Marketing Strategies / Strategic Marketing Case Study

ITC's Packaged Food Business: Towards Market Leadership

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Abstract:
Indian tobacco giant, ITC has ventured into a series of unrelated business which is totally disparate from their core business. Over the years, ITC has diversified into sectors such as branded apparel, IT, packaged foods and greeting cards. The increasing challenge in the operating environment for cigarettes prompted the diversification. In 2008, the overall growth in the non-tobacco segment including its packaged food business was over 50% as compared to the tobacco segment which was only 13%. ITC has leveraged its strengths amassed during its 10 years of business to establish their packaged food products. The case debates whether the ITC approach would eventually lead to the market leadership it aspires for.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To perform a product portfolio planning of ITC.
• To comprehend the performance of the diversified multinational ITC.
• To probe into the reasons for the entry of ITC into packaged foods.
• To understand the internal synergies drawn upon by a conglomerate to attain market leadership.

Keywords :  ITC, Packaged food, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods), Synergies, Strategy, Market leadership, BCG matrix, Diversification, Performance analysis