Colgate Competitor Analysis

Colgate Competitor AnalysisIt tot on the wholey began in 1806, when soap was commonly make at home William Colgate had the supporter sentiment to start selling individual portions of starch, soap and piece of assdles. This business was born(p) on Dutch Street, in recent York City, from where he delivered his merchandise to altogether nodes, an modernistic approach at the time. By 1817, the go unrivalled Colgate advertisement appe ard in a New York b be-assedspaper, and some(prenominal) days later, they expanded and naturalized a factory in New Jersey, an indication of their growing winner. This bon ton was passed vote out from son to son, each and every one of them striving for integrity and graphic symbol in every aspect of the business. Concepts such as Colgate people were a way of managing, not just a team, that a family. This sup aim was first introduced by the riger and is inactive utilise today. through with(predicate)out the socio-economic classs, C olgate was an innovator, unendingly development new wares. They were able to forecast commercialise trends before the contender and develop fast(a) sign equity through mergers, acquisitions, and pin ventures. The first merger was with Palmolive Company, a soap smart set as well. Together, they dod the first cause to be perceived soaps, perfumes, and essences. In 1872, Colgate introduced toothpaste in malleable tube similar to the one we experience today. Superior merits gave this convenient and simple tarnish the prestige to successfully woo into several diametric grocerys. In 1900, they won an honorable award for their subvention soaps and perfumes at the Worlds Fair, which was conducted in Paris. In 1906, the 100th anniversary pronounced the success of everywhere 800 cross offs, multiplying considerably in the age to fol first gear.The years to come charter Colgate starting to think globally, by doing so through a underling in Canada, quickly followed by ope rations in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa. The cultivation of new swords begins going rapidly, and what seems to be like one influential brand after the other is constantly bombarding the foodstuff. Many cleaning harvest-tides be found such as Ajax and Soupline, which was first usual in France and is now exchange in 54 countries or so the do primary(prenominal) of a function. The Palmolive dishwashing liquid was introduced in 1966 and can now be found on rack of your local grocery store. Irish Spring, Caprice hair business concern, and Protex, be brands that you are besides probably aware of, proving to still be successful to this day, and can be found in over 70 countries. In 1976, they even acquired a loss attracter in dog food named Hills, which shows to what extent they were confidently conquering the world horizontally with this wide concoctioning of products. In 1983, one of todays extremely popular products, the Colgate Plus toothbrush, is launche d. So legion(predicate) are sold annually that if you seamed them up end to end, they would circle the globe 16 times. (Colgate Website) Soon after,a joint venture is made with steer viva dish out companies in Hong Kong. Acquisitions are made purchase Murphy Oil Soap, Mennen,Kolynos vocal Care, popular in Latin America, Gaba, prevalent in Europe, and they just to a greater extent or less recently bought Toms of Maine, a US based natural toothpaste. By 1989 the annual gross taxation were surpassing 5 billion dollars, and by 1997, Colgate Total toothpaste is acknowledge as the food market leader. With gross sales today surpassing the 15$ billion benchmark, Colgate continues to be a rugged player in todays ad-lib palm market.to a greater extentover, the follow to a fault conducts three both(prenominal) bottom line practices, stretchiness for success age targeting benefits for people, gains, and the environment. They give way a You Can Make A Difference Program, which distinguishes the Colgate people for their grand swithers. Furthermore, they established Colgates HIV/AIDS initiatives in South Africa. As for coiffeance and profit, they draw been ranked in Business Week and GovernanceMetrics International Inc. as having the clear up Oral Care products. Concerning sustainable practices and respect for the environment, they contri onlyed in a 40% decrease in water use, a 22% reduction in C02 emissions, and was the first of its industry to use recycled material in Europe.Market intentness and Market AnalysisWith over 24% division parting in 2009, Colgate-Palmolive affirmed its position as a world leader in ad-lib administer followed by Procter Gamble Co with 19.9% of company fates, and GlaxoSmithKline Pc with 9.9% (GMID company percentages) (appendix with company shares graph). A significant background why Colgate benefits from the luxuriouslyest market share in the viva keeping category is due to it proud train of product t raining. They constantly launch new and innovative products, which gives them a belligerent profit in the market, and this is a big part of the companys schema driving profitable addition. For example, in 2009 the company introduced the Colgate Wisp which was the first disposable mini-toothbrush with a breath freshening bead that allows the user to slang a clean, fresh sassing with no water or rinsing. Due to their strong product development capability and focus on innovation, Colgate-Palmolive is in a position to unendingly upgrade its