Select one country where Kellogg’s barely hanging on to the market share.

Business by Geoffrey

Q1. Select one country (excluding the U.S. and Canada) in which Kellogg’s holds number 1 market share in the breakfast food category in that country. (i.e. higher share-of-market than Kellogg’s competitors)

    1. Name the country
    2. How are Kellogg’s cereals consumed in that country?
    3. Is it a breakfast food?
    4. Consumed with milk as Americans do?
    5. Give me details of what typical families eat for breakfast.
    6. What other Kellogg’s product line extension (derivatives of cereals, e.g. cereal bars, etc.) are popular in that country?

Q2. Select one country where Kellogg’s barely hanging on to the market share.

    1. Name that country
    2. Why do you think Kellogg’s is not doing well in that country?
    3. Who are the other players?
    4. Why are they doing better than Kellogg’s?

Q3. For the country you chose for Q2, from strategic point-of-view, why is Kellogg still in that market if they are not making that much money? Or are they?

Q4. Now, look at Kellogg’s activities in Japan. Japan is the 3rd strongest economic powerhouse in the world. Consumers in Japan have high disposable income, making Japan a very viable market for many companies to enter.

Make sure you do the research. Do not fall into the pitfall of making assumptions nor believing in the stereotypes. You will have to dig deep into the research. First tier of research will give you stereotypical answers of Japanese people eat rice and fish in the morning. Consumers in Japan do not all eat rice in the morning!! Most of the people in Japan eat toast, egg, milk, etc. for breakfast.
Warning: YOU WILL LOSE POINTS IF YOUR ANSWER IS: “Cereal is not popular in Japan because Japanese people all eat fish and rice in the morning.” Such response is Stereotype and Superficial Research.

    1. Why isn’t Kellogg cereals’ sales high in Japan?
    2. What cultural/behavioral differences make Japan a difficult market for Kellogg’s to penetrate further?

      Research not just their behavior but also of their psychology. Research along the lines of what the Japanese society dictates as roles of moms and what are expected of them.

    3. Consider also what moms themselves perceive as what their roles and responsibilities should be to be a “good mom.”
    4. Acknowledging this, why does Kellogg’s insist on having its presence in Japan?
    5. What should Kellogg’s do with the product idea?
    6. If the brand insists on cereal, what should be the positioning of the product?
    7. How should it be used?
    8. If the brand wishes to introduce a cereal derived product, what should it be?