Reference no: EM131283874
Whirlpool Corporation, headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan, is the world's number one appliance company. The company sells more than $18 billion worth of "white goods" each year; this category includes refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, dryers, and microwave ovens. Whirlpool's success has been achieved, in part, by offering a brand portfolio of products in different price ranges. These include the premium KitchenAid and Maytag brands as well as the medium-priced Amana and Whirlpool brands. Not surprisingly, the global economic crisis has translated into lower sales in North America and Europe, where Whirlpool generates nearly 75 percent of its revenues. By contrast, sales in Latin America and Asia are showing double-digit gains. Whirlpool is not new to foreign markets; for example, the company has had a presence in Latin America since 1957.
Today, it is the market share leader there, offering global brands (Whirlpool, KitchenAid, and Maytag) as well as local (Brastemp) and regional ones (Consul). At the beginning of 1993, David Whitwam, then-chairman and CEO of Whirlpool Corporation, told an interviewer, "Five years ago we were essentially a domestic company. Today about 40 percent of our revenues are overseas, and by the latter part of this decade, a majority will be." The CEO's comments came 3 years after he placed his first bet that the appliance industry was globalizing.
By acquiring Philips Electronics' European appliance business for $1 billion, Whirlpool vaulted into the number three position in Europe. Whitwam pledged another $2 billion investment in Europe alone. As the decade of the 1990s drew to a close, however, Whitwam's ambitious plans for expanding beyond Europe into Japan and the developing nations in Asia and Latin America hadn't achieved the desired results. Noting that Whirlpool stock underperformed the bull market of the 1990s, analysts began questioning whether Whitwam's global vision was on target. As one analyst put it, "The strategy has been a failure. Whirlpool went big into global markets and investors have paid for it." Others faulted the company on execution.
Another analyst said, "I respect Whirlpool's strategy. They just missed on the blocking and tackling." The challenge Whirlpool faces is rooted partially in the structure of the appliance industry. In Europe, for example, the presence of more than 200 brands and 170 factories makes the appliance industry highly fragmented and highly competitive. Electrolux, a Swedish company, ranks number one. Whirlpool's various brands are available in 30 countries; however, European appliance sales have been flat for years, with sales volumes growing at a mere 1 or 2 percent; industry overcapacity is a major issue. Although analysts expect to see a surge in demand from Central and Eastern Europe within a few years, there will also be an influx of products from low-cost producers in those regions. From its headquarters in Comerio, Italy, Whirlpool Europe operates manufacturing facilities in seven countries.
In the 1990s, Whirlpool executives began the process of streamlining the European organization to cut costs and increase margins. When he was president of Whirlpool Europe BV, Hank Bowman cut fixed costs by closing many of the company's 30 warehouses. Today, the company even outsources management of some distribution functions; in 2010, for example, France's Norbert Dentressangle took over management of Whirlpool's national distribution center at Aylesford in Kent, England. Bowman was confident that a global market segmentation approach was the key to success in Europe. Whirlpool relies heavily on market research to maintain its leadership in the United States; listening to consumers is important in Europe and Latin America as well. "Research tells us that the trends, preferences and biases of consumers, country by country, are reducing as opposed to increasing," Bowman said.
He believed that European homemakers fall into distinct "Euro-segments"-traditionalists and aspirers, for example, allowing Whirlpool to duplicate its three-tiered approach to brands that has worked so well in the United States. The Bauknecht brand is positioned at the high end of the market, with Whirlpool in the middle and Ignis at the lower end. For example, appliance shoppers in Germany visiting a department store such as Saturn can choose a Bauknecht ECO 9.0 priced at €499 or a Whirlpool for €369. Research has also indicated that consumers in different countries prefer different types of features. Thus, Whirlpool has begun emphasizing product platforms as a means to produce localized versions of ovens, refrigerators, and other appliance lines more economically.
A platform is essentially a technological core underneath the metal casing of an appliance. The platform-for example, the compressor and sealant system in a refrigerator-can be the same throughout the world. Country- or region-specific capabilities can be added late in the production cycle. The goal was to cut 10 percent from Whirlpool's $200 million annual production development budget and achieve a 30 percent productivity increase among the company's 2,000 member product-development staff. Ultimately, the platform project team hopes to reduce the total number of platforms in the company from 135 to 65. Specific goals include reducing the number of dishwasher platforms from 6 to 3 and refrigerator platforms from 48 to 25. Whirlpool also conducts usability studies that provide insight into the ways that consumers interact with its products.
In one study, for example, engineers and designers stood behind a two-way mirror and watched as a volunteer put groceries away in a Kenmore Elite refrigerator. The Whirlpool team recorded a variety of data, such as the amount of time required for the volunteer to finish the task and the number of features she used. The results from these types of studies are used to help designers create appliances with a distinctive look and feel. Chuck Jones, Whirlpool's design guru, has made sure that each of Whirlpool's brands has its own "visual design language." Jones has also been known to trust his gut rather than the data. For example, Jones wanted to sell a new front-loading, German-made washer and matching "Made in the USA" dryer in tandem. Priced at $2,000, the combo was known as the Duet.