product line regularly, at that organizeby increasing customer trueness and revenues. another(prenominal) reason why Colgate has been able to acquire such a high market share is because of its high focus on marketing, leading to strong brand equity. Their marketing st grazegies involve offering products based on consumers needs and communicating the benefits though methods like free sampling as well as the Internet. Using this approach world wide has been successful in increasing sales but also in acquiring a larger size of the overall category of the market. A further reason why the market share is high is because the brand enjoys a strong level of consumer recognition. Therefore, they take over the possibility of draw ining leverage in new markets and maintaining dedication of real customers. In addition to cosmos a global leader in terms of company shares, Colgate Palmolive Co also has the highest brand share in oral care, with Colgate possessing 19.8% in 2009. The Colgate brand is followed by the Braun Oral-B brand having 9% of the market and because by hint obtaining 6.4% of brand shares in that same year (GMID- product development) (appendix with brand shares graph). Other smaller but still significant challengers that Colgate-Palmolive faces in the oral care category involve Johnson Johnson Inc, with their Listerine brand accounting for 6.4% of brand shares, followed by the Unilever group with Signal th at has 4.1%, and lastly GlaxoSmithKline Pc who owns the Aquafresh brand with 3.3% of brand shares. It is important to note that although the Colgate brand is experiencing emersion year after year, the oral care is a mature category with limited room for innovation. take down though in that location are some growth opportunities, because oral care accounts for around 63% of Colgate-Palmolives beauty and own(prenominal) care revenue, it is highly exposed to a slump in this category. In addition to being a mature category, the oral care products are facing a higher level of disputation from private labels, which over again hinders the profitability of the category. The increasing purchase of private labels is generally due to the decrease spending power, which is caused by the high level of unemployment in legion(predicate) sectors since the stinting downturn occurred. With a minimal cost per purchase, maintaining a high level of brand equity allows Colgate to remain competitiv e versus lower cost have-to doe withs. It also prevents recently established firms from gaining market share.With the threat of private label, Colgate cast upd their effort towards innovation and branding by promoting the fact that they are the most recommended brand by dentists. This has helped Colgate fight the competitive pressures they are facing in the market. non only does Colgate face increased competition from low-market brands but also from their major(ip) competitors such as Procter Gamble oral care products, who are also looking to expand globally in more perspective markets. Therefore, it is pristine for Colgate to continue confideing in product development catering to customer needs, in tack to face their increasing competition. There is also the come to the fore of counterfeiting oral care products which is posing a significant threat to the company in terms of revenue loss. In 2009 thousands of tubes of fake Colgate toothpaste were recalled. This had a blackb all effect on customer satisfaction since purchasers of the authentic Colgate could stop buying this brand in the future believing that it is inferior to other brands and because decreasing customer retention (Datamonitor). Despite the significant threats that Colgate faced in the oral care category, the company intends to remain in a market leading position and continues to have globally recognized brands by pursuance opportunities allowing them to do so. For instance, Colgate had begun taking wages of the economic and population growth with evolution and emerging economies such as Brazil, India and China. Each of these economies show very high growth prospects in terms of demand in the upcoming years for consumer goods like oral care products. For instance, it is expected that between 2009 and 2014, Brazil allow for be the fastest growing market in oral care by accounting for 20% of the global growth, followed by China with 18%, and India with 9%. Although Colgate-Palmolive d ominates oral care in Brazil, China and India with 44%, 26% and 38% of market share respectively, it is essential for the company to maintain and increase its presence in these economies in order to reap the benefits of this growth rate (GMID-product development) (appendix with market presence graph). However, they have already begun facing strong competition from their rivals PG and Johnson and Johnson in these countries. Local players in India and China have also begun gaining impressiveness in their individual markets. Domestic companies such as Yunnan Baiyao in China, and Dabur in Japan, have begun offering herbal/natural oral care products and there is a growing demand for them. Since Colgate is one of the most take to bed and recognized brands globally, they are in a good position to take advantage of this market and further increase their market share.Competitive Analysis of Oral Care in the Canadian MarketIn the Canadian market, as of 2009, Colgate-Palmolive was the second leading company, with 18% of the market share in the oral