THE ID CARD OF A FIRM :

GROUPE DANONE

We wert to investigate a large Public Limited Company using the Internet and then filled in the following identity card.

 

General information

Name of the business : Groupe Danone

Owners : Who are they ? How is the capital distributed ?

Capital distribution (31/12/02)

Number of shares (31/12/2002) : 137 335 122

What kind of business organisation it is ? It is an Anonymous Society

Is it listed on the Stock Exchange ? It’s listed on the Stock Exchange

Who runs it ? Franck Riboud (PDG), Jacques Vincent (Vice President)

History of the firm (who founded it. Choose 10 dates in the main events of its history) :
· In 1973, after some negotiations, BSN (a glass company) and Gervais Danone announced that they were to merge creating BSN Gervais Danone the biggest food group in France.
· In 1981, BSN Gervais Danone sold the glass companies in order to focuses definitively in the alimentary sector.
· During the beginning of the eighties, BSN Gervais Danone decide to extend its market in Europe.
· In 1986, BSN Gervais Danone start to be interested in biscuits and buy General biscuit which the first of a long list of biscuit’s brand that BSN Gervais Danone bought.
· In November 1989, following the collapse of the Soviet empire, BSN Gervais Danone enlarge its market in eastern Europe and buy Nabisco’s European subsidiaries : Belin (France), Jacob’s (UK) and Saiwa (Italy).
· In 1993, BSN Gervais Danone create a specialized export division so that they determine which brands have international potential and so they extend the number of potential clients.
· In 1994, BSN Gervais Danone decides that their brand name isn’t evocative so they change “BSN Gervais Danone” in “Groupe Danone” using the resonance of their main brand.
· In May 1997, Groupe Danone changes of strategy. It will only focuses in three sectors : dairy products, biscuits and snacks, and beverage. So it abandons the other sectors.
· Since 1998, Groupe Danone has buy more and more brands acquiring bigger share of market.
· In 2001, Groupe Danone buy 40 % of Stonyfield Farm which is the number one in the US organic yoghurt market and after becomes the majority with 80 %.

The sector : It’s the secondary sector because the raw materials are transformed. It’s part of the agribusiness sector because Groupe Danone sales food.

Description of the main activity and product : the main products of Group Danone is the dairy products (46%). The Groupe DANONE has the first place in this sector. In 2001 they sold 24 million of tons of dairy products and earned 42 billion euros.

Description of the other activities and products : Groupe Danone produce also biscuits (mostly LU) and snacks (24%), beverages (Evian, Volvic, Aqua) (27%), sauces and baby foods (3%). In these sectors too they have an important part of the market : first place (in volume) for the water and second place for the biscuits and snacks (in 2001).

Locations of the headquarters, and locations of the establishments : The headquarter is in Paris (France) and there are establishments in North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Easter Europe, Middle East, Asia, Pacific and Africa.

Recent statistics :
-Turnover (sales) : (in 2002) 13 550 million euros
-Profits : 1 283 million euros
-Number of employees : 100 560
-Growth rate of the number of employees :
fresh dairy product sector (1997-2001) : + 10.97 %
biscuits and snakes sector (1997-2001) : + 14.67 %
beverages sector (1997-2001) : + 136.2 %
-Value of the share, evolution of this value within the last years : (30 January 2004) 136 euros

Description of the demand

What customers are targeted ? All the people are targeted : children with the biscuits, family with water and dairy products.

How does demand change ? The demand increase because the population increase and also because people eat more.

Is the market expanding or saturated ? (justify your answer) The market is saturated because every one eat dairies, biscuits… And there aren’t new customers to attract for this type of products.

What is the market size (local, national, international) ? The Groupe Danone is an international firm.

 

(1) At constant scope of consolidation and exchange rates.

 

 

Description of the supply

What is the market share of the company ? The company has consequent international market shares :
Dairy products : 18 %
Biscuits and snakes : 11 %
Beverage : 12 %.

Who are the other competitors ? Are they dangerous ? The competitors of Groupe Danone are Nestlé SA, Weight Watchers International Inc, General Mills Inc., PepsiCo Inc., Cadbury Schweppes plc, Coca Cola Co., United Biscuits. Only one is really dangerous for Danone, Nestlé SA, it sales products in the same sectors and have brands which are as famous as Groupe Danone’s one ; but obviously, Groupe Danone is OK because it have good shares of markets.

Check-up of the company

Why is this firm successful ? Is it due to :
-the product or services (quality, scarcity, price…)…The quality of the products is very good and the price are very competitive.
-the organisation of labour…The organisation is well done : there are 4 divisions dairy, biscuits and snakes, beverage, geographic direction.
-the social policy…They take care about consumers tastes, about health, about well being, about the fact it simple to eat or drink.
-the environmental policy…It can’t be due to it because Groupe Danone had infringed twice the law (concerning the environment) and in two products there were signs of GM Organism

What are the difficulties currently faced ?

What are the causes and solutions to these difficulties ?

What are the firm’s news ? Since 1998, there have 3654 lays off, one corruption and Groupe Danone have bought Nestlé SA’s fresh dairy products of Turkey.

What are the future prospects ?

Relation of the firm with the rest of the world : Groupe Danone is well implanted all over the world, indeed Groupe Danone is nearly first in 3 sectors of international agribusiness and there are establishments in all the continents.

Where are the products made ? The products are made all over the world.

Personal comments

Why did you choose this firm ? We chose Groupe Danone because we frequently eat Danone’s dairy products so it interested us to know more about this firm.

How did you proceed to do this work ? How did you make your research ? We both did research and then we pooled what we had found. We did our research thanks to Internet.

How do you estimate your work ? In our opinion our work is quite complete.

Bibliography

www.danone.fr
www.danonegroup.com
http://bourse.lesechos.fr
www.transnational.org
www.euronext.com
http://www.prodimarques.com/danone/danone.htm

Copyright © 2004 Atoussa B. and Camille B. All rights reserved.