However, company research indicated that 80 percent of the time consumers buy either a washer or a dryer, but not both together. To make matters worse, one-third of the members of a focus group did not like the design. Recalling that moment, Jones says, "In the past, that would have been the kiss of death. This was one of those watershed moments that tested the company's fiber. You can't expect consumers to articulate that leap to the next breakthrough idea. It's our job to lead them there." Jones stood his ground during a review with senior-level executives. He even threatened to quit if the company didn't give the go-ahead to the Duet concept. In the end, management gave Jones the green light and the Duet was launched. Despite the fact that it is Whirlpool's most expensive washer-dryer pair, the Duet has 20 percent market share in the premium front-loading washer category. Market research also drives the search for new products that address the specific needs of developing markets.
In Brazil, for example, Whirlpool's market entry strategy included acquiring two local established appliance brands, Brastemp and Consul. However, with a basic washer priced at $300, even the low end of Whirlpool's product lines proved to be too expensive for many Brazilians. Economic data indicated that Brazil's 30 million low-income households, many with monthly incomes of about $220, account for about one-third of national consumption. Moreover, studies showed that these households ranked an automatic washer second only to a cell phone as an aspirational purchase. Whirlpool's researchers convened focus groups and made visits to representative low-income households. Marcele Rodrigues is director of laundry technology at Multibrás SA Eletrodomésticos, Whirlpool's Brazilian division.
"It wasn't a matter of stripping down an existing model," he noted recently. "We had to innovate for the masses." Whirlpool's response was to develop what it proudly calls the world's least expensive automatic washer, to be sold under the Consul brand. The company has a strong team of engineers and industrial designers in Brazil, as well as some of its most technologically advanced factories. Despite the fact that Brazil's economy was in turmoil, Whirlpool invested $30 million to develop the new washer, the Ideale, to meet the needs of a large class of consumers who still wash clothes by hand. One cost-saving design breakthrough was a patentable technology that allows the machine to switch from the wash cycle to the spin cycle without shifting gears.
The design involves some performance compromises: Compared with more expensive models, the spin cycle takes longer and clothes come out damper. However, research indicated that these were not critical issues for most consumers. Focus group research also indicated that consumers would find a smaller-capacity washer acceptable because low-income families do laundry more often. Because Brazilian housewives like to wash floors underneath furniture, the Ideale sits high on four legs as opposed to resting on the floor as most conventional units do. Perhaps the most significant thing that the Ideale design team learned from its research was that form matters, too.
As Emerson do Valle, vice president of Multibrás, explained, "We realized the washer should be aesthetically pleasing; it's a status symbol for these people." The team selected a rounded design with a yellow start button and blue lettering on the control panel. Because white is widely associated with cleanliness in Brazil, the Ideale is only available in white. Although the Ideale incorporates many design features that appeal to consumers in Brazil, adaptations of the Ideale platform are also being manufactured and marketed in China and India. In India, the color options include green, blue, and white; the setting for delicate fabrics is labeled "sari."
Also, the Indian units are mounted on casters so they can be moved easily. In China, an appliance with a white exterior would be undesirable because of the prevailing belief that white shows dirt easily. For that reason, the Chinese Ideale is available in light blue and gray. In addition, the heavy-duty wash cycle in China is labeled "grease removal" for the simple reason that many Chinese use bicycles for daily transportation. Although the majority of Chinese washing machines have separate tubs for the wash and spin cycles, sales of single-drum washers such as the Ideale and a new frontloading model, the Sunrise, are growing. Overall, washer sales in China totaled 16.5 million units in 2005; Whirlpool expects that number to reach 22.2 million by 2011.
After a decade of losses, Whirlpool China finally posted a profit in 2006. The company first entered the market in the mid-1990s via joint ventures with local partners. Whirlpool called its strategy "T-4": offering refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, and air conditioners, the four most-sought home appliances. Several of the ventures quickly went sour; as one executive recalls, "We quickly jumped into joint ventures without insights into Chinese consumers. We brought in North American know-how, but we also needed to distill local know-how."
For one thing, Whirlpool underestimated the speed at which Haier and other local competitors are evolving into world-class manufacturers. Company executives note that since China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, it has been easier for Western companies to do business there. In 2006, Jeff M. Fettig succeeded David Whitwam as Whirlpool's CEO and chairman. If emerging markets are to be drivers of global growth under Fettig's leadership, Whirlpool will have to build brand recognition in countries such as Brazil, India, and China.
Also, consumers in emerging markets must be persuaded to move beyond washing machines to purchase some of the company's other appliances. That trend is already gaining traction: Middle-class Chinese consumers are splurging on high-end appliances such as a side-by-side Whirlpool refrigerator that costs the equivalent of $2,500. Many of the units find their way into living rooms. As Michael Todman, president of Whirlpool International, noted, "Appliances can be furniture, too. It's a source of pride to own one: 'Gee, look what I can own. I'm doing well.'"
Discussion Questions
1. Describe Whirlpool's global marketing strategy. Does Whirlpool use an extension product strategy or an adaptation product strategy?
2. What is the primary reason people buy and own major appliances such as a washing machine? Is there a secondary reason as well?
3. Summarize the role of market research in Whirlpool's globalization strategy. What different types of research methodologies does the company use? What are the advantages of each methodology described in the case? What, if any, are the disadvantages?
4. What are the key lessons to be learned from Whirlpool's experience in emerging markets?