Case Study: Doritos Chips “The Loudest Taste on Earth” Ad Campaign

The Frito Company began operations in San Antonio, Texas, in 1932 and merged with H. W. Lay & Company to form Frito-Lay in 1961. Four years later, Frito-Lay merged with the Pepsi-Cola Company to form PepsiCo, and during the 1990s the snack food division became known as the Frito-Lay Company. In 1997 Frito-Lay expanded its product lines in Europe, Australia, and South America by purchasing salty snack brands in countries there, and in the United States it acquired the Cracker Jack brand of candy-coated popcorn and peanuts. Frito-Lay made nine of the 10 top-selling brands of snack chips in the United States, including Lay’s and Ruffles potato chips, Cheetos cheese puffs, Rold Gold pretzels, and Tostitos and Doritos tortilla chips. The company’s first product had been Fritos corn chips, which were promoted for years by a character called the Frito Kid and later with the tag line ‘‘Munch a Bunch! Continue reading

Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne Experiment and It’s Contributions to Management

The term “Hawthorne” is a term used within several behavioral management theories and is originally derived from the western electric company’s large factory complex named Hawthorne works. Starting in 1905 and operating until 1983, Hawthorne works had 45,000 employees and it produced a wide variety of consumer products, including telephone equipment, refrigerators and electric fans. As a result, Hawthorne works is well-known for its enormous output of telephone equipment and most importantly for its industrial experiments and studies carried out. Hawthorne Experiment by  Elton Mayo In 1927, a group of researchers led by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger of the Harvard Business School were invited to join in the studies at the Hawthorne Works of Western Electric Company, Chicago. The experiment lasted up to 1932. The Hawthorne Experiment brought out that the productivity of the employees is not the function of only physical conditions of work and money wages paid Continue reading

The Payment of Bonus Act, 1965

The practice of paying bonus in India appears to have originated during First World War when certain textile mills granted 10% of wages as war bonus to their workers in 1917.   In certain cases of industrial disputes demand for payment of bonus was also included.   In 1950, the Full Bench of the Labour Appellate evolved a formula for determination of bonus.   A plea was made to raise that formula in 1959.   At the second and third meetings of the Eighteenth Session of Standing Labour Committee (G. O.I.) held in New Delhi in March/April 1960, it was agreed that a Commission be appointed to go into the question of bonus and evolve suitable norms.   A Tripartite Commission was set up by the Government of India to consider in a comprehensive manner, the question of payment of bonus based on profits to employees employed in establishments and Continue reading

Forecasting Manager – Duties and Responsibilities

The Forecasting Manager serves as the lead of a forecasting working group. The primary responsibility of this individual is to implement the forecasting process and provide objective short-term and long-range forecasting models, standards and guidelines to the Product Team. This includes the design, construction and implementation of forecasting models for specific brands. When working with the group, the Forecasting Manager must have the ability to quickly assess the major issues surrounding each forecasting problem, understand the decisions the forecast will impact, and recommend a forecasting approach. In addition, the manager should be able to identify the information/data required, and to articulate any secondary and/or primary research required to support the forecasting process. The Forecasting Manager may be required to hire external consultants to complete forecasting projects. Also, this position will require the continuous evaluation of new forecasting techniques, and technologies through internal/external networking, and attending forecasting and industry seminars. Major Continue reading

Integrity Testing in Employee Selection Process

Integrity tests are seen as a superior alternative to polygraph tests and interviews. In fact, the use of integrity tests in selection decisions has grown dramatically in the past decade. The tests are especially likely to be used where theft, safety, or malfeasance is an important concern. The promise of integrity testing is that it will weed out those most prone to counterproductive work behaviors. Clearly, integrity is an important quality in applicants; integrity tests are designed to tap this important attribute. Integrity testing can help the management determine which of their prospective hires are likely to engage in unproductive, dangerous, or otherwise risky actions on the job. Candidates are surprisingly candid in answering test questions about their workplace theft or drug abuse, but the tests also have control questions intended to indicate when an applicant is attempting to game the test. Although tests represent an additional expense in the Continue reading

Sales Promotion Strategies and Practices

The sales promotion strategy is an important element in overall marketing strategy. Sales promotion strategy involves identification of objectives, effective communication for attracting attention, allocation of budget, determining the correct promotional mix, introduction of strategic approach and finally evaluation. Each one of them are briefly explained here. 1. Sales Promotion Objectives The marketer should determine his sales promotion objectives. He should determine what is to be accomplished and what kind of buyer responses are desired. Sales promotion tasks should be objective oriented. These tasks are informing, persuading and reminding the customers about the products. The sales manager should inform consumers about his product and should highlight its special features. He has not only to inform the customers but persuade them to buy it. 2. Communication Sales promotion should attract the attention of the target audience. If the prices, discounts, off season facilities etc, are not adequately and effectively communicated, the Continue reading