CASE 1 Dabur India Limited: Growing Big and Global

Dabur is among the top five FMCG companies in India and is

positioned successfully on the specialist herbal platform. Dabur has
proven its expertise in the fields of health care, personal care,
homecare and foods.
The company was founded by Dr. S. K. Burman in 1884 as small
pharmacy in Calcutta (now Kolkata), India. and is now led by his
great grandson Vivek C. Burman, who is the Chairman of Dabur India
Limited and the senior most representative of the Burman family in
the company. The company headquarters are in Ghaziabad, India,
near the Indian capital New Delhi, where it is registered. The
company has over 12 manufacturing units in India and abroad. The
international facilities are located in Nepal, Dubai, Bangladesh, Egypt
and Nigeria.
S.K. Burman, the founder of Dabur, was trained as a physician. His
mission was to provide effective and affordable cure for ordinary
people in far-flung villages. Soon, he started preparing natural
remedies based on Ayurved for diseases such as Cholera, Plague and
Malaria. Due to his cheap and effective remedies, he became to be
known as Daktar (Indianised version of doctor). And that is how
his venture Dabur got its namederived from Daktar Burman.
The company faces stiff competition from many multinational and
domestic companies. In the Branded and Packaged Food and
Beverages segment major companies that are active include
Hindustan Lever, Nestle, Cadbury and Dabur. In case of Ayurvedic
medicines and products, the major competitors are Baidyanath, Vicco,
Jhandu, Himani and other pharmaceutical companies.

Vision, Mission and Objectives

Vision statement of Dabur says that the company is dedicated to the
health and well being of every household. The objective is to
significantly accelerate profitable growth by providing comfort to
others. For achieving this objective Dabur aims to:
Focus on growing core brands across categories, reaching out to new
geographies, within and outside India, and improve operational
efficiencies by leveraging technology.
Be the preferred company to meet the health and personal grooming
needs of target consumers with safe, efficacious, natural solutions by
synthesising deep knowledge of ayurveda and herbs with modern
science.
Be a professionally managed employer of choice, attracting,
developing and retaining quality personnel.
Be responsible citizens with a commitment to environmental
protection.
Provide superior returns, relative to our peer group, to our
shareholders.

Chairman of the company

Vivek C. Burman joined Dabur in 1954 after completing his
graduation in Business Administration from the USA. In 1986 he was
appointed Managing Director of Dabur and in 1998 he took over as
Chairman of the Company.
Under Vivek Burmans leadership, Dabur has grown and evolved
as a multi-crore business house with a diverse product portfolio and a
marketing network that traverses the whole of India and more than 50
countries across the world. As a strong and positive leader, Vivek C.
Burman has motivated employees of Dabur to do better than their
besta credo that gives Dabur its status as Indias most trusted
nature-based products company.

Leading brands

More than 300 diverse products in the FMCG, Healthcare and
Ayurveda segments are in the product line of Dabur. List of products
of the company include very successful brands like Vatika, Anmol,
Hajmola, Dabur Amla Chyawanprash, Dabur Honey and Lal Dant
Manjan with turnover of Rs.100 crores each.
Strategic positioning of Dabur Honey as food product, lead to
market leadership with over 40% market share in branded honey
market; Dabur Chyawanprash is the largest selling Ayurvedic
medicine with over 65% market share. Dabur is a leader in herbal
digestives with 90% market share. Hajmola tablets are in command
with 75% market share of digestive tablets category. Dabur Lal Tail
tops baby massage oil market with 35% of total share.
CHD (Consumer Health Division), dealing with classical
Ayurvedic medicines has more than 250 products sold through
prescription as well as over the counter. Proprietary Ayurvedic
medicines developed by Dabur include Nature Care Isabgol,
Madhuvaani and Trifgol.
However, some of the subsidiary units of Dabur have proved to be
low margin business; like Dabur Finance Limited. The international
units are also operating on low profit margin. The company also
produces several me too products. At the same time the company
is very popular in the rural segment.



Questions


1. What is the objective of Dabur? Is it profit maximisation or growth
maximisation? Discuss.
2. Do you think the growth of Dabur from a small pharmacy to a large
multinational company is an indicator of the advantages of joint
stock company against proprietorship form? Elaborate