care sector, after PG who possessed 34%, and just before Johnson and Johnson, who owned 17% of shares (Euromonitor) (Appendix oral company shares 2005-2009). In terms of company shares by brand in Canada, in 2009, Crest led the oral care category with 18.6% of shares, followed by Colgate Total with 7.8%, Listerine with 7.1%, and Braun Oral-B with 6.4%. Refer to appendix xx for oral care brand shares.Nevertheless, during that same year, Colgate was a leader in the sales of toothpaste with 42% of the encourage share (with Colgate Total accounting for a total of 21.5%) followed by Crest with 30.2% (Appendix toothpaste brand shares). The third company was SmithKline Beecham Consumer healthcare Inc (SBCH), whose 13% market share was largely due to the introduction of Sensodyne in 2007, which was very popular in the Canadian market. In reaction to this, Colgate launched a similar toothpaste in 2009 for subtle teeth called Colg ate Pro Relief, which was clinically turn out to deliver instant and lasting relief from sensitivity. Another significant rival in the oral care category in Canada is Johnson and Johnson whom, aside from having a big presence in toothbrushes and denture care, was the leader in gargle/dental rinses with its Listerine brand, holding 52% of the value share in 2009. non far behind was Scope (PG) with 26%, and Peroxyl (Colgate) in fifth place with less than 1% share (mouthwash/dental rinses shares appendix). When looking at PG, Colgates main competitor, their portfolio of brands in oral care category is highly diversified with Crest toothpastes and toothbrushes, discolour strips Oral-B toothbrushes, and Scope mouthwashes/dental rinses. Also, like Colgate-Palmolive, PG continuously come out in strong marketing and advertising in order to maintain minute brand image and brand sense in the Canada. Therefore, in order to remain competitive and gain greater market share in the Canadian market, not only testament Colgate need to continue to authorise heavily in marketing, but a large amount exit also have to be allocated towards innovation and product development. Knowing this, the company has recently introduced a multitude of new products including Colgate 360 ActiFlex, Colgate ooze White, the re-launch of Colgate Total toothpaste and many more.Even though Colgate faces fierce competition in the Canadian market, there are many opportunities for them to exploit in order to gain market share. For instance, it is expected that tooth whitener products allow for be increasingly profitable, with a CAGR of 4% from 2009-2014 (Euromonitor). In addition, a CAGR of 3% is expected during that same period for manual(a) of arms toothbrushes, mouthwash/dental rinses and dental floss (Oral Care- Canada). Due to the increasing number of elderly people in Canada, it is expected that the denture care products entrust grow at a CAGR of 3% from 2009-2014. It is essential for Colgate that they take advantage of these relatively high growth rates in Canada for the antithetical oral care products, in order to acquire new customers and retain those who have been loyal to this day.Canadian Consumer ProfileBeing part of such a competitive market, Colgate aims to deliver maximized customer value to the market, offering a multi-product section strategy. Colgate has identified all ages with any economic backgrounds as their target market, with the most focus on the baby boomer generation. There is an increasing growth of older demographics with low rate of childbirth, and this has had a direct impact on Colgate products. This shift resulted in a larger demand for oral care products that helps tooth discolouration, tooth sensitivity, and gum problems. The baby boomers usually have the highest disposable income, and they demand special health benefits. This allows Colgate to position this departments products at a premium price. With this strategy, Colgate ha d 19.1% of sales from sensitive toothpastes in 2009, illustrating a profitable customer focus. As well, the recession in 2008 allowed Colgate to further focus their sales towards baby boomers. Due to the recession, the number of passkey tooth whitening surgeries fell, which caused an increase in the demand for whitening toothpastes. Colgate, offering a wide signifier of whitening toothpastes, was able to increase their sales in this sector, with sales of $78.2 million, which consists of 38.9% of their sales. It is also forecasted that the demand for tooth whiteners are to increase by 4% from 2009 to 2014.Not only is Colgate targeting baby boomers, but it is also targeting children to capture a long-term kin with this age group as 6.8% of sales are from childrens toothpastes. For low to middle class consumers that are price-sensitive, Colgate offers traditional toothpaste. They comprise about 6.9% of their total sales. For quality-conscious consumers, Colgate offers wide variety o f complete care toothpastes 18.2% of the sales. Colgate continues to increase brand recognition in this mature market to increase retention and the true by orderedly offering a variety of products that outperform go any customers needs.StrategyProductWith over 20 different toothpastes, 11 different toothbrushes, 5 different childrens products, 10 different tooth whitening, and 10 different oral care specialties available in Canada, Colgate has successfully gained customer obedience (see Appendix 1.1). This variety of products illustrates that Colgate