CASE STUDY:
LAUNCHING A US-BASED CONSUMER PRODUCT INTO CHINA TO SUPPORT AN INTERNATIONAL GROWTH STRATEGY
The Situation...
SmithKline Beecham was looking to expand its most successful products into new markets. Having recently switched Tagamet (the indigestion remedy) in the U.K. from a prescription only medicine to over the counter / available upon request in pharmacies, Steve was asked to develop and lead a team to bring the successful Oxy acne medication to one of the largest skincare markets in the world: China.
Challenge
After a comprehensive review of the acne skincare market in China, it became clear that the proposed strategy of simply replicating the US product line and marketing strategy was not appropriate for the Chinese customer. Specifically, The 10%/5% benzoyl peroxide formulation options were perceived to be too harsh for the Chinese consumer – who did not want to “Oxycute ‘em!” and would rather hide the acne…gently/softly….even if that meant it would take longer to be effective.
Action
Steve started by restructuring the US marketing team, replacing about 25% of the team with strategic marketing talent. He then restructured the team and assigned roles based on individual talents and career aspirations. He then worked with the other functional areas to refocus the team’s mandate to be a data-drive, customer insights based product strategy and development team. He worked with the other geographies to establish a new organizational and operating model with very clear roles and responsibilities. He commissioned a comprehensive 17-country market research program to gather insights on customer usage and attitudes – including focus groups and surveys of thousands of consumers across the world. Importantly, he included all of the functional areas throughout the process….delivering many eye-opening experiences to the R&D, Product Design and other functions. Based on this research, Steve and the team developed a 10/3/1 year strategic product development plan that was fully agreed across the enterprise.
Result
Within a year, Oxy had surpassed its China market share and product profitability projections. As a result of this and other successes, Steve was invited to participate in an exclusive one-week leadership offsite in Provence, France, led by the SmithKline Beecham CEO and COO.