Adding value…to the humble toilet roll

Here is a great article in the Telegraph which describes the business and strategy of the UK’s leading manufacturer of toilet rolls.

Lots of cracking business studies material in the feature which explains how SCA Paper is trying to use product innovation to address customer needs. Apparently mothers (the core customer) are particularly choosy about what they want from a toilet roll..

Students ought to be able to pick out some key business terms and concepts in the article, including:

- production capacity (the factory makes over 3.5 million rolls per day)
- economies of scale
- branding - own label versus branded
- adding value (e.g perfumed paper)
- market size

Revision Presentation - Making Operational Decisions [17 May 2012]
A cracking business lesson video on my favourite product - Jaffa Cakes! [7 May 2012]
Vodafone takes over Cable and Wireless Worldwide [23 Apr 2012]
Competitiveness and organisational structure - a great example of delayering [20 Apr 2012]
Brand Logos (there’s an app for that) [20 Apr 2012]
More on “up-selling” (adding value) the budget airline way [16 Apr 2012]
Garden Centre Takeover - Can Hands Get the Growth? [26 Mar 2012]
Can we learn lessons in business organisation from the mittelstand model [8 Mar 2012]
Mergers - problems first, synergies later [2 Mar 2012]
Takeovers and Mergers - the Language of M&A [16 Feb 2012]
How to turn threats into an opportunity at Ryanair [31 Jan 2012]
Manufacturing strategy: Is China losing its competitiveness? [29 Jan 2012]
Business size and the innovation debate [11 Jan 2012]
Revision Presentation - Economies of Scale & Resource Mix [3 Jan 2012]
Revision Presentation - Workforce Planning [26 Dec 2011]
Who do you think should be named Brand of the Year 2011? [22 Nov 2011]
A tour of a handmade chocolate factory [21 Nov 2011]
Nationwide gets “Streetwise” with it’s marketing [17 Nov 2011]
PepsiCo: economies or diseconomies of scale? [2 Nov 2011]
Revision Quiz - Marketing: Competition [1 Nov 2011]
Revision Presentation - Adding Value [7 Sep 2011]
Tesco and Retrenchment [31 Aug 2011]
Adding value - turning waste into gold [25 Aug 2011]
Wi-Fi - Adding value to a latte or cappuccino [25 Aug 2011]
Automation and the arrival of 290,000 robots [2 Aug 2011]
Beware of the Kunming’s Rotten Apple [21 Jul 2011]
McDonalds - Making a Meal out of the Olympics [20 Jul 2011]
Jaguar goes for NPD investment with £5bn plan [10 May 2011]
Tesco’s overseas strategy: next steps [10 May 2011]
Lesson Worksheet - Capacity Utilisation [5 May 2011]
Horizontal integration in action - Virgin grabs Esporta [26 Apr 2011]
Capacity cuts at Toyota UK as production still hit after Japanese earthquake [20 Apr 2011]
Recession?  Hair today, gone tomorrow [6 Apr 2011]
Profit and Pizza - A Great Lesson Resource on Margins and Mark-ups [28 Mar 2011]
Strategy and bargaining power - food for thought [22 Mar 2011]
CSR - The Mega Dairy, Economies of Scale and Cornflakes [25 Feb 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Economies of Scale - the Mega Container Ship [22 Feb 2011]
Nestle - using branding & productivity to overcome commodity price increases [17 Feb 2011]
Technology in business - RFID takes on the counterfeiters [6 Feb 2011]
Adding value (or “up-selling”) - the FlyLo Way [23 Jan 2011]
Economies of Scale - A cool video [9 Jan 2011]
The coffee chain formerly known as Starbucks [6 Jan 2011]
Q&A - What is the difference between outsourcing and offshoring? [29 Dec 2010]
Q&A - What are the main issues in operating a multi-site business? [29 Dec 2010]