has used a needs based segment strategy to attract every customer with different tastes. To list a few examples, Colgate sensible Pro-Reliefs feature of plugging and sealing open dentin tubules intends to gain interest from adults and elders whose sensitivity levels are often higher than other consumers. Moreover, Colgate Max Fresh mainly targets young adults with their different flavors and protection from bad breath. On the ot her hand, the idea of Colgate SpongeBob SquarePants Battery-Powered Toothbrushes was innovated to attract children, but it also was created with dreary bristles to protect their gums. From these following examples, it is obvious to note that Colgate is recognizing and understanding clients needs by providing the right products for each age group, which is a key factor when severe to increase loyalty and retain customers.Colgate continues to increase their value by aligning their products in all sectors of the market from toothpastes that has no animal ingredients to attract vegetarians, or toothpastes that reduce the speed of the development of tartar above the gum line, to toothbrushes that are price-conscious or designed to remove odour-causing bacteria. By providing such a variety of products, they are preventing competition and substitution.Another factor that helped Colgate gain high awareness was through innovative packaging. For example, when Colgate was trying to penetrat e the already existing whitening toothpaste market, they decided to come up with new premium packages matching their idea of creating sparkling and dazzling smiles. The toothpaste had a holographic package to catch attention. In order to go for sure of this package, they used lead users strategy, where they gained a positive(p) reaction, and therefore decided to launch the new product with this innovative packaging. Another example involves the launch of Colgate Max Fresh toothpaste in a eccentric clear tube. This new packaging was created for user convenience, so that the users know how much is left in the tube, notifying them when to replace it. With the slogan, find the right products that are ruff for you, Colgate strives to provide satisfaction to their consumers by supplying them with a range of products that meets their needs. In 2011, the company plans to continue innovation to meet consumer needs by introducing new products such as the Colgate Total Gum Defense, Colgate MaxClean SmartFoam toothpaste, Colgate 360 Surround, and Colgate Triple Action manual toothbrushes (http//investor.colgate.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=545863ReleaseType=Earnings)/PromotionIn order for Colgate to maintain its value in this competitive market, Colgate spent a total of $1,534 million in 2009. This expenditure was largely involved with the furtherance of new, growing, and maturing products. When launching a new product, such as Colgate 360 toothbrush, their advertising target was to be informative and persuasive. They used advertising, sales promotion, as well as the publicity approach, including advertising through cable T.V., consumer magazines, providing product samples, and utilizing point of purchase. Furthermore, they used lead user strategy, which helped create great word-of-mouth. (dentist recommended brand)Even though promoting new products is important, Colgate believes that it is also crucial to continue advertising the existing products in the maturit y stage. Rather than promoting in order to be informative, objective for products in this stage involve successfully reminding the consumers in order to create greater retention. Reminding the consumers is essential since this helps consumers acknowledge Colgate products existence and availability, while preventing them from switching to their competitors. Through using the take away strategy, Colgate has invested a great deal of their revenue to sales promotion, personal selling, and direct marketing. By using extensive chaw marketing, consumer promotion at point of purchase, and organizing special events where they aim to build one-on-one relationship and increase net marketing contribution.PricingColgate-Palmolives oral care component offers a variety of toothpastes, toothbrushes, mouth rinses and dental floss. These products are characterized as being low priced, requiring minimal buyer effort, and are subject to mass dissemination and promotion by the producer. Typically w ith these sorts of low-involvement products, price plays the most significant image in the decision-making process. However, recent consumer trends suggest an added perceived value of certain oral hygiene product attributes, in particular the newly launched whitening, sensitive, and total care products, which now account for over 76% of the value share of toothpastes in 2009. With price being the most flexible of the four marketing mix elements and changes in consumer trends, Colgate has authentic dozens of different brand extensions at different prices ranging from $1.685 (per 100ml) to $5.871 (per 100ml) to reflect these changing demands (see appendix for further detail). Colgate therefore is primarily employing value-based determine for these products as production costs do not significantly vary. Colgate has been curiously successful in doing so as people tend to be reassured when they buy a more pricey hygiene product, for they make the assumption that it is the best possi ble thing they can do for their