated to spreading awareness about nutrition and health benefits and it is also created an educational curriculum on the basis of nutrition. Again the institute was involved with District Administration Magazine to publish a health related journal on an interval of some specific period. Dannon is taking special initiative to help poor and sick children during the time of children’s day. Again the company is also developed comprehensive work life wellness program for its employees. It has taken significant steps on environmental factors such as carbon footprint and reducing wastage of natural resources. The communication strategy of this company needs to be improved. This is hereby suggested that two ways communication strategy is appropriate to improve such situation and company also can get feedback from the customers about the loopholes of its activities. Promotion of CSR activities will help to increase the level of trustworthiness in the market. The activities of parent company impact in a positive way on the activities of Dannon. The company was emerging in the U.S. market as there was lot of scopes to achieve the maximum market share in the yogurt product category. As the company is concentrating on the health and nutritional factors of food products so if it will promote its CSR activities after applying open communication system then the company will be more profitable in near future. References Coombs, W. and Holladay, S. (2011). Managing Corporate Social Responsibility: A Communication Approach. Beijing: John Wiley & Sons. Hawkins, D. (2006). Corporate Social Responsibility: Balancing Tomorrows Sustainability and Todays Profitability. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Kotler, P. and Lee, N. (2011). Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause. Beijing: John Wiley & Sons. Read More