Q&A - How important is location in determining business success? [29 Dec 2010]
BUSS1 Revision Quiz - Understanding Markets [15 Dec 2010]
Some amazing images to help teach economies of scale [14 Dec 2010]
Marketing strategy: North Face aims to become the “Nike of outdoors” [12 Dec 2010]
Dominos Pizza - Growth & Strategy (Part 3) - Smart Marketing [26 Nov 2010]
Cash flow Clue-doh! The Mystery is Revealed… [2 Nov 2010]
Royal Family’s favourite water: Malvern to be axed, but wind farm harvest to come from the sea [25 Oct 2010]
Gap’s new logo lasts…one week [12 Oct 2010]
Google on the changing face of advertising [8 Oct 2010]
Adding Value - Creative Uses of a Aluminium Tray [5 Oct 2010]
Would you stand for it? [14 Sep 2010]
Lesson Worksheet - Adding Value [10 Aug 2010]
The FT and Online Paywalls - a Winning Strategy? [30 Jul 2010]
Tyrrells Entrepreneur Does it Again - with Vodka! [14 Jul 2010]
Tracking the popularity of global brands on social networks [13 Jul 2010]
The Caffe Nero Loyalty Scheme - Simple and Effective [13 Jul 2010]
Alliances - benefits of scale without the risks? [15 Jun 2010]
Is the mega-merger falling out of fashion? [7 Jun 2010]
Long Product Life Cycles - Grocery Brands Stand the Test of Time [26 May 2010]
BUSS4 UK Recession - More Profit & More Customers - How Sainsburys Did It [25 May 2010]
Strategy Case Study - Vauxhall/Opel restructuring [24 May 2010]
British vodka beats the world! [19 May 2010]
Niche marketing?  Its Pants [15 May 2010]
Starbucks - the Famous Strategic Change Memo from 2007 [21 Apr 2010]
Market share gains for the fizzy pop Scots [22 Mar 2010]
Technological change shakes up book production [3 Mar 2010]
BUSS4 Research - a Corus of Disapproval [1 Mar 2010]
Strategy in a recession - cost optimisation not cost minimisation [25 Feb 2010]
Strategy in a recession - Don’t Panic Mr Mainwaring! [25 Feb 2010]
Marketing in a recession: more focus on brand advertising and product enhancements [20 Feb 2010]
Customers have changed during the recession - how does marketing respond? [19 Feb 2010]
Top ten brand values [18 Feb 2010]
Are these really Britain’s most disliked brands? [17 Feb 2010]
Branded coffee shops prove resilient to the UK recession [17 Feb 2010]
Is the cost-conscious UK consumer here to stay? [16 Feb 2010]
Can Greggs Become the Skoda of Pies? [16 Feb 2010]
The Museum of Brands - well worth a visit [14 Feb 2010]
Teaching added value: introducing the world’s first zero-star hotel [7 Feb 2010]
Flexible working thrives in the recession [1 Feb 2010]
Video case study - New Balance quality in a successful UK factory [28 Jan 2010]
Demand and Supply in Sction - Haggis [25 Jan 2010]
Teaching strategy - Starbucks revisited [24 Jan 2010]
Retrenchment and capacity cutting at Blacks Leisure - and then expansion again? [12 Jan 2010]
Revision Presentation - Capacity Management [19 Dec 2009]
Economies of scale - lesson idea [2 Dec 2009]
Operations in Action - Video Tour of the Amazon Depot [23 Nov 2009]
Beating the import threat - luxury furniture [16 Nov 2009]
Brompton Bicycles - Guardian Profile [9 Nov 2009]
Auto Warriors - the Capacity Management Reality Show [28 Oct 2009]
Q&A - How are businesses affected by unemployment? [27 Oct 2009]
Managing Cash Flow - Beware the Economic Recovery [26 Oct 2009]
Entrepreneur takes advantage of the postal strike [24 Oct 2009]
Top brand values fall in the recession [20 Sep 2009]
External Influences on the value of a brand [14 Sep 2009]
Strategic business decision-making - Network Rail [26 Aug 2009]
Own label brands profit from the recession [4 Aug 2009]

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