teeth. However, with families and consumers modify budgets and reducing consumption as a result of the continuing acerb economic climate, it will become harder for manufacturers such as Colgate to continue to plague prices for most oral hygiene products, even advanced formulations, as consumers will readily switch to similar competitors or private label brands. Toothbrushes, on the other hand, face different consumer behaviors. Despite the economic climate, Colgate has employed a similar value-based pricing strategy in its toothbrushes by introducing improved manual toothbrushes that are claimed to be superior to its basic predecessors, and therefore carry a higher price tag. Colgate manual toothbrushes sold at a variety of retailers range from $1.99 to $5.99. This strategy has been particularly successful as Canadian consumers have developed loyalty to their brand of toothbrush for they sense a more significant difference between the regular and i mproved toothbrushes, thusly dissuading many from switching or trading down, thus increasing consumer lifetime value and profitability. Colgate is also catering to more health conscious but price-sensitive consumers by increasingly introducing affordable electric toothbrushes.DistributionBeing low priced, and requiring low consumer effort, Colgate products must be mass distributed and accessible to most if not all Canadians. Colgate employs an intensive dispersion strategy aimed at a maximum market coverage which supports the application of product replenishment based on pull strategies, as these come closest to reflecting true consumer demand. Research suggests supermarkets are the largest distribution points for toothpaste as well as other oral care products, followed by mass merchandisers and drug stores. With that in mind, it would simply not be in force(p) for Colgate to sell immediately to small distributors, therefore Colgate products often go through at least one wholesa ler before reaching the shelves of our supermarkets. Colgate does but, directly sell to some of the larger retailer concatenations such as Wal-Mart, who purchase in such large volumes that it is more efficient to do so. Colgate therefore operates in what is called a parallel distribution network in which some retailers are forced to buy through a mass distributor while others are not. However, Colgate is working closely with small frequent owners and local wholesalers through Joint Business Plans to ensure greater availability of Colgate products, as well as to provide the right assortment of products with the best visibility on the store shelves. Prior to distribution, while Colgate products are produced around the world, use of contract manufacturers is very limited as more than 90% of products were made in Colgate facilities. Colgate does concede however that the use of contractors often allows to optimize their supply chain capabilities, deliver innovative technologies, incre ase speed of delivery, and curiously increases flexibility which is key in a rapidly changing marketplace. Three-year globalization contracts with their main suppliers enabled a reduction of the supplier base from 11 to 4 suppliers. For a key toothpaste ingredient, the supplier base was reduced from 7 to 3 to help achieve record savings and cost reductions. With optimized supply chain logistics and control over the manufacturing process, Colgate products are quick to move from their respective factories to stores all throughout Canada. In five years, Colgate managed to cut its time from product supposition to retail shelves by 50%.ResultsColgate-Palmolives CEO, Ian Cook, claims that his firm will continue to perform well given the current competitive and economic challenges and are attached to investing and growing our business and expanding our strong market positions (A-R 2009). Interestingly enough, Colgate-Palmolives company shareholders equity has bounced back from a ten year low, in millions, of 350 in 2002 to 3,116 as of 2009. Colgate-Palmolive (C-P) has clearly proven itself as a successful and innovative company year after year with solid financial results and undifferentiated growth. In fact, the company claims to have obtained significantly superior results versus the SP index and the come of selected competition over the last 25 years. C-P obtained 3328% versus 2833% growth among competitors. Against the SP index the results are even greater compared with a 969% return to shareholders (Colgate TSRG). In Canada, Colgate-Palmolives launch of Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief has been quite successful. It is now the number one selling SKU and the firms number one competitor has reacted with deep discounting, though Colgate maintains that they have taken market share away once the subsidies cease. They plan to invest and grow while still seeking to further already strong market positions. operate revenue has increased for Colgate Palmolive steadily over the last 5 years. Although revenues from pecuniary year 2009 were virtually unchanged from 2008, operating cash flow was up over 43% in 2009. The firm has consistently maintained its gross profit as a percentage of sales above the 50% threshold, reaching close to 60% in both 2009 and 2010. In addition, diluted shekels per share have seen 65.5% growth from 2004 to 2009. EXPLAIN WHAT THE NUMBERS MEANAs of C-Ps last quarter, northeastern America formed approximately 19% of sales and unit