The United States The Home Appliance Industry

How much financial risk would American Home Products face at each of the proposed debt levels shown in case Exhibit 3? What debt rating would American Home received at each of the proposed debt levels?

Whirlpool is the world’s largest producer and marketer of small and large home appliances such as mixers, food processors, washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc. Whirlpool also has a long standing relationship with Sears, which sells Whirlpool products under the brand name Kenmore. In addition to its North American presence (both manufacturing and sales), Whirlpool also has a strong presence in Mexico, and Europe. Being the largest producer in the world has helped Whirlpool to compete on lower costs through economies of scale and through its Global Procurement Organization (GPO). In addition, its large networks also help in

Haiser entered into overseas markets as a contract manufacturer for multinational brands in early 1990s. First exported products to UK, then Germany, France and Italy. It also establisted joint ventures to explore the foreign markets; i.e. established a JV with Mitsubishi to set up China’s largest AC (“air conditioners”) production plant in 1994, in 1995 set up a JV with a local firm in India to produce refrigerators and ACs, in 1997 establised a JV with a Yugoslav company in Belgrade to produce ACs.

American Home Products offers a variety of products spread over 4 product lines. This allows the company to attract many consumers and if one product line does have a decline in sales, the company still has 3 other product lines to make up for the lost profit. The 4 product lines are prescription drugs, over the counter drugs, food products and housewares. These are very common

New appliances were a big part of the technological and social change during the 1920s. The appliances were a big change and was the first attempt of a “smart house”. It affected housewives because now that the appliances were there, society expected them to clean the house faster and keep it tidy all day.

- Best Buy tap on the reputation of Jiangsu Five Star Appliance Company because it is the largest retailers of consumer electronics and appliances in China.

EPS Growth Rate: These values are also found in exhibit 6, leading to g = 5.55%

The Whirlpool Europe case provides an opportunity to look at different ways to evaluate a major IT investment the company is considering. To undertake this analysis we have to make a few assumptions because the case does not have all the details needed to estimate benefits and investment cost. However, if you were in a company faced with this situation, these numbers would be available.

Faced the problem of losing customer faith in the Brita brand. Brita had slowed established a string brand position among consumers over the ten year period since 1988. It grew to be a $200m grossing company from a small filter system provider. Brand awareness stood at 70% and 18% of 103m households in US used Brita pitchers. This reputation was at stake due to the decline in sales and

Being the largest microwave manufacturer in the world, with strong commitment to R&D, expertise in manufacturing, logistics and quality control, and increased brand recognition in the overseas market Galanz has gained the competitive advantages for OBM export business. Galanz’s need continue to increase investments in innovation and branding in order to sustain the competitive advantage in the global markets and ensure that incremental gains are made to ensure profitability

Sears Holdings had the unique value created by having these proprietary brands, like they had with Craftsman Tools and they still have with Kenmore appliances. Sears Holdings has already had to sale off Craftsman Tools and they plan to sale Kenmore in the future. Sears has already lost some of this value of the name brand Kenmore due to agreeing with a deal with Amazon to sell Kenmore appliances in select regions. This is a mistake Sears Holdings is making in regards to having a respectable name brand appliance that creates a unique value. Amazon is a top competitor with all retail companies, and the retail marketplace is somewhere that unique value is not found.

If asked what you know about Maytag's marketing program, the first thing to come to mind would probably be its "lonely repairman" ad campaigns. For 35 years, those ads have helped position Maytag as a reliable brand for major appliances. Gordon Jump, an actor who really was a former Maytag repairman, played the lonely repairman role in ads for 14 years. In 2004, another veteran character actor, Hardy Rawls, took on that job. Although Maytag's basic positioning has been consistent over many years, marketing managers at Maytag are constantly developing new marketing strategies. So let's take a closer look at what they did in one innovative strategy-planning process that resulted in profitable growth for

Centralized Pricing – no wonder it takes 110 days to reprice its entire product line, when you are trying to manage an 180,000 line report. The centralized pricing will make Whirlpool more competitive in its 170 countries worldwide. Very smart move.

The main differences between Matsushita and Sony’s products are that, Matsushita product line is more involved in the household appliances market as it is the world leader in this category, while Sony strives to be the globe’s technological leader and has a product line that is driven by advanced consumer electronics. “While companies such as Matsushita concentrates on being customer intimate, Sony has differentiated itself by focusing on product leadership.” Matsushita is the largest home appliances and household equipment (HAHE) producer in the world. Some of Matsushita’s products include: microwave ovens, refrigerators, irons, fax machines, air compressors, automatic washers and dryers, vacuum cleaners, air

Haier is a Chinese electronical appliances producer and it decided to take a 20 per cent stake in Fisher & Paykel Appliances Company (F&P) which is a New Zealand company. According to their agreement, besides the stake, Haier will also take two seats on F&P’s board and also they will cooperate in various business functions, including product development, sourcing, manufacturing and marketing. This action brought win-win situation to both companies. For Haier, unlike its domestic acquisition strategy, this alliance strategy enabled access to well established