Rayovac Corporation Paper

BACKGROUND OF THE ORGANIZATION

Rayovac Corporation is known to be the largest manufacturer of batteries in the world. The company makes many different batteries to sell both for personal, household use, and commercial use. The household batter consists of standard battery sizes such as AAA, AA, C, D, and 9-volt. Sales of these batteries are used for electronic devices, but as times change, and technology is changing, new demands are needed for batteries as competitors try to keep up with the changes also. Rayovac Corporation introduced the idea of rechargeable batteries to stay ahead and create the "next big idea" according to the case study.

STRATEGIC PROBLEM

The problem that Rayovac Corporation is currently experiencing is that launching the rechargeable batteries in Canada have not been a big hit for them, as consumers are not being attracted to them. Rayovac is concerned that bringing the rechargeable batteries into the rest of the North America market and soon the rest of the world, it would negatively affect their sales also.

SWOT ANALYISIS

The strengths of Rayovac are they are a very profitable organization, and are recognized globally for their brand. The strategy they use is an intensive strategy, which gears to position and promote their battery products in North America and other parts of the region. According to the case, a weakness of Rayovac Corporation is their inability to outdo their competitors like Duracell and Energizer which dominates the market in terms of prices. Also, another weakness of Rayovac is their inability to market their new battery products efficiently and effectively in the current target market. The company now has bigger opportunities because of their new management system, to enter and lead the North American market by providing battery and rechargeable batteries to households and commercially. With that, hey even have an opportunity to be the sole battery manufacturer in the market and beat out Energizer and Duracell. With Rayovac continuously innovating, the company can gain loyalty from their customers to make them more competitive in the market, and create new opportunities for the business. For Rayovac, a major concern is new technology. Having technological advancement be so fast paced now-a-days could be a threat for Rayovac because other competitors are changing their products with the change in technology faster than Rayovac. Hopefully, with the rechargeable batteries, it will relieve some of this threat for the company.

PLAN OF ACTION

By analyzing this case, it is clear that there are three reliable alternatives for Falconi's approach for Rayovac Corporation into introducing rechargeable batteries into the North America market. The first alternative would be to withdraw the rechargeable batteries product line from the Canada market and not move forward with the product. Based on given evidence, sales of the rechargeable battery in Canada were not exceeding competitors and a strong impact on that was the inability to market the product correctly. If they decide to move forward with the rechargeable battery line, then in Canada they would have to take a much more aggressive approach to selling the batteries. The second alternative would be to expand the rechargeable battery into North America by using an aggressive market challenger strategy, which would competitively generate lower prices, at quality products. If Rayovac did this, it would have a chance at redeeming themselves in the market with their competitors. They would be using a guerilla strategy which is an aggressive approach to knock down prices yet have quality products; something similar to what Wal Mart does with their products. The third alternative would be to use the company's resources to focus and segment on a one-time use alkaline battery and bring in the rechargeable battery so there is a safety net with which the company can fall back on if the new product fails in the North America market.

MARKETING STRATEGY

In order for Falconi to to proceed with his decision to enter the rechargeable battery into the North America market and continue in the Canada market, he would need to find a more suitable marketing strategy for Rayovac. For Rayovac to compete in the market, they have to effectively use a guerilla tactic to provide quality products at cheaper prices. By using this strategy, they can keep ahead of the competition by being industry leaders regarding prices. Also, Rayovac should consider using a defensive marketing strategy to keep them on the offense with their competition. By defensive I mean, Rayovac has used a counter offensive approach to position the rechargeable battery product line in North