volume grew 3.5% and 4.0%. Operating profit increased 22%. Although the 2010 annual report and official audited results have yet to be released as to date, fiscal year 2010 worldwide sales were $15,564 million, up 1.5% versus full year 2009. Operating cash flow in 2010 was lower by 2% to $3,211 million, a considerable drop compared to the aforementioned 43% increase in 2009. However, North America remains sluggish, where operating profit decreased 8%. inform sales gains were 2%, with a 3.5% increa se in volume while accepting 2.5% increase in coupons and promotions. C-Ps free cash flow, before dividends, does however remain very strong consistent with 2009 it exceeded 100% of net income. network income and diluted EPS for fiscal year 2010 were $2,203 million and $4.31, versus $2,291 million and $4.37 in 2009.From the program line of Cash flows, in is clear C-P has been increasingly using debt to increased capital. issuance from issuance of debt having increased approximately 3.5 billion and 231.4 % from 2007-10 with net cash used in financing activities also increased 45.5%. Capital expenditures have remained consistent since 2007. Despite increases in net income, depreciation and amortization have remained truehearted over the last 5 years, with no unusual increase or decrease. Total assets are also virtually unchanged from 2009 to 2010. In their 2008 annual report, Colgate stated that they spent over $1.6 billion marketing its products around the world. In other words, Colgate is spending an amount nearly equal to the book value of its equity capital, which accounts for about 11% of total sales, every year on marketing its products. This is evidently a significant amount of capital that will be creating value for the firm in future business. For a competitor to replicate this company, C-P claims that they would have to spend quaternarys of this amount to establish and develop the relationships that they have acquired over many years. They claim that the same is true for certain general, administrative, and look for and development expenses all of which are being expensed as incurred. In evaluating the firms results, it is thus imperative to include the intrinsic value of marketing efforts.RecommendationsAccording to oral care forecasts in Canada, Colgate should definitely continue to maintain its position as a domestic leader in toothpaste since it represents the highest level of sales in the Canadian market. This can be done successfully by dev eloping new products and affectively marketing each one respectively. Colgate should then focus on manual toothbrushes because they have the second highest level of sales, followed by dental rinses, tooth whiteners and then denture care, which do in fact show growth but at more modest levels of sales. Secondly, while basic products provide the essential means of oral care, more expensive value-added products provide convenience and alleviate to the consumers ready to pay higher prices, such as babyboomers. People usually tend to be reassured when they buy a more expensive product, because they feel assured that its the best possible thing they can do for their teeth. In addition to new product development, companies will focus on marketing and advertising support of their existing brands.Colgate should continue to remain on the high end scale of the oral care industry and maintain position in the high end category. Moreover, with respect to the Canadian market, they should invest m ore heavily in the mouthwashes considering that they have no market share while sales are the third highest in the oral care category after toothpaste and toothbrushes.As previously mentioned, the toothpaste market is generally not price sensitive and brand loyalty plays an important role in majority of the customers. Currently nearly 97% of the population in developed countries uses at least one variety of toothpaste. This gives marketers virtually no station to expand the market with new users. Consequently, adding or increasing value to the product is the preferred alternative. Technological progress made in recent years alter the toothpaste segment and made innovation a driving force. New advancements have led to the launch of a variety of high-priced, value-added multifunctional products in several oral care categories such as toothpastes and toothbrushes. Whitening toothpastes and products offering multiple functions are driving growth in the dentifrices segment. Currently, for major toothpastes, averting tooth moulder is not sufficient, therefore guaranteeing benefits such as fresher breath, healthier gums and whiter teeth. More comprehensive products such as Colgate Total have strengthened Colgate-Palmolives market position substantially. Technological advancements in recent years have altered the toothpaste segment to one that offers additional benefits besides just fighting cavities. This made manufacturers roll out products with a lot of additional features that were not available previously. Over three-fourths of net sales come from outside coupled States, so in future years strengthening market position worldwide will be integral to triumph over the competition. In addition, the considerable revenues from international operations are key to sustaining the firms value proposition, as product innovation has revitalized the oral care market in recent years. To ensure future success Colgate must continue to